Readings and Activities

Monday's Activity

Your activity for Monday is as follows:

1. Read the Sherlock Holmes story, "A Case of Identity," looking for examples of induction, deduction, and causal reasoning. Then send me an example of each, as explained in 2 and 3 below.
2. As you are reading, keep in mind the distinctions between inductive and deductive forms of reasoning. This is probably trickier than it sounds, because (as you no doubt remember) almost any argument can be expressed either inductively or deductively. Note several examples of both inductive and deductive reasoning in the story and, when you are finished reading it, send me an email with one example each of induction and deduction. For each example, explain precisely why it is inductive or deductive, and also how it would have to be phrased in order to be an example of the other kind.
3. Also as you are reading, keep in mind the two forms of causal arguments ("x is the difference" and "x is the commonality"), and note any causal arguments you encounter. Then, in an email to me, give one example of causal reasoning, and explain how it works. Tuesday, you will be able to everyone's examples and my comments on Induction, Deduction, and Causation.

Tuesday's Activity

There are two parts to today's activity.

1. Just for fun, read the Declaration of Independence and outline that document as a conditional chain argument by grouping together parallel claims. You don't have to do anything with it, but I thought you would be interested to see what an almost textbook example of critical reasoning that document is. And no wonder--the Declaration in particular, and the American Revolution in general, were products of the intellectual movement we call the Age of Enlightenment, which rediscovered (once again) the beauty and precision of classical forms of thinking, not just in argumentation, but in music, art, literature, and so on.
2. Then, create three conditional arguments and one conditional chain argument (with at least four links), and email them to me, along with your explanations for each. Try to be inventive--challenge yourself and (since I will again create a page with these examples on, to use in review at the end of the week) your classmates! Wednesday, you will be able to view everyone's conditional arguments.

Wednesday's Activity

There are only two short parts to today's activity, since you also have an essay due tomorrow, and the final exam coming up.

1. Create three non-universal syllogisms, explain whether they are valid or invalid, and then email them to me.
2. Surf the web, looking for a page or article that uses statistics in making an argument. Briefly summarize the argument in a sentence or two, and evaluate two examples of the statistics you find there. Send me the summary and evaluation, along with the URL of the web site where you found the statistics.

Good luck! Any questions?