PHI 1103-001, Fall 2004

Critical Thinking

Instructor: John Wolfe

Office: FAO 242

Phone: 813-974-5811 (email is preferred)

Email:

Office Hours: T, R 12:30-2:00 (or by appointment)

Meeting Time: T,R 2-3:15

Location: HMS 320

Course Description and Objectives:

The objective of this course is to familiarize the students with the process of reasoning. This will involve learning to distinguish between good and bad arguments, how to formulate arguments, and how to criticize arguments.

Required Texts:

Richard Feldman, Reason and Argument, second edition.

Additional readings may be passed out in class, or made available for download through blackboard.

Attendance Policy:

Regular attendance of class meetings is required. If you must miss a class, inform the instructor ahead of time when possible. If you plan to miss a class due to the observance of a religious holiday, you must notify the instructor, in writing, by the second class meeting.

Grading and Assignments:

Your final course grade is computed using the following elements. Attendance and participation are worth a total of 10% of your final grade. A midterm examination will be given on Thursday, October ninth. This will be worth 20% of your final grade. A non-cumulative final exam will be given on Tuesday, December ninth. This will also be worth 20% of your final grade. From time to time I will assign homework. Homework assignments will generally take the form of either exercises out of the textbook, or short papers of between 3-5 pages in length. Individually, homework assignments will be worth anywhere from 3-10% of your final grade, depending on difficulty. All together, these homework assignments are worth 50% of your course grade.

The final grade will be calculated using the following scale.

A+ 98-100

A 94-97

A- 91-93

B+ 88-90

B 84-87

B- 81-83

C+ 78-80

C 74-77

C- 71-73

D+ 68-70

D 64-67

D- 61-63

F 0-60

Academic Dishonesty:

The university has very strict policies regarding academic dishonesty and plagiarism. All work submitted for this course must be your own. If you are caught cheating or plagiarizing, the minimum penalty is failure of the course. A grade of FF may also be assigned at the discretion of the instructor. You should become versed in the USF policies regarding plagiarism and academic dishonesty. These may be found in the USF undergraduate catalog:

Turnitin.com

The University of South Florida has an account with an automated plagiarism detection service which allows instructors to submit student assignments to be checked for plagiarism. I reserve the right to submit assignments to this detection system. Assignments are compared automatically with a huge database of journal articles, web articles, and previously submitted papers. The instructor receives a report showing exactly how a student’s paper was plagiarized. For more information, go to www.turnitin.com.

Class Notes Policy:

Audio and/or video recording of lectures is strictly prohibited. You may not circulate, sell, lease, or otherwise distribute transcripts of lectures for this course.

Cell Phones and other Electronic Devices:

Turn off all cell phones, pagers, PDAs, personal music systems, and all other electronic devices before entering the classroom.

Papers:

All papers submitted for this course must conform to the following format. They must be printed in twelve point Times New Roman font. Margins should be 1", no more. All sources must be correctly cited, following either the MLA or Chicago formats.

Students With Disabilities:

If you have a learning disability that requires special accommodation, you must speak to the instructor about it no later than the third session of class. Be prepared to furnish the appropriate documentation.