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Excerpt from Syllabus
The fundamental learning objectives of this course are threefold: 1) to empower students to be trustful of reason and to give them hope that they can make better communities and live better lives, 2) to demonstrate that there are better and worse ways of reasoning morally, and that the process one uses to make moral decisions can either contribute to, or alleviate, real life suffering and misery, 3) to teach student not to withhold moral judgment, but how to make better, more discerning moral judgments.
This class has the potential to disabuse students of ideologies and specious reasoning processes that bring students’ beliefs out of lawful alignment with reality. Specifically, it is meant to be both an antidote and a prophylactic to pedagogical constructivism, cultural relativism, radical epistemological subjectivism and faith-based belief systems. As such, this course should be viewed more as a moral and cognitive intervention than as a cannon of information that needs to be disseminated, assimilated and then assessed.
This course was taught at Portland State University.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
What is Science, and how is it distinguished from other aspects of human thought? Physicist Richard Feynman famously said “Science is what we do to keep from lying to ourselves”: words that get to the heart of the scientific enterprise. In an age when the activities of human society and technology can greatly affect Earth’s systems for decades, centuries, and even millennia to come, we must be able to evaluate the merits of ideas as they relate to the actual natural world, independent of our personal, political, or philosophical preconceptions. In this semester, students will learn the basic intellectual “tool kit” of the scientific enterprise. They will discuss how Science differs from other fields of human endeavor, with a particular emphasis on distinguishing scientific ideas from pseudoscientific thinking. Students will also discuss the influence of our understanding (and often misunderstanding) of Science upon contemporary society. In this course we examine real cases of Science gone bad, and the effect (good and bad) of popular portrayals of Science and scientists has on the public. We begin exploring the details of the origin, use, and effects of the energy resources which we use to run our world.
Learning Goals
By the end of the semester, every student should be able to:
- Accurately employ understanding of logical fallacies and critical thinking skills in evaluating truth claims.
- Effectively distinguish between scientific and non-scientific approaches to the understanding of the natural world.
- Identify the major energy resources used in modern society.
- Write webpages using html code, upload them to a University server, and maintain their personal website.
This course was taught at the University of Maryland during the fall 2011 semester.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
This course is a systematic examination and analysis of atheism. It is primarily focused upon understanding contemporary secular arguments regarding religion and faith-based belief systems. It is secondarily focused upon exploring what secularism means for metaphysics, epistemology, morality, politics, aesthetics, etc.
Learning Goals
After successfully completing this course students should be able to:
- Use critical thinking skills to analyze arguments for God’s existence
- Examine and evaluate counterarguments
- Understand secular responses to faith-based morality, epistemology and metaphysics
- Investigate the role evidence ought to play in belief formation
- Examine basic logical fallacies and their application
- Explore writings and lectures of contemporary atheist thinkers
- Research 1) A specific argument for God’s existence, and 2) The counter to that argument
- Evaluate, Present and Defend findings to the class
- Address questions of textual exegesis and interpretation and their relevance to religious doctrine and belief
- Explore the controversy surrounding “the new atheists”
- Engage debates from leading religious and secular thinkers regarding God’s existence
- Explore different faith traditions by visiting local religious services and then sharing your experiences with classmates
- Examine Christian epistemology and warrant through writings of Christian thinkers
- Reflect on learning experience and articulate those experiences to peers
- Develop teamwork skills by working with fellow classmates to analyze complicated epistemological problems
- Engage controversial ideas and attempt to come to a consensus
- Empower themselves with the tools to navigate questions about faith, God and the meaning of life
This course was taught at Portland State University.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
Paranormal beliefs are important, widespread and yet rarely studied. The analysis of those beliefs is both valuable in itself and useful in developing critical and analytical skills. Since both skepticism and the paranormal are defined in relation to science, and are often strongly influenced by science, some elucidation of the nature of science and of its position in society is required. Modern skepticism the science-inspired study of paranormal claims relates both to science and to the paranormal, and seeks to influence media coverage of these issues.
The course aims to elucidate the nature of the three terms in the title and, through the lectures and the seminars, to enable the students to evaluate paranormal claims in skeptical terms. Both the seminars and the take-home exam encourage students to apply skeptical concepts to the paranormal, and to arrive at their own conclusions. The multiple choice examination encourages broad comprehension of key concepts.
Learning Goals
After successfully completing this course students should be able to:
- Understand the nature of skepticism, science and the paranormal and their places in western societies, as shown in an ability to outline their key attributes.
- Understand the intellectual tools of modern skepticism, their ethical dimensions and their applicability to paranormal claims, as shown by an ability to outline these and instance their application to specific cases.
- Have the ability to apply skeptical criteria to selected paranormal and related claims.
