Category: Philosophy

…or so this article argues.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-high-school-philosophy-1.6331790

What do you think?

On Monday, April 8th we’ll have a test on the material we’ve covered so far (except the material on Plato that we’ve only just begun.)

The test will cover

• The argument for existence given by Descartes
• Logic (Truth tables and Validity, etc.)
• Fallacies (What are they? What are the common types of fallacies?)

Your written task, your presentations (on the fallacies), and your logic quiz will be a good guide to the sorts of questions you will be asked. Make sure that you review both Google Docs on the fallacies.

Read Chapter 6 of Bertrand Russell’s The Problems of Philosophy.

After reading that chapter, answer the questions below in your notes.

You overhear the following discussion in class.

Stephen: Paper always burns, that’s a scientific fact.
Claire: No it’s not, paper doesn’t burn if it’s wet!

1. Is “paper always burns” a scientific fact? Is “paper always burns unless it’s wet” a scientific fact?
2. Can you think of any scientific claims that are always true, without exception? What are they?
3. Does science depend on the assumption of the uniformity of nature? Explain.

On Thursday, October 18th we’ll have a test on the material we’ve covered so far.

This includes

• The argument for existence given by Descartes
• Logic (Truth tables and Validity)
• Fallacies (What are they? What are the common types of fallacies?)

Your written task, your presentations (on the fallacies), and your logic quiz will be a good guide to the sorts of questions you will be asked.

On Thursday, September 27th we’ll have a quiz on Logic.

For this quiz you should know how to symbolize the logical structure of a statement, how to show that an argument is valid/invalid, and how to show that a statement is a tautology/contradiction. You should also know the definitions of the relevant logical terminology.

Here are the questions we discussed in class today. If you didn’t get a chance to complete them in class, work on these before the quiz. If you can answer these questions, you should be well prepared for the quiz!

1. Symbolize the argument below and use truth tables to show that it is invalid.
   P1: If it’s raining outside then Dr. McDonald will have his umbrella.
   P2: It is not raining outside.
   C: Dr. McDonald does not have his umbrella.
2. Prove that the following argument form is valid.
   \[\begin{eqnarray}A\to B\\ B\to C\\  \overline{A \to C}\end{eqnarray}\]
3. Is the argument form below valid or invalid? Prove your answer.
   \[\begin{eqnarray}(A\wedge B)\to C\\ \overline{A \to (B \to C)}\end{eqnarray}\]

Use a truth table to show that the argument below is valid.

\[\begin{eqnarray}A\to B\\  \overline{\neg B \to \neg A}\end{eqnarray}\]

Welcome Grade 10 Philosophers!

I hope you’re enjoying the course so far, and there’s lots of exciting things to come!

You can download the course overview document here (you’ll need to be using your Mulgrave account to access that document).

Future homework assignments will be posted on this website, along with other resources that you may find useful in the course.