Reading and Homework Assignments

Readings from The Logic of Real Arguments, by Fisher, and from A Rulebook for Arguments, by Weston, are listed by author and page numbers. Homework assignments mainly consist of applications of the argument analysis program Araucaria to texts provided via links below.

• For Aug. 29: Read Weston, pp. xi-xiv, 1-9 and Fisher, pp. 1-14. Download the program Araucaria.
• For Sep. 3: No Class (Labor Day!)
• For Sep. 5: Read Fisher, pp. 15-28. Try out Araucaria on Ex1, Ex2, Ex3, Ex4 (due via email by 3pm on Friday 9/7).
• For Sep. 10: Re-read Fisher, pp. 24-28. Check out the User Manual for help on how to use the Araucaria program.
• For Sep. 12: Read Weston, pp. 40-52. Use Araucaria to create diagrams for Ex5, Ex6, Ex7, Ex8 (due by 3pm on Friday 9/14).
  New Format for submission: Please label your .aml files with your last name and the number of the Example. So, for example, my submissions would be Woodbridge5.aml, Woodbridge6.aml, etc.
• For Sep. 17: Read Fisher, pp. 29-39 and Weston, pp. 10-23. Also, look at the two argument texts I gave out at the end of class on 9/12 and think about how the arguments there work (and bring them to class).
• For Sep. 19: Open each of the .aml files you have made (by selecting "Open argument" under "File") and save each diagram as a .tif file (by selecting "Save diagram" under "File"). Print them out and bring them to class. Here are the diagrams I made for all eight arguments: Dia1, Dia2, Dia3, Dia4, Dia5, Dia6, Dia7, Dia8 (if they don't open in your web browser, save each file to your computer as a .jpg file by using "Save Page As...", and then open them from there in Adobe Reader, Preview, or some other photo-viewing program).
• For Sep. 24: Apply Araucaria to Ex9, Ex10, Ex11, Ex12. Newer Format for Submission: For each argument, when you have made your diagram, go to "Save diagram" (rather than "Save argument as") under "File" and save the diagram as a .jpg file (rather than a .aml file), and email me the .jpg files labeled with your last name and the Example number (due by 9am on Monday 9/24).
  Get Ex 9-12 to me by Friday 9/28 for partial credit. Here are the diagrams I made for Ex 9-12: .
• For Sep. 28: Due Friday 9/28 by 4pm: Evaluate the arguments from Ex. 1-8 as diagrammed in Dia 1-8, linked above. Use the procedure discussed in class, involving evaluating the status of basic reasons, evaluating the inferences in the argument, and giving an overall assessment of the argument (Is it good, medium, or bad at making a case for its conclusion?). Hand in printouts of the diagrams with your evaluations marked on them, to my mailbox at the Philosophy Dept. in CDC 4 (Building 4 of the Central Desert Complex--Link to Interactive Campus Map).
• For Oct. 1: Re-read Fisher pp. 29-39, and then finish Chapter 3 (pp. 40-47). Be prepared to talk about the Malthus selection and Fisher's analysis, and be ready to finish applying argument analysis techniques to the long selections on kidney sales and mega-fauna extinction that we worked on some in groups a while back.
• For Oct. 3: Be sure to bring your handout with the kidney sale text and the mega-fauna extinction text. Think about what our class groups identified as the conclusions for the different sections of the texts.
• For Oct. 5: Using the methods we employed with the Malthus text (from Fisher, Ch. 3), diagram Fisher-style (by hand, on paper) the arguments given in Fisher on pp. 192, 197-199 as Exercises 4, 8, and 9 (a total of four arguments). Submit your diagrams to the envelope attached to the bulletin board next to the door to my office (CDC 426) by 4pm Friday 10/5. Do not hand them to the student assistant or the Dept. Secretary; put them in the envelop yourself. (If you manage to make your diagrams in a word-processing program, you can email me a .doc file.)
• For Oct. 8: Review for the First Quiz, which will be on Wednesday. It will cover the concepts and distinctions we have learned about in class, as well as argument diagramming and evaluation. Come to class with questions about things you want to understand better.
• For Oct. 10: Be prepared for the First Quiz.
• For Oct. 17: Read Fisher, pp. 70-81. Between reading the passage by Mill and reading how Fisher analyzes it, try to answer the questions (1)-(5) that Fisher asks on p. 73.
• For Oct. 19: Due Friday 10/19 by 4pm: Evaluate the arguments from Ex. 9-12 as diagrammed in Dia9, Dia10, Dia11, Dia12. Either email me your evaluations or hand in printouts of the diagrams with your evaluations marked on them to the envelope attached to the bulletin board next to the door to my office (CDC 426). Do not hand them to the student assistant or the Dept. Secretary; put them in the envelop yourself.
  To practice applying basic ideas and diagramming techniques we went over in class on 10/17: go back to the texts given as Ex.'s 2, 5, 6, and 9 and, starting from scratch, construct Fisher-style diagrams for these arguments. Don't hand these in--this is just for your own practice. You can compare your new hand-made diagrams to the Araucaria diagrams I have posted here to check them.
• For Oct. 26: Due Friday 10/26 by 4pm: Use Araucaria to make diagrams for the argument contained in the following Exercises: Ex13, Ex14, Ex15, Ex16. Email me .jpg files of the diagrams you make.
• For Nov. 2: Due Friday 11/2 by 4pm: Evaluate the arguments from Ex. 13-16 as diagrammed in Dia13, Dia14, Dia15, Dia16. Either email me your evaluations or hand in printouts of the diagrams with your evaluations marked on them to the envelope attached to the bulletin board next to the door to my office (CDC 426).
• For Nov. 5: Read Fisher, pp. 115-131.
• For Nov. 7: First Test! Bring an exam book.
• For Nov. 14: Read Weston, Ch. V and Ch. X, and re-read Fisher, pp. 115-131.
• For Nov. 19: Look at the following Inductive Arguments and identify what specific kind of inductive reasoning is employed. Evaluate each argument as good, medium, or bad, and then explain why the argument gets that rating.
• For Nov. 28: Second Quiz! Check out the Fallacy Example Answers
• For Dec. 3: Re-read Fisher, pp. 115-131 (again).
• For Dec. 5: Check out these Suppositional Reasoning Cases. You don't have to hand them in, but think about how to diagram and evaluate them. Basically, you think of the argument as containing two parts, an unasserted part involving the supposition and what is said to follow from it, and an asserted part that involves one or more conditionals (that are asserted) that follow from the suppositional part (via conditionalization), along with one or more other asserted claims, combined in the sorts of deductive forms of argument (both valid and invalid) that Weston talks about. You can see my diagrams and evaluations for these arguments here.
• For Dec. 10: Study for the Final Exam, which will be today at 10:10am. The Exam will last 2 hours and cover the material from the entire course. Bring an exam book, and bring an extra for someone who forgets.

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Last updated December 6, 2007

This site is maintained by James A. Woodbridge.

This document was created on August 26, 2007.