Critical Thinking

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the standard methods of informal reasoning as applied to the creation of written arguments. Methods of demonstration, criticism, and defense are examined, along with rhetorical strategies for creating a persuasive case. Informal fallacies are covered, as are questions of truth, validity, and consistency. (spring) 3013 Aesthetics: Philosophy of the Fine Arts 3 Examination of the many critical questions that surround the serious study of art as an essential human activity. Principally, these questions are of two sorts: questions about the experience of art and the value judgments we make about these experiences and the objects that evoke them and questions about the “object” of aesthetic experience. The dominant ques- tion that unites the course is, “What is art, and why is it important for human life?”