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Curricular information is subject to change
As a result of studying this course, students will learn to:
1. Identify key concepts in critical thinking such as 'reason', 'argument', 'premise', 'conclusion', 'evidence', 'valid', 'fallacy', 'cognitive bias' and 'paradox'.
2. Understand what makes an argument (logically) good or bad.
3. Reconstruct and assess short arguments presented in texts.
4. Distinguish lies, bullshit, and rhetoric.
The key topics in this course are:
1. Reasoning (good and bad).
2. Cognitive Biases (common patterns of thought that lead to bad reasoning).
3. Fallacies (commonly accepted patterns of bad reasoning).
4. Arguments (what they are; how they are structured).
5. Evidence (what it is; how it works; what makes it strong or weak).
6. Logical validity (a quality of arguments whose conclusions must be true if their premises are true).
7. Inductive strength (a quality of arguments whose conclusions are likely to be true given the truth of their premises).
8. Rhetoric (the art of persuasion).
9. Lies and Bullshit.
10. Paradoxes (arguments that seem to lead to contradictions).
Student Effort Type | Hours |
---|---|
Lectures | 24 |
Tutorial | 7 |
Autonomous Student Learning | 94 |
Total | 125 |
Not applicable to this module.
Description | Timing | Component Scale | % of Final Grade | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Attendance: Participation in tutorial exercises. | Throughout the Trimester | n/a | Pass/Fail Grade Scale | No | 20 |
No |
Assignment: Five short online MCQs. (There will be six MCQs in total, but only your best five will be counted.) | Throughout the Trimester | n/a | Graded | No | 20 |
No |
Examination: A written two-hour examination covering material from the whole course. | 2 hour End of Trimester Exam | No | Graded | No | 60 |
No |
Resit In | Terminal Exam |
---|---|
Spring | No |
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback
• Self-assessment activities
1. Online MCQs will generate immediate online feedback. 2. There will be feedback in the lectures on the online MCQs. 3. You will receive feedback in tutorials on informal assignments and exercises. 4. There will be a set of practice MCQs with an answer sheet that you can use to test yourself and check your results.
Name | Role |
---|---|
Antonio Pio De Mattia | Tutor |
Ms Aisling Phipps | Tutor |
Petros Satrazanis | Tutor |
Dr Liam Ó Beagáin | Tutor |