After this course, the student will have
1. basic knowledge of philosophical logic, theories of argumentation, and inductive/probabilistic reasoning.
2. the ability to recognise mistakes and fallacies in arguments and texts from all of the subdisciplines, as well as in texts from economic or political institutions.
3. the ability to highlight such mistakes and fallacies in oral discussion with others.
4. the ability to improve the logical and argumentative quality of her own writing.
5. the ability to reflect upon her own logical mistakes and psychological biases.
6. the ability to presentation complex and abstract issues in a short time-frame
7. the ability to assess presentations not only in terms of content, but also in terms of its other qualities
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Reasoning about political and economic affairs is, like all human reasoning, subject to the rules of logic and the rules of probabilistic reasoning. But what are these rules? When is an argument deductively or inductively valid, or convincing? And what sort of mistakes do people typically make when they reason? This course provides an introduction to basic logic and inductive, probabilistic reasoning (e.g. Bayesian analysis). The course also touches upon frequently made logical mistakes, common fallacies in argumentation, and the distortion of reasoning by (implicit) biases. Hence, the student will not only develop a basic understanding of logic and probabilistic reasoning but also improve her critical skills by being able to recognize and diagnose mistakes and fallacies in policy documents as well as academic texts.
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