Schedule: We will meet for two weeks, five days a week, 1.5 hours per day. (15 hours total.)
Format: An intro to fundamentals of logic, with lots of lecture to cover concepts, and as much class interaction and individual practice during class that we can get. We will learn concepts and practice them to attain the mastery we can in a short time. No grading; homework is optional.
Cost: $300 per person for a group class of 4 or more students; $1087.5 for one-on-one tutoring.
Payment options: Payments can be made via PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, cash, or check.
Materials: Paper and pencil. No text.
For more details or to schedule a class, contact Michael by email at michaelgold@goldams.com or by phone at 281-770-2276.
“My teenage son enjoyed this class. A lot of material was covered. The instructor was very passionate about his subject.”
–Jean, parent, about the Outschool class “Logic Essentials: How to Think Well,” 19 Dec 2020
Class Description.
This is stuff everyone needs! Adult and child alike. The material we will learn is what we need not only for science but also for everyday life. It is not merely book-learning stuff. It will help you up your game in school, at work, and in life. After all, conceptual thinking is everywhere, in everything we turn our minds to to know, to value, and to interact with: friendship, fitness, wisdom, health, work, diet, and. more.
Where should you go to college? Where should you work? Is that person at work trustworthy? How do we avoid cancer? How do we fight cancer? What is cancer? Is that person really a friend? What is the best way to exercise? Do we even need it? What is sleep? Do we need it? What are the consequences of neglecting sleep? What is a dog, or a cat, or a horse? What should we do to best take care of a pet so we are true to its biological nature? And how should be best take care of ourselves?
We need to be able to think logically to help ourselves, help our friends, help our family, help at work, and help society. We need to think well to be the best we can be to be healthy and happy, and to help others be healthy and happy. How do we know if we are right? How do we know if our group of friends, our family, or our team at work are doing the right thing? What if we are wrong?
For the love of life and things good, we need to know! Logic guides us in how to know the truth and how to use that truth well.
History, too, shows us the importance of logic by showing us the mistakes — everything from follies to destruction — that happened when people lacked or violated logic. And it shows us some of the greatness and beauty that happened when people were logical, i.e., true to reality.
Unlike what happens after some other logic courses, you will find yourself forever using what we cover in this course. This material is invaluable for anyone who will work in science, who will have a career — whether finance, parenting, philosophy, marketing, music, art, education, technology, particle physics — and who will need to think their way through problems and through life. That’s everyone! 🙂
We will use a combination of lecture, interactive discussion, Q&A, and in-class work. Be prepared to think, to learn, to take notes, and to have new horizons open up.
Topics covered:
- What logic is
- Concretes & concepts: keeping it real, keeping it efficient
- Definition: knowing what you are talking about
- Classification: keeping your mind flexible, organized, and adaptable
- Induction: drawing meaningful conclusions on your own; checking other people’s
- Integration: making your knowledge useful
“Really enjoyable class from a teacher that cared and knows his stuff.”
–Anthony S., parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Essentials: How to Think Well,” 19 Jul 2020
Tentative schedule:
Week 1
Day 1: What Logic Is and Why You Need It
aims of course; need for logic; what logic is; define thinking, truth, knowledge, understanding
Day 2: What Logic Is and Why You Need It
logic continued
Day 3: Concepts
how we think; what a concept is; how we use them; some rules for forming concepts; basics of how we form concepts
Day 4: Concepts
how we think; what a concept is; how we use them; some rules for forming concepts; basics of how we form concepts
Day 5: Definitions
what a definition is; logical definitions vs. dictionary definitions; why they are important; how we use them; formulating definitions
Week 2
Day 1: Definitions
what a definition is; logical definitions vs. dictionary definitions; why they are important; how we use them; formulating definitions
Day 2: Classification
what is classification; why it is important; how we use it in life and in science; some rules of classification
Day 3: induction
induction vs. deduction; how induction (i.e., generalization) works; how to do it right and how to make it work for you
Day 4: Induction
induction continued
Day 5: integration
what cognitive integration is: connecting to the big picture; why it is important (e.g., in wisdom); examples of how it is not practiced as much as it should be; examples of its use in science and life; advice on how to use it
Note: this is a course on logic, so we need to be prepared to think about our thinking. And the material and methods could be taught to adults, business professionals, and scientists, too; it’s not just easy stuff for kids. 🙂
Let’s make sure we add to our education the things Martin Luther King, Jr. , Thomas Edison, and others say are important. Let’s make sure we have the best education we can get, so we can live the best life we can — for ourselves, our friends, our family, and our community.
“But educators at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health assert that memorization alone does not a scientist make — above all, students must be critical, creative thinkers who are honest and responsible with data. In order to train scientists as critical thinkers, the R3 Graduate Science Initiative was recently created in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology (MMI), led by director Gundula Bosch, Ph.D.” (from: https://biomedicalodyssey.blogs.hopkinsmedicine.org/2018/03/revolutionizing-with-r3-a-new-ph-d-program-seeks-to-train-scientists-as-critical-thinkers/)
“At this point, I often wonder whether or not education is fulfilling its purpose. A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit in many instances do not give us objective and unbiased truths. … Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.” –Martin Luther King, Jr
“The present system does not give elasticity to the mind. It casts the brain into a mold. It insists that the child must accept. It does not encourage original thought or reasoning, and it lays more stress on memory than on observation. The result of accepting unrelated facts is the fostering of conservatism [in thinking]. It breeds fear, and from fear comes ignorance.” –Thomas Edison
“For their part, Casadevall and Bosch write that science education reform should result in scientists who are: (1) broadly interested, creative and self-directed, as were some scientists in the era of Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, and Linus Pauling; (2) versed in epistemology, sound research conduct and error analysis, according to the “3R” norms of good scientific practice—rigor, responsibility and reproducibility; (3) skilled in reasoning using mathematical, statistical and programming methods and able to tackle logical fallacies.” (from: https://hub.jhu.edu/2018/01/03/biomedical-science-education-reform-casadevall-bosch/)
Learning Goals.
To know what a concept is and how we form them.
To know rules and standards for forming concepts.
To know what a definition is and how it is important.
To know rules of forming good definitions, and how they are contextual.
To know some rules for classifying concepts.
To know what induction is and how we use it.
To know rules for forming valid generalizations.
To know what cognitive integration is and rules for practicing it.
“Mr. Gold’s class was wonderful and our daughter enjoyed it. Mr. Gold kept her thinking. We highly recommend it.”
–Joseph P., parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Corner: Generalization: Its Nature, Its Rules, Its Deep Importance,”3 Apr 2020
“Our daughter really enjoyed this class. She couldn’t wait to share what she learned with us, We highly recommend this class.”
–Joseph P., parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Corner: Concepts, Our Unit of Knowledge,” 3 Apr 2020
“Both my kids, age 13 and 15, enjoyed this Logic class. It was very challenging and the kids really had to think!”
–Cat, parent, about the Outschool class ““Logic Essentials: How to Think Well,” 21 Feb 2020