The main goal of this course is for students to develop the ability to analyze and evaluate the views they come across and to strengthen their own ability to take a stand. Students will learn to exercise various strategies for making and analyzing arguments, evaluating evidence, spotting and avoiding faulty reasoning. Course material and class discussions will often be applied to real-world issues.

It takes practice to master the skills involved in critical thinking. For most class sessions, students will be expected to do some reading, and then do some homework problems from the textbook. As long as students keep up with the reading and homework, the course should not be overly demanding. In fact, be prepared to have fun with this fascinating material!

Student Learning Outcomes
A student who completes this course successfully will be able to:
Describe the characteristics of effective deductive and inductive reasoning.
Detect logical fallacies in moral, political, and scientific arguments.
Formulate arguments with sound and persuasive reasoning.
Identify common psychological barriers to logical and critical thinking.
Examine the sgtudent's own weaknesses in critical thinking and implement strategies to address them.
Evaluate competing arguments in a controversy in a field that interests the student.