How to Disagree: Informal Logic and Argumentation

3 units

This course is an introduction to informal logic and argumentation theory, with an emphasis on how these can help us cultivate and engage with disagreement. Disagreement with other people is a ubiquitous feature of our lives: we encounter disagreements in politics, in business, in academic contexts, and in our personal lives. Disagreement is also completely normal: we should expect to disagree with our friends, our colleagues, our co-workers, and our fellow citizens. And disagreement is also valuable in deliberation, inquiry, and planning, the success of which require collaboration and coordination between people with different views and perspectives. Students in this course will develop skills and learn strategies for representing arguments, charitable interpretation, analysis and criticism, identifying common fallacies, locating sources of disagreement, and having more constructive and respectful debates.