Logic Level 2: The Shape of an Argument

Level 1 asked whether a reason is a good one. Level 2 looks at the shape of reasoning more closely, still in everyday words and with no symbols. Short lessons find the reasons people leave unsaid, follow arguments that come in chains, and tell what is needed for something from what is enough for it. They take "only if", "unless", "not", "and" and "or" apart, draw "all" and "some" as circles to check two-step arguments at a glance, and catch the tricks hidden in words - one word with two meanings, arguments that go round in a circle, slippery slopes and loaded questions. The course ends with real arguments - experts, comparisons, objections and replies - and how to weigh one that can never be a proof. You need only a notebook and the talk around you.