Logic studies the rules for clear thinking; how to reason well even about the most difficult of subjects—everything from morals to science. We study Logic to acquaint ourselves with the guidelines to which reason must conform if we wish to avoid the intellectual snares that our minds daily encounter. Formal Logic will teach you to think with ease, order, and correctness and without fear of contradicting ourselves. It will teach you to be exact in interpreting those arguments that others challenge you with and to be clear and precise in your response.
Formal Logic examines the relations between our concepts and judgments, and it teaches how these concepts and judgments must be arranged so that reasoning can be correct and valid—the form of argument. Formal Logic is concerned with taking knowledge that you already have and validly pulling out new conclusions, regardless of how true or certain those conclusions are. Formal Logic answers the question: does the conclusion really follow from the premises?
The course of Formal Logic culminates in a study of the fallacies, the most common ways that people violate the rules of sound reasoning in order to win an argument. At the end of this course you’ll be able to spot fallacious arguments, and give the reason why such arguments are bad.