The good use of logic (in and of itself) may not help us to see beyond one’s own opinions unless all of the relevant facts and auxiliary assumption be examined also. Indeed, logic will rarely ‘teach’ one any new facts. The reason for us to improve our logical thinking is not so that we can thereby come to know more, but rather that we can learn to better believe, express, and more convincingly convey to others, the truth and usefulness of knowledge that we have gained from elsewhere, both more accurately and clearly.
The learning objective of this module is to enhance each student’s ability to raise relevant questions concerning the pre-exiting assumptions underlying the consistency of arguments, and truths of statements, as expressed by others. Over time, they will come to efficiently recognize (even seek out) novel ideas, concepts and events, whilst also learning to generate targeted questions which will help them to avoid errors based upon the drawing of unnecessary (often false) assumptions and reflexive responses.