Outline
PHIL 252 consists of ten units:
Unit 1: Why Critical Thinking?
Unit 2: Arguments and Bullshit
Unit 3: Validity as a Truth-Preserving Method
Unit 4: Classification and Definition
Unit 5: Categorical Logic and Syllogisms
Unit 6: Fallacies of Ambiguity, Meaning, and Representation
Unit 7: Science and Causal Reasoning
Unit 8: Science and Worldviews
Unit 9: Emotions, Generalizations, and Justification
Unit 10: Putting Critical Thinking into Practice
Learning outcomes
PHIL 252 has six major learning outcomes. After completing this course, students will be able to:
- Explain philosophical approaches to critical thinking.
- Reflect on their approach and attitudes toward critical thinking.
- Describe key features of various forms of arguments, including premises and conclusions, syllogisms, inductive or deductive, etc.
- Evaluate various arguments using appropriate methods, including validity, soundness, definitional clarification, fallacy identification, and appropriate skepticism for causal reasoning, statistical reasoning, and visual data representations.
- Describe key features of successful arguments, including dialectical acceptability, relevance, cogency, clarity, precision of language, etc.
- Apply select course concepts to their everyday critical thinking.
Evaluation
To receive credit for PHIL 252, you must complete and submit all of the assignments, quizzes, and the final project. You must achieve an overall grade of at least D (50 percent) for the course.
You will be evaluated on your understanding of the concepts presented in the course and on your ability to apply those concepts. Your final grade in the course will be based on the marks achieved for the following activities.
| Activity | Weight |
| Assignment 1: Am I a Critical Thinker? | 15% |
| Assignment 2: Reflection, Planning, and Practice | 25% |
| Mastery Quizzes (5 quizzes at 6% each) | 30% |
| Final Project: My Critical Thinking Toolkit | 30% |
| Total | 100% |
To learn more about assignments and examinations, please refer to Athabasca University’s online Calendar.
Materials
Digital course materials
Links to the following course materials will be made available in the course:
Clark, Daniel J., dir. 2018. Behind the Curve. Los Angeles: Delta-v Productions.
Dayton, Eric, and Kristin Rodier. 2024. Critical Thinking, Logic, and Argument: An Introduction. Athabasca: AU Press. https://doi.org/10.15215/remix/9781998944057.01.
Physical course materials
The following course materials are included in a course package that will be shipped to your home prior to your course’s start date:
Bergstrom, Carl T., and Jevin D. West. 2021. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. New York: Random House.
Other Materials
All other course materials are available online.