Public Reasoning
This course enables students to think slowly and carefully, while working with others, through everyday arguments on topics of larger social interest.
This course explores matters of public interest and the process of making claims in the public realm, introducing you to the importance of participating in public debate in a democratic society. You will traverse various topics in informal logic, musings on the meaning of the ‘ethical’ and ‘moral’, different types of reasoning and evidence used to make arguments.
The course helps you understand what a matter of public interest means using specific examples: Constituent Assembly debates, legislation around Article 377, government policies on land and development, and various instances of laws relating to juvenile offenders, big business, women and child trafficking, and environmental projects.
We will understand key ideas like “public sphere” and “dissent” and learn the differences between logic, rhetoric and principles of reasoning.