- Have the capacity to present the results of analysis in well-structured and logical form.
This course was taught at Griffith University during the spring 2011 semester.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
The purpose of this course is to introduce students to the methods of science, and especially its foundational philosophy of scientific skepticism. Students will learn the techniques for detecting pseudoscience; to examine pseudoscientific claims with skeptical thought; and to explore the limits and biases of personal experience. As a class, we discuss the value of a skeptical approach to human experience in general. The class is designed to be reading- and discussion-based. There will be weekly assignments from the texts, web pages, blogs, podcasts, and/or in-class videos.
This course was taught at Francis Marion University during the fall 2010 semester.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite.– Bertrand Russell
That which can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof.–Christopher Hitchens
Feeling better is not actually being better. Heroin also makes people feel better, but I wouldn’t recommend using heroin.– James Randi
This course examines basic issues in philosophy of science through an analysis of creation “science,” faith healing, UFO abduction stories, and other pseudoscience. Some of the questions addressed: What distinguishes science from pseudoscience? Why does evidence matter? Must we invoke the supernatural to explain certain aspects of reality?
Learning Goals
By the end of this course, students should have:
- Developed a healthy skepticism.
- Formulated beliefs on the basis of reason and evidence.
- Improved their critical thinking skills.
- Designed experiments to test (pseudoscientific) claims.
- Developed tools to discern reality from “makebelieveland”.
This course was taught at Portland State University.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
As we know, there are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns. That is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns, the ones we don’t know we don’t know.– Donald Rumsfeld, Feb. 12, 2002, Department of Defense news briefing
I am one of those who are very willing to be refuted if I say anything which is not true, and very willing to refute anyone else who says what is not true, and quite as ready to be refuted as to refute–for I hold that this is the greater gain of the two…– Socrates in the Gorgias
This class is designed to improve reasoning and critical thinking skills. The focus is on practical/applied methods of reasoning. Students will learn to use tools to think clearly and critically about a wide range of questions and issues.
Learning Goals
By the end of this course, students should have:
- Developed a healthy skepticism.
- Improved their critical thinking skills.
- Formulated beliefs on the basis of reason and evidence.
This course was taught at Portland State University.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
This course will provide students with an understanding of the scientific method sufficient to detect pseudoscience in its many guises: paranormal phenomena, free-energy devices, alternative medicine, intelligent design creationism, and many others. Students will learn to think critically and to question outlandish claims, hype, and outright BS. Students’ writing will improve and they will be able to distinguish credible sources of information from nonsense; students will become intelligent consumers of information. Students should expect to do a lot of reading, writing, and, most of all, thinking.
This course was taught at Southern Methodist University.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
This course exposes students to ongoing biological research. Published articles from scientific magazines and peer-reviewed journals will be thoroughly analyzed and discussed. As part of the course, students will be invited to watch selected episodes of Penn & Teller’s Showtime TV series “Bullshit,” which exposes and debunks pseudoscientific claims and paranormal phenomena.
Learning Goals
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- Interpret scientific data, as presented in the literature.
- Determine whether authors’ conclusions are valid, based on the available data.
- Suggest follow-up studies to address weaknesses in current research.
- Recognize the difference between science and pseudoscience.
This course was taught at Davis & Elkins College during the spring 2010 semester.
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Excerpt from Syllabus
This course examines the key issues associated with the scientific study of critical thinking. Although it’s common to see courses on critical thinking in many domains (e.g. education & philosophy) the scientific examination of what critical thinking is and how it relates to problem solving is exclusively an advanced topic in cognitive science. Cognitive science is concerned with the study of the “thinking mind” and when we talk about “critical thinking” we base our examination on the hypothesis that while it’s true that everyone “thinks” it’s not true that everyone “thinks well.” At the core of this class is the idea that we can all fall prey to bad thinking strategies. In this course, students will learn how to be critical thinkers when dealing with a variety of situations, as well as learn how to tell the difference between science and pseudoscience. Students will focus primarily on how to think about weird situations, but if they can master the skills needed to effectively evaluate strange phenomena (e.g. UFOs) students can easily apply these skills to less bizarre situations (e.g. Will eating “Cheerios” really help lower cholesterol?). By the conclusion of this course students should be able to find answers for themselves (because everyone knows “The Truth Is Out There”) and with good critical thinking skills they will be more likely to find it.
Learning Goals
Upon completion of this course students will be able to:
- Demonstrate scientific reading, and writing skills.
- Apply the science of critical thinking to unique situations.
- Discuss specific critical thinking & problem solving topics in depth.
- Understand the biological bases of behavior and mental processes.
- Use theories to explain and predict behavior and mental processes.
This course was taught at the University of Findlay during the fall 2011 semester.
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