PH2110/GEM2006 and GEM1004FC

Logic/ PH2110/ GEM2006

What is it about: Logic is basically the study of the laws of truth. In this module you learn how to distill complex English statements down to mathematical formula so that you can determine its truth value. What makes it difficult is the complexity of language: whenever we say something we usually carry many different meanings and this gives logicians a pretty hard job interpreting it.

Lectures: slow-moving, focusing on the basics, but the lecturer occasionally throws in some interesting philosophical bits that you might just miss out on if you doze off. But generally boring because who likes hearing two hours of variations upon "Snow is white, therefore there is snow"? The textbook is a useful complement to the lectures, if you find yourself lost just go back to the text.

Tutorials are very, very helpful. For me, at least. I find them more interesting than lectures because with tutorials you get down to the more complex and weird questions. I have a good tutor and very pro-active classmates who are not afraid to contradict each other. There are no participation points, only attendance points, but it's always good to go prepared (though you probably know this already).

Quizzes: straightforward, but gets harder throughout the semester. Predicate logic is the most confusing by far because it gives you so many equally valid ways to interpret a single statement. My advice would be to keep reading and looking up sample problems. With logical interpretation, as is with things like language and translation studies, it always helps to be exposed to as many examples as you can so are prepared to interpret any weird-looking statement that pops up in the final.


Reason and Persuasion/ GEM1004FC

What is it about: However you may infer from the title, it is not about how to argue better, how to think rationally, or even how to make rational choices. This is more a module about personal ethics and understanding different ethical viewpoints. Why this should or shouldn't matter is up to you.

Lectures, readings: All prepared beforehand on the Coursera website. The content is basically three dialogues by Plato, so you will be doing some ancient Greek philosophy. There are also prescribed books about moral living and interpersonal relationships.

Essay: How to solve an interpersonal dilemma. You are to propose a principle and show how and why it works, and why you think it is the best.

Tutorial/discussions: The Plato tutorials are informative, the tutors take you on a cursory page-by-page walkthrough of the text, kind of like those Shakespeare spoon-feeding lit classes I used to go through back in St Nicks. Though no harm in pointing out that there are some very good Youtube and iTunes U vids out there that do the same, but with deeper and perhaps more formal analysis. No participation points but you need to clock attendance. Also you need to post on the forum a certain number of times, which shouldn't be a problem as long as you know how to write and respond to critiques or arguments by your classmates.

Final: Open book, and apparently while the readings will definitely help, there are people can do well without reading one line of Plato. Said by the lecturer himself. It will be LSAT-type MCQ's testing your critical and logical thinking except the excerpts are from Plato, not some obscure literary or social sciences journal.