Pokhara University (PU)
Fundamentals of Logic – Syllabus
BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration)
For: Second Year | Fourth Semester
LOG 101.3 | Credit Hours: 3

Course Objectives:
This course aims to develop the ability of critical reasoning of students so that they gain the skill to argue well and detect good and bad arguments.

Course Contents:

1. Basic Logical Concepts and language Functions: 5 hours
   Meaning of logic, Propositions.Premises and arguments, Complex arguments, Arguments identification: conclusion and premise indicators, contextual arguaments, unstated propositions, Deduction and induction, Validity and Truth, Arguments and explanations
2. Analysis of Arguments: 4 hours
   Arguments diagrams, Passage analysis of complex argumentative passages, Problem solving, Problem in reasoning, Retrograde reasoning
3. Languages Functions: 3 hours
   Basic functions of language, Discourse: forms of discourse, Emotive and cognitive meaning, Agreement and disagreement
4. Definitions and Fallacies: 4 hours
   Kinds of definitions and disputes and their resolutions, Denotations and cannotations, Concept and types of fallacies, Relevance, presumption and ambiguity
5. Deduction: 16 hours
   Theory of deduction, Categorical propositions and classes, Square of opposition, Categorical syllogism, Nature of syllogistic arguments, Syllogisms testing with Venn- diagram, Syllogistic rules and fallacies, Syllogistic arguments in ordinary language, Symbols logic, Symbols for conjuction, negation, disjunction and punctuation, Statement forms, Material equivalence, Methods of deduction: Proving validity and invalidity using quantification theory
6. Induction: 8 hours
   Argument by analogy, Appraising analogical argument, Refutation, Casual connections, Cause and effect, The Mill’s method, Method of difference, Method of residues, Method of concomitant variation
7. Science and Hypothesis: 8 hours
   The values of science, Scientific and unscientific explanation, Evaluation of scientific explanations, Scientific investigation stages, Pattern of scientific investigation, Experiments and ad hoc hypothesis

Text Book:

1. Irving M. Copi and Carl Cohen (11th ed.): Introduction to Logic, Pearson Education.

Reference Book:

1. Patrick J. Hurley: A Consise Introduction to Logic, Wadsworth Thomson Learning