Logic and Philosophy of Language

This course introduces logic, critical thinking, and the philosophy of language. It presupposes that human beings are social and linguistic creatures endowed with the gift of communicating, meaning acquisition, and transmission. Language has a well-defined structure, a set of logical and grammatical rules that enables people to communicate and understand themselves and each other effectively. This course contains three parts. The first part is logic as an art of reasoning, including deductive reasoning and categorical and propositional logic. The second part, critical thinking, is related to philosophical and scientific reasoning but deals with informal and formal fallacies in ordinary, everyday reasoning and argumentation. The third part focuses on theories of meaning (from the ancient to the contemporary authors), pragmatic theories, and various expressive linguistic forms. The course will instruct students to express themselves clearly in speech and writing, which will be indispensable in their further theological studies.