The Art of Arguing Well: Logic Matters in Everyday Life! (6 Classes/Weeks)

Students will learn by listening, watching, thinking, and talking...by engaging with the teacher and with each other.  The beginning of the class will involve a brief welcome to the class intro as well as voluntary student introductions, in order for everyone to get comfortable.

Topics will be given by the teacher, explained, and then the student's will be encouraged to ask questions about the topic.  Cases and examples will be given and talked through, and students will be asked to use reason and logic to arrive at sound conclusions.  Illustrations for concepts, when used, will be presented by the teacher on PowerPoint Slides or other media.  All student questions are welcomed and I will encourage questions to be asked in a polite, orderly manner.  Approximately 66% of the class will involve the teacher explaining concepts, and approximately 34% of the class will involve student engagement via questions, discussion and showing they understand the concept.

This class is recommended as a foundational class to be taken first before any of the other classes Mr. Spiess offers.  It provides a sound foundation for knowing how to reason, a critical tool in understanding the abstract concepts most of Mr. Spiess' classes deal with.

Topics covered include:

Intro: (Week 1)

•	What is the difference between reason and logic? (Logic is a tool that is used in reasoning, but to reason is broader.  Example: If you see two ducks on pond A and six ducks on pond B, you will say, 'Pond B has more ducks than pond A' - you used simple reasoning.  We use reason regularly regarding physical things we experience each day, but logic is a process and method we use in our minds to understand things that are often abstract.)
•	What is critical thinking and why is it important?  (Critical thinking does not mean being critical of others!  Rather, it is applying reason and logic to situations, problems or difficulties we encounter in order to find the best answer.  We will encourage critical thinking as a way of life. 
Examples: The road is closed so what is the best way to our destination?  My bicycle broke down and I need to use it - what do I do?  I hear that is a dangerous area, so how do we navigate it?  I earn so much money each week, so what are my living options?)
•	What is a good and useful way to argue versus a bad and counter-productive way to argue with others?  (Generally speaking, it is good to keep arguments in the realm of principles and stay away from personal observations.  It is good to argue in an inquisitive way with the motivation to learn or understand something. Good arguing normally happens in a non-emotional discussion.  Examples:  How come the store is only open to 3 pm?  Why do we have to harvest the fruit at this time of the year?  Why do you think it is important to spend money on that?)
•	Are some things more worthy of arguing about than others?  (What do you student's think?  Is arguing over the flavor of ice cream we should buy as worthy as arguing over whether we should not talk to a particular friend due to an incident that happened?)
•	Are there different kinds of logic?  (This will cover inductive formal (deductive) versus informal (inductive) logic.  Sub-topics include formal logic's format of premises and conclusions; the types of answers we are looking for [valid or invalid, formal; or strong or weak, informal]; the confidence in our conclusions [certainty, formal; probability, informal].)

Fallacies of Relevance: (Week's 2 - 3/4)

•	What are the main logical fallacies of relevance?
What are the "Against the Source" or Ad Fontem arguments?  (We will cover six of these type fallacies, including Ad Hominem, which is saying bad things about the opponent to avoid the argument.)
•	What are the fallacies which appeal to emotion rather than to facts? (We will cover six of these types of fallacies, including the Appeal to Fear fallacy.)
•	What are the fallacies that distract us from the topic we are discussing?  (We will cover four of these fallacies, including the Strawman fallacy.)

Fallacies of Presumption & Clarity:  (Week 5-6)

•	What are fallacies of Presupposition?  These contain hidden assumptions that make the argument unreasonable.
We will look at fallacies of presumption like Begging the Question and the Is-Ought Fallacy.

•	What are fallacies of Induction?  These make unnecessary assumptions about empirical data or inductive reasoning from data.
We will look at the Sweeping and Hasty Generalization fallacies.

•	What are fallacies of Clarity?  Arguments that fail because they contain words, phrases, or syntax that distort or cloud their meaning.