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Ivory of the Crucifixion Classical Christian Education Subjects


Logic in a Classical Education

The links that follow provide information, and teacher and student resources, about Logic in a Classical Christian model of education for homeschools. These lists may not be exhaustive, although we try. We humbly welcome your suggestions as to how these pages may be improved. Please notify us of any other sites you feel should be here, or of any links that are broken. Thank you.

General History Theory Puzzles Games

CCH recommends teaching children formal, or traditional,logic in 7th through 9th grades, after or concurrent to one year of elementary algebra or pre-algebra. Geometry is also a critical subject for teaching logical thinking, and should be taught after algebra sometime in 7th through 9th grades; the Geometry Links page should be of interest also. Please see The Subject of Logic for more information.


General

The Basics of Logic
By Douglas Wilson, orginally appearing in Classis, the newsletter for the Association of Classical and Christian Schools. Douglas Wilson is the author of Introductory Logic.

The Subject of Logic
By Martin Cothran, author of Traditional Logic. This excellent article provides an introduction to the subject and its components. Memoria Press reproduces the article in its entirety at Thinking Logically About Logic.

Logic
“The treatment of elementary logic here closely follows the structure, content, and nomenclature of Copi and Cohen, Introduction to Logic (10th Ed.) (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1998). It includes discussion of: Logical Arguments, Language and Logic, Definition and Meaning, Informal Fallacies of Relevance, Presumption, and Ambiguity, Categorical Propositions and Immediate Inferences, Categorical Syllogisms and Their Validity, Evaluating Syllogistic Arguments in Ordinary Language, Modern Logical Symbols expressing Argument Form and Statement Form, Using Rules of Inference and Rules of Replacement to Prove Validity and Invalidity, Quantification Theory, Analogical Argument, Causal Reasoning, Scientific Explanation, and Probability.”

OnLine Logic Book
A textbook of philosophical logic using interactive exercises and examples written in JavaScript.

Logic Primer
By Colin Allen and Michael Hand of MIT. The entire book is online, and covers truth tables, predicate logic, and more.

Introduction to Logic
This online course is offered through the University of Kentucky Extension Department, and much of the course material is online at their website.

Glossary of Logical Terms
From the online Introduction to Logic course offered through the University of Kentucky Extension Department.

Glossary of First Order Logic
“This glossary is limited to basic set theory, basic recursive function theory, two branches of logic (truth-functional propositional logic and first-order predicate logic) and their metatheory.”

Factasia: Logic
“Logic is the basis of rationality and a foundation for mathematics, science and technology, particularly for information technologies.” Learn about first-order logic, set theory, combinatory logic, the history of logic, and much more.

Introduction to Formal Logic: Exercises
From Oxford University; with answers.

Logic QuizMaster
The QuizMaster is composed of interactive multiple choice tests, which allow self-testing on topics in formal logic. The user selects a test from a menu of more than fifteen. The tests are generated automatically, allowing the test to be different each time the quizmaster is used. Logic QuizMaster is by Colin Allen and Chris Menzel at the Philosophy Department of Texas A&M University.

Constructing a Logical Argument
A gentle and very basic overview of logic and argumentation, as well as fallacies, from the ACT Debating Union of New South Wales, Australia.

Identifying the Argument in an Essay: A Tutorial in Critical Reasoning
This site is from Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska. It covers, what is an argument, recognizing argument structure, spotting conclusions and reasons, and concludes with both short practice exercises and an essay-length exercise.

Logical Fallacies
By Dr. Michael C. Labossiere, the author of a Macintosh tutorial named Fallacy Tutorial Pro 3.0. Explanations and examples of, it must be, all the fallacies: 42 in all! Easy to understand.

Classic Fallacies
This website contains mathematical “proofs” demonstrating, among other things, that 1 = 2 and that all people in Canada are the same age. Each “proof” consists of several steps, and you must find the flaw in the logic. For every step there is explanation of why the flaw is or is not in that step. This is a great for training our children to spot logical fallacies!

Ariadne’s Thread
“Ariadne’s Thread is concerned with arguments related to politically significant ethical issues like abortion. The arguments are mainly ethical rather than legal or political. The purpose of this site is not to promote any particular answer to any particular question. It is rather to help each of us to critically analyze, to practice a kind of moral reasoning, and to develop reasoned views of our own. This is one place to pick up the thread. Activity on this site consists in following a trail or thread of arguments, answering questions, replying to objections, and thinking about the concepts and the logic of what is said.” Current topics include Abortion, Affirmative Action, and Hate Speech. Good practical practice for both dialectic and rhetoric stage students: use the site to find arguments and practice strengthening or refuting them; analyze others’ logic for flaws, and identify fallacies.

Math Forum Internet Library: Logic
Five pages of anotated links dealing with mostly the logic of mathematics, but also some on formal logic as well. Many logic game and puzzle sites are represented, as well as lesson plan sites for teaching inductive or deductive mathematical logic and inference.

