electiveHQ

"One of the most salient features of our culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes their share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.” (Harry Frankfurt, 'On Bullshit'). Thinking is easy, but *reasoning* -- in particular, reasoning *well* - is hard. This course is concerned with the question: how might we reason better, so that we can have more accurate beliefs and make better choices?  In the first part of the course, we learn about how our cognitive biases make it hard for us to reason well, and what the typical characteristics of a good reasoner are; what an *argument* is, and what makes an argument either good or bad; what makes one claim *evidence* for another claim, and how we might fail in our search for evidence; and how to extract an argument from a piece of text, in order to assess whether it is good or bad. In the second part of the course, we learn about rhetoric and the art of persuasion; bullshit; fake news; and conspiracy theories. Finally, we'll think about *paradoxes* (such as that generated by the statement ‘This sentence is not true’), which seem to threaten our most basic assumptions about good reasoning. The course is taught by Dr. Daniel Esmonde Deasy (Assistant Professor, UCD School of Philosophy) and is delivered in the form of 24 one-hour lectures and 7 one-hour tutorials. Lectures will be delivered *live* during timetabled slots (and recorded for those who cannot attend). Each lecture will consist primarily in the presentation of material by the lecturer, as well as discussion of the material.