Hagerty Course Reserves some of the texts for the course can be found here including supplementary readings and some relevant films. The extra password needed for some materials is AMAT101 .

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PHILOSOPHY 105.013 Critical Reasoning

 

 

Syllabus for PHIL105.013 Critical Reasoning, Winter, 2012 - At this link you'll find the syllabus for the course. Please read it carefully and bring it to class on the first day so we can discuss it, clear up anything that needs further explanation and start getting to know one another.

 

All Opinions Are Not Created Equal: Critical Reasoning Theory and Practice (This is the Text for PHIL105 Critical Reasoning, Section 013, Winter, 2012) - This link takes you to text for the course. Please let me know if you have any questions or find any typos. Starting the first week of class you will also be able to purchase a copy of this text at the Drexel Copy Shop. A copy of this text will also be placed on reserve in the Hagerty Library.

 

Exercise Set #1 Here is the first Exercise Set for the term. Please read and follow all of the instructions carefully and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Exercise Set #2 Here is the second Exercise Set for the term. Please read and follow all of the instructions carefully and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Study Guide for the Midterm Examination Here is everything you need to know to prepare for the Midterm. Please read it carefully and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Exercise Set #3 Here is the third Exercise Set for the term. Please read and follow all of the instructions carefully and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Exercise Set #4 Here is the fourth Exercise Set for the term. Please read and follow all of the instructions carefully and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Study Guide for the Final Examination Here is everything you need to know to prepare for the Final Exam. Please read it carefully and let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

 

Reserves and Supplemental Materials:

 

Books & Articles:

• Critical Reasoning Text, Amato (4 Hour Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves) required text

• Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: Lies, Damn Lies, And The Public Relations Industry, Stauber (4 Hour Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• Trust Us, We're Experts!: How Industry Manipulates Science And Gambles With Your Future, Rampton (2 Hr Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• You Just Don't Understand: Women And Men In Conversation, Tannen (2 Hour Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• The Consumer Trap: Big Business Marketing In American Life, Dawson (2 Hour Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• Culture Jam, Kalle Lasn (2 Hour Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell (Overnight Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• War Made Easy: How Presidents And Pundits Keep Spinning Us To Death, Norman Solomon (4 Hour Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• "America! Meet Your Puppet Master!" by Fabian Marquez (extra password: AMATO105)

• "Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics," by Joel Best (extra password: AMATO105)

• "Some Professors Take Payments to Express Views," by Michael Schroeder (extra password: AMATO105)

• "Message Machine--Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand" by David Barstow

• "Behind the Pentagon’s Propaganda Plan" by Rachel Coen

• "How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman

• "What Makes Us Think?" by Howard Gardner

Video & Audio:

• Manufacturing Consent (1992)

• Fear & Favor In The Newsroom (1996) VHS 4 Hour Loan, or click on link, extra password: AMATO105

• FRONTLINE: The Merchants of Cool (2001)

• Toxic Sludge Is Good For You: The Public Relations Industry Unspun (2002) DVD 4 Hr Loan, or click on link, extra password: AMATO105. In addition to the Hagerty online streaming version, there are Flash versions of the film online divided into chapters here and here. The film is also at Google Video here. A transcript can be found here.

• Constructing Public Opinion: How Politicians & the Media Misrepresent the Public (2001) DVD 4 Hr Loan, or click on link, extra password: AMATO105. A transcript of the film can be found here.

• No Logo - Brands, Globalization & Resistance (2003)

• FRONTLINE: The Persuaders (2004)

• Thank You for Smoking (2005) (DVD Overnight Loan at Hagerty Course Reserves)

• Drug Rep Radio Times conversation and article by Dr. Dan Carlat, discusses promotional practices of the pharmaceutical industry

• OutFoxed (2006)

• WHYY Radio Times Stephen Baker talks about data-mining and the "Numerati"

• Weapons of Mass Deception (2006)

• John Stauber Interview concerning his book “The Best War Ever”

• Buying the War (2006) A transcript can be found here.

• FRONTLINE: News War (2007)

• War Made Easy (2007)

• What Ever Happened to Investigative Journalism? On The Media August 15, 2008

Other Resources:

 

Mission: Critical, Critical Thinking-Informal Logic Site and On-line Laboratory This site is a great place to sharpen your logical skills, with readings, exercises, logic games and activities. Click on the Home Page button to get started.

 

Project Implicit Think you are already aware of all your assumptions and prejudices? Check this out!

 

FactCheck.org The Annenberg Political Fact Check is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. FactCheck is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, consumer advocate for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics, monitoring the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases. Their goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding. The APPC accepts no funding from business corporations, labor unions, political parties, lobbying organizations or individuals. It is funded primarily by an endowment from the Annenberg Foundation.

 

PolitiFact “PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you find the truth in the presidential campaign. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times and CQ will analyze the candidates' speeches, TV ads and interviews and determine whether the claims are accurate. PolitiFact is bolder than previous journalistic fact-checking efforts because we’ll make a call, declaring whether a claim is True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True or False. We even have a special category for the most ridiculous claims that we call “Pants on Fire.” The St. Petersburg Times is Florida’s largest newspaper and the winner of six Pulitzer Prizes. Washington-based Congressional Quarterly is the authoritative news source for coverage of Congress and politics. Congressional Quarterly and the Times are affiliates of the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by the Poynter Institute, a center for journalism education in St. Petersburg.”

 

Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting Offers well-documented criticisms of the effects of corporate control on reporting and defends journalists and the First Amendment when they are under attack.

 

Center for Media and Democracy The Center for Media & Democracy is a nonprofit, public interest organization funded by individuals and nonprofit foundations and dedicated to investigative reporting about the public relations industry.

 

The Committee of Concerned Journalists "The Committee of Concerned Journalists is a consortium of journalists, publishers, owners and academics worried about the future of the profession. To secure journalism's future, the group believes that journalists from all media, geography, rank and generation must be clear about what sets our profession apart from other endeavors. To accomplish this, the group is creating a national conversation among journalists about principles."

 

The Final Word is Hooray some of the most notable media comments from the early days of the Iraq War, gathered by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

 

Still Not The News For an update on video news releases, see this recent report from the Center for Media and Democracy.

 

On The Media Lively discussion, informative news, and insightful analysis of issues and controversies regarding the media produced by WNYC, New York public radio. Airs Sundays at 11:00 am on WHYY FM 91 in Philly.

 

Independent Media Center- Philadelphia It's Independent; It's Media; It's Philly. Read, participate, contribute.

 

The Center for Science in the Public Interest Confused about the multitude of competing claims made in the name of science? Check CSPIN out. They've been working on these issues for years and they'll help you put it in a reasonable perspective.

 

Media Education Foundation organization producing and making available video resources offering intelligent, informed perspectives on events from the interpersonal to the international

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