Self-paced, Online, Lessons
Videos and/or Narrated Presentations
Approximate Hours of Course Media
This is a crash course, meant to catapult you into a world where you start to see things how they really are, not how you think they are. The focus of this course is on logical fallacies, which loosely defined, are simply errors in reasoning.
Learn the Fine Points of Common Fallacies
Fallacies have been around since the ancient Greek philosophers, and perhaps since the dawn of communication. Since the advent of social media, they seem to be around a lot more. Through mastering logical fallacies, you can not only correct others when they display a lapse in reasoning, but you can prevent yourself from making similar reasoning faux pas. You will be doing your part in making the world a more reasonable place.
Unlike other mentions of logical fallacies, the instructor goes into depth discussing many of the cognitive aspects of why we commit these fallacies and why we fall for them, offering academic insight in the world of logical fallacies.
While this course is written for the layperson, some concepts which may be new to you but play an important role in reasoning are introduced, in section1 we will cover the basics of reasoning, arguments, beliefs, fallacies, rationality, and being a smart-ass. In sections 2–18 we will go over in detail the most common logical fallacies, the variations of those fallacies, psychological reasons behind them, examples, and exceptions.
By the end of this course, you should be more confident in your ability to engage in rational arguments as well as present your own arguments.
Bo Bennett's personal motto is "Expose an irrational belief, keep a person rational for a day. Expose irrational thinking, keep a person rational for a lifetime." Much of his work is in the area of education—not teaching people what to think, but how to think. His projects include his books, The Concept: A Critical and Honest Look at God and Religion, Logically Fallacious, the most comprehensive collection of logical fallacies, and Year To Success, a full year course in success. Bo has a podcast/blog called "The Dr. Bo Show" at http://www.TheDrBoShow.com where he takes a critical thinking-, reason-, and science-based approach to issues that matter with the goal of educating and entertaining.
Bo holds a PhD in social psychology, with a master's degree in general psychology and bachelor's degree in marketing. His complete bio along with current projects can be found at http://www.BoBennett.com.