Study Web: Philosophy: Logic
Study Web’s extensive anotated links concerning the logic branch of philosophy study. The list contains some very good links about the mathematicians and philosophers that have influenced logic as a science, and their works, such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, and more.

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History of Logic

Logic from Encyclopedia Britannica
A comprehensive article tracing the history of the discipline of logic from its origins among the ancient Greeks to the present time, with links.

History of Formal Logic
By John Harrison, from a section on his paper titled Formalised Mathematics. This brief overview brings in some different aspects left out of the Encyclopedia Britainnica article.

Mediaeval Logic and Philosophy
This excellent page collects and posts links to internet pages dealing with various aspects of medieval logic; maintains an active bulletin board forum for discussions on all aspects of medievel logic and philosophy; and its stuff to download section is marvelous: medieval texts such as from Justin Martyr, Thomas Aquinas, William of Occam, and class notes and lectures about medieval logic.

Logic Mathematicians
This page contains links about three great mathematicians who specialized in logic: Lewis Carroll, George Boole, and Giuseppe Peano. (Mysteriously, Aristotle and Euclid did not make the cut.)

Study Web: Philosophy: Logic
Study Web’s extensive anotated links concerning the logic branch of philosophy study. The list of links contains some very good links about the mathematicians and philosophers that have influenced logic as a science, and their works, such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Hegel, and more.

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Theory

Why Study Logic?
From the Bluedorns of Trivium Pursuit. Scroll down to about the middle of the page to read the Why Study Logic? section.

Critical Thinking and Logic
This article by Douglas Wilson originally appeared in Practical Homeschooling magazine. It defines the current "critical thinking" craze in education, contrasts it to logic, and gives a brief overview of the subject of logic.

Loving God with All Your Mind: Logic and Creation
by Dr. Jonathan Sarfati; orginally published in Creation Ex Nihilo Technical Journal 12(2):142–151, 1998. Besides being an eminent physical chemist, Dr. Sarfati co-founded the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society of New Zealand, is a former New Zealand Chess Champion, has been honored by the International Chess Federation, and remains a keen chess enthusiast. His paper is an excellent discussion -- a must read.

Underground Grammarian
Dedicated to preserving the works of Richard Mitchell. This grammar website is here because so much of what Mr. Mitchell examines has to do with the foundation of logic and why there seems to be a lack of it today -- because all logic, and thought for that matter, takes place in the medium of language. After digesting this site, you will have a beginning of an understanding as to why logic necessarily depends on a solid foundation of grammar.

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Logic Puzzles

Logic Problems
This is the site to begin your logic puzzle odyssey. It contains a thorough introduction to logic puzzles, how to solve them, how to construct them, links to other logic puzzle sites, and reviews of logic puzzle magazines. The webmaster posts a new logic puzzle every month, rated by difficulty from 1 through 5 stars, and maintains a logic puzzles for children section. The webmaster is also a Christian, and all of his puzzles are clean.

What Ho! Another Logic Challenge!
This site features a detailed (and rather difficult) logic puzzle every month, and sends out prizes to one visitor each month who can solve the puzzle correctly. The site features a very nice grid to aid in figuring out the puzzle (you can print the page rather than trying to solve it online), and a link to their archive of previous months’ puzzles. The puzzles are based on the characters in P.G. Wodehouse books. Fun and challenging.

Logic Puzzle Page
The Logic puzzles on this page are posted monthly, and the webmaster maintains an archive of puzzles back to December of 1995. Some of the puzzles are traditional logic puzzles using a fill-in grid to help solve, some are single-part, some are mulitple-part, some just require logical thinking skills to solve, with no grid. Some are easy, some are challenging; the webmaster usually indicates which are which. The solutions are also posted if you get stuck.

Logic Puzzles
This is a new puzzle of the month site, so there are only 3 puzzles up so far, but are they challenging! And not all are the traditional grid kind. This site also keeps a list of links to other Logic Puzzle sites.

Logic Puzzles
The About.com site page of links devoted to Puzzles, Riddles, and Brainteasers, the vast majority of which are logic-related.

Logic Puzzle Magazines
The most common and easiest to find are Dell Logic Puzzles, Dell Math Puzzles and Logic Problems, and Penny Press Original Logic Problems. Dell Magazines has been absorbed somewhere into the Random House Publishing website; try as I might, I could not find a direct link to them anywhere. Penny Press apparently does not yet have a webpage. Your best bet would be to go to a grocery store, drugstore, bookstore, or newstand, and request the current issue of these magazines and then subscribe. Logic Problems maintains reviews of common logic puzzle magazines for more information on these and other magazines.

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Games that develop Logical Thinking

This page contains links to informational and gateway sites about games that, by playing, help develop logical, and often, spatial and relational, thinking. There are so many wonderful games that we have discovered and enjoyed together, and a wealth of information on the internet about each one, that I have put this section on a separate page.

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