Humanities and Social Sciences

Philosophy Program

Logic

Logic is a separate discipline at La Trobe, attracting students from all over the Bundoora campus. Logic is a very general discipline applying to all areas of human endeavour, and so it is a good field to work into any degree. Logic is the study of arguments, which can occur in informal contexts such as in ordinary discourse, as well as in formal contexts such as in computing and mathematics. For informal arguments, logic develops some criteria for distinguishing good arguments from bad arguments. For formal arguments, we symbolize them and then test them to see whether they are valid or not, using a variety of methods. In fact, a number of our second/third year units are designed with Computer Science students in mind.

• Career prospects
• The Logic units
• Contact information

Career prospects

Logic combines well with other disciplines, enhancing them and improving job opportunities to which these disciplines would normally give rise. Recent articles in newspapers indicate that employers want their employees to display critical thinking and communication skills, both of which can be enhanced by studying logic units, which provide skills in logical analysis and argumentation.

From The Australian, 12 January 2000, page 33: "But the key skill that separates the successful job applicant from their unsuccessful counterparts seems to be a capacity for independent and critical thinking."

Some students have combined logic with computing and linguistics in the double degree, Bachelor of Information Systems/Bachelor of Arts - Information Science. This provided a comprehensive career-oriented program including Computer Science units which interface with the Logic and Linguistics units. The direction of this course is mainly towards artificial intelligence, expert systems, natural language processing and voice recognition. Students who are interested can still take the subjects within the double degree, Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Science.

The Logic Units

FIRST YEAR
There is one introductory Logic unit at first year level in the second semester, LOG1BEL. There is also a Philosophy unit, preceding it in the first semester, PHI1CRT Critical Thinking, which provides ideal ground work for LOG1BEL. These two units can be paired up to provide a gentle introduction to logic, suitable for Humanities students.

SECOND AND THIRD YEAR

We offer a comprehensive program of second and third year Logic units. These are all offered every second or third year. Students must be aware of this and take 2nd/3rd year Logic units as they become available.

For unit descriptions search the Unit Database by typing in the unit code. These descriptions should help you to choose a unit that suits your interests.

FOURTH YEAR

The following fourth year units should be included in an honours year in Logic, plus one suitable additional unit and a thesis.

4ML: Mathematical Logic
4PL: Philosophical Logic

These units can also be included in an honours year in Philosophy. Logic 4ML can also be included in an honours year in Mathematics or Computer Science.

For further information contact:

Ross Brady
Head of Logic
Tel: 61 3 9479 2487
Fax: 61 3 9479 3639
Email: Ross.Brady@latrobe.edu.au