Maybe It'll Taste Good This Year

Here's a video of Lewis Black describing his failure to reason inductively every year around Halloween:



Candy Corn.

Cat Statements

What kind of statements are these?

Let us know in the comments.

Philosophy as a 3-Year-Old

Here's comedian Louis CK's take on the broad, fundamental questions kids ask (the routine starts with 4:05 left in the video).

The Best of the Homework

Here are some of my favorite arguments you came up with on the homework.

From Abi:

(P1) If dinosaurs rampage, people scream.
(P2) Dinosaurs rampage.
(C) People scream.

Were you looking at the syllabus when you thought up this one?

From Dan:

(P1) All American presidents are men.
(P2) All men are stupid.
(C) All American presidents are stupid.

Take that, sexist American hegemony!

From Allison:

(P1) Pigs are either awesome or horrible.
(P2) Pigs are not awesome.
(C) Pigs are horrible.

I'd like to challenge the second premise. My evidence: Spider Pig.

From Jared:

(P1) The sky is blue.
(P2) The grass is green.
(C) Jared loves french toast and red bull.

French toast and red bull: part of a balanced breakfast.

From Cassondra:

(P1) Gold is a natural resource.
(P2) Gold is found in Africa.
(C) All Africans have lots of gold.

Isn't it fun using intentionally bad arguments to make good political points?

From Ian:

(P1) Some red objects weigh over 50 pounds.
(P2) A cherry jolly rancher is red.
(C) A cherry jolly rancher weighs over 50 pounds.

Actually, I'd be up for the challenge of a 50-pound jolly rancher.

Satan's Fingers? The Hospital Bombers?

OK, before we start rocking all night, perhaps we should come up with a name for our logic band. What's a good name for us? Abi & the Naughty Structures?

Hmmm... hopefully, you can come up with better names than that. Post some names in the comments to this post.

(Extra love to anyone who knows what the title of this post refers to.)

Homework #1

In case you didn't get a copy of it in class, here's Homework #1. It's due at the beginning of class on Friday, September 21st.

DIRECTIONS: Provide original examples of the following types of arguments (in premise/conclusion form), if possible. If it is not possible, explain why.

1. A valid deductive argument with one false premise.

2. An invalid deductive argument with all true premises.

3. An unsound deductive argument that is valid.

4. A sound deductive argument that is invalid.


MULTIPLE CHOICE: Circle the correct response. Only one answer choice is correct.

5. If a deductive argument is unsound, then:
a) its conclusion must be false.
b) its conclusion must be true.
c) its conclusion could be true or false.

6. If a deductive argument is unsound, then:
a) it must be valid.
b) it must be invalid.
c) it could be valid or invalid.

7. If a deductive argument is unsound, then:
a) at least one premise must be false.
b) all the premises must be false.
c) all the premises must be true.
d) not enough info to determine.

8. If a deductive argument’s conclusion is true:
a) then the argument must be valid.
b) then the argument must be invalid.
c) then the argument could be valid or invalid.

9. If a deductive argument is sound, then:
a) its conclusion must be true.
b) its conclusion must be false.
c) its conclusion could be true or false.

10. If a deductive argument is sound, then:
a) it must be valid.
b) it must be invalid.
c) it could be valid or invalid.

11. If a deductive argument is sound, then:
a) at least one premise must be false.
b) all the premises must be false.
c) all the premises must be true.
d) not enough info to determine.

12. If a deductive argument’s conclusion is false:
a) then the argument must be valid.
b) then the argument must be invalid.
c) then the argument could be valid or invalid.

See? Told You

Milli Vanilli | Girl You Know It's True

Email Subscriptions

So why does this course have a blog? Well, why is anything anything?

A blog (short for “web log”) is a website that works like a journal – users write posts that are sorted by date based on when they were written. You can find important course information (like assignments, due dates, reading schedules, etc.) on the blog. I’ll also be updating the blog throughout the semester, posting interesting items related to the stuff we’re currently discussing in class. I used a blog for this course last semester, and it seemed helpful. Hopefully it can benefit our course, too.

Since I’ll be updating the blog a lot throughout the semester, you should check it frequently. There are, however, some convenient ways to do this without simply going to the blog each day. The best way to do this is by getting an email subscription, so any new blog post I write automatically gets emailed to you. (You can also subscribe to the rss feed, if you know what that means.) To get an email subscription:

1. Go to http://ccclogic07.blogspot.com.

2. At the main page, enter your email address at the top of the right column (under “EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION: Enter your Email”) and click the "Subscribe me!" button.

3. This will take you to a new page. Follow the directions under #2, where it says “To help stop spam, please type the text here that you see in the image below. Visually impaired or blind users should contact support by email.” Once you type the text, click the "Subscribe me!" button again.

4. You'll then get an email regarding the blog subscription. (Check your spam folder if you haven’t received an email after a day.) You have to confirm your registration. Do so by clicking on the "Click here to activate your account" link in the email you receive.

5. This will bring you to a page that says "Your subscription is confirmed!" Now you're subscribed.

If you are unsure whether you've subscribed, ask me (609-980-8367; slandis@camdencc.edu). I can check who's subscribed and who hasn't.