Logic, most broadly speaking, concerns what logically follows from what. One of the reasons why logic is important is that, in the course of an argument we should not want to stray from truth to falsity, so it is useful to have some objective, mathematical test on whether any given argument is valid. Equally, it would be useful if our test could definitively establish that a particular invalid argument is invalid. Such a test might show, for example, that the premises 'No horseman can jump this fence' and 'I am no horseman' do NOT entail 'I can jump this fence'.

As can be seen from looking at the above rough sketch, discussion about logic involves concepts such as truth, validity and entailment. Other concepts that crop up when thinking about logic include necessity, analyticity, negation and fallacy. This course examines such concepts. It also briefly considers critiques of the very enterprise of logic that have come from such quarters as theology and feminism.




Course's Details available at the Courses Website