Topic: Logic for Legal Reasoning

This course is a special introduction to the basic ideas and tools of modern
deductive logic, an introduction that emphasizes the application of logic to cases
of legal reasoning.  Covering material in both propositional and predicate logic,
the course will present various methods of assessing the validity or arguments -
that is, for determining whether or not a particular conclusion follows
(deductively) from the premises offered in support of it.  The aim of this course is
not only to develop skills of logical appraisal but also to foster an understanding
of why, logically speaking, some reasoning - including some legal reasoning - is
better than other reasoning.

Logical methods are abstract and topic neutral, but this course will seek to
illustrate them with practical examples drawn from legal cases and problems.
The course will be of particular practical value to undergraduates who plan to
take the LSAT, but the emphasis on legal reasoning should also appeal to a
wider audience of students who may well find the concrete legal cases more
interesting than some of the contrived, purely