Formal Logic Classes

[OGirly]

I will have to start taking my formal logic classes after this summer semester, and I must say I'm a little nervous. I've put off these classes as long as possible, but now they are pre-reqs for classes I need for my major...no more avoiding them. Would any of you be able to recommend some good primers on logic that I could read or work through with a tutor prior to actually taking the classes? You all came through for me before when asking about general atheism books so I'm kind of hoping you all have the same enthusiasm for logic

[tor]

I learned everything about logic all on my own without any books or any information from the outside. I discovered it all in my head.
Passed all logic classes with highest grades without failing ever.

[OGirly]

I learned everything about logic all on my own without any books or any information from the outside. I discovered it all in my head.
Passed all logic classes with highest grades without failing ever.

I wish I could do that, but nope. I'm not as gifted, and I need to read

[tor]

Then just read what they give you.

[OGirly]

Then just read what they give you.

I usually like to get a head start on my classes. I try to work with a tutor for my classes a semester before I take them. That way I can just focus on learning the material in depth instead of learning it all fresh quickly. I can't get anything lower than a B because of Pre-Med requirements so I'm forced to have to really apply myself especially in my science and math courses. Logic counts as a mathematics course at my university so I MUST do well in it as a low grade in logic can hurt my chances of acceptance into medical school :\

[Clueless Morgan]

Understanding Arguments: An Introduction to Informal Logic was the one recommended for my online logic class (which I promptly fell away from around week 4 when my life decided to become complicated. To be fair, though, it was a free class I was taking for fun so...) Here's the amazon link for you to check it out. It's a legit text book for logic so it's 500+ pages.
http://www.amazon.com/Cengage-Advantage-...rt+fogelin

PM me your email address and I'll email you the PDF I got of the book from my class so you don't have to shell out the $60 to buy it on amazon.

If your interested, I also have all of the videos from the class downloaded and if they don't make the email too gigantic I can try sending you some of them, too, but there's a ton of them (maybe 10-12 per week and the class is on week 12 right now). An alternative would be, I suppose, trying to upload them to youtube but I don't know if they're copywritten.

I also read Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies by Robert J Gula which is a book just on fallacies but is interesting and is WAY shorter than the one above.

Good luck in your class! Do better than I did in mine! :p

[Angrboda]

Tarski's Introduction to Logic is highly praised, but I can't find my copy to determine how appropriate it is. I've never read it.

If you're really concerned about how you'll do in it, maybe you might audit a night class, public ed class, or community college offering.

(ETA: Found my copy of Tarski. It's very short, so it packs a lot into a small space, but I don't think it would pose a difficulty for a pre-med.)

[SteelCurtain]

OP: Does anyone have some good resources on Formal Logic?
Tor: I know all the logics, I learnded them all by myself, I'm really good at it!


OGirly: This is the book that I read in preparation for my formal logic class in college. It was very helpful, a great primer for me, and is written in such a way that it is accessible for someone (as I was) that doesn't have any knowledge or training in the field.

[MindForgedManacle]

You can't go wrong by learning what are and how to spot logical fallacies, particularly formal logical fallacies.
All in all, learning to spot circular arguments, non sequiturs and arguments from ignorance in particular are endlessly useful, even beyond the scope of a course on formal logic as I myself have experienced.