Philosophy & Reason Senior Syllabus 2004 Philosophy & Reason Senior Syllabus © The State of Queensland (Queensland Studies Authority) 2004 Copyright protects this work. Please read the Copyright notice at the end of this work. Queensland Studies Authority, PO Box 307, Spring Hill, Queensland 4004, Australia Phone: (07) 3864 0299 Fax: (07) 3221 2553 Email: [email protected] Website: www.qsa.qld.edu.au job 1544 CONTENTS 1 RATIONALE ...................................................................................................................................... 1 2 GLOBAL AIMS.................................................................................................................................. 3 3 GENERAL OBJECTIVES.................................................................................................................. 4 3.1 Knowledge:............................................................................................................................. 4 3.2 Application ............................................................................................................................. 4 3.3 Communication ...................................................................................................................... 4 3.4 Affective................................................................................................................................. 4 4 COURSE ORGANISATION .............................................................................................................. 5 4.1 Time allocation....................................................................................................................... 5 4.2 Sequencing of the course........................................................................................................5 4.3 Strands and units of study....................................................................................................... 6 4.4 Sample course organisations................................................................................................... 6 4.5 Composite classes................................................................................................................... 7 4.6 Work program requirements................................................................................................... 7 5 STRANDS AND UNITS OF STUDY ................................................................................................ 8 Critical Reasoning strand .................................................................................................................... 8 Unit 1: Let’s be Reasonable...................................................................................... 8 Unit 2: Tell me why.................................................................................................. 9 Unit 3: What are the Odds? .................................................................................... 10 Unit 4: That’s Debatable! ....................................................................................... 12 Unit 5: School option in Critical Reasoning........................................................... 14 Deductive Logic strand...................................................................................................................... 15 Unit 6: Propositional Logic .................................................................................... 15 Unit 7: Contemporary and Traditional Logic ......................................................... 15 Unit 8: Monadic Logic............................................................................................ 17 Unit 9: Dyadic Logic .............................................................................................. 18 Unit 10: School option in Logic ............................................................................. 18 Philosophy strand .............................................................................................................................. 19 Unit 11: Choice and Action .................................................................................... 19 Unit 12: Ways of Knowing..................................................................................... 20 Unit 13: Society and the Individual ........................................................................ 21 Unit 14: Thinkers and Schools of Thought............................................................. 23 Unit 15: School option in Philosophy..................................................................... 25 6 LEARNING EXPERIENCES ........................................................................................................... 26 6.1 Suggested learning experiences............................................................................................ 26 Critical Reasoning strand........................................................................................ 26 Deductive Reasoning strand ................................................................................... 28 Philosophy strand ................................................................................................... 32 7 LANGUAGE EDUCATION, AND QUANTITATIVE CONCEPTS AND SKILLS ...................... 33 7.1 Language education..............................................................................................................33 7.2 Quantitative concepts and skills ........................................................................................... 34 7.3 Learning experiences and the key competencies.................................................................. 35 8 ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................. 36 8.1 Underlying principles of exit assessment ............................................................................. 36 Continuous assessment ........................................................................................... 37 Balance ................................................................................................................... 37 Mandatory aspects of the syllabus.......................................................................... 37 Significant aspects of the course of study............................................................... 37 Selective updating................................................................................................... 38 Fullest and latest information ................................................................................. 38 8.2 Planning an assessment program.......................................................................................... 38 8.2.1 Special consideration ................................................................................. 39 8.3 Suggested assessment techniques ......................................................................................... 39 8.4 Exit criteria ........................................................................................................................... 40 Criterion 1: Knowledge .......................................................................................... 40 Criterion 2: Application.......................................................................................... 41 Criterion 3: Communication................................................................................... 41 8.5 Requirements for verification folio....................................................................................... 41 8.6 Determining exit levels of achievement ............................................................................... 42 9 EDUCATIONAL EQUITY............................................................................................................... 45 10 RESOURCES.................................................................................................................................... 46 Strand 1: Critical Reasoning.............................................................................................................. 46 Strand 2: Deductive logic ................................................................................................................. 46 Strand 3: Philosophy ......................................................................................................................... 47 COPYRIGHT NOTICE.............................................................................................................................. 50 1 RATIONALE Philosophy & Reason is concerned with developing the ability to reason and the role of reasoning in developing coherent world views. The contribution that the study of reasoning and philosophy makes to students lies in their attainment of the knowledge, skills and processes of rational thought. These directly affect the students’ quality of life, not only determining the rational nature of their own decisions but also their responses to the views of others. To do justice to the extensive domain of philosophy and reason, this course introduces three major areas: • Critical Reasoning • Deductive Logic • Philosophy. Critical Reasoning sets out to provide knowledge of widely used inductive reasoning processes. The student recognises and evaluates these, and identifies their associated fallacies and shortcomings. This is an intensely practical area, involving analysis of reasoning in written and oral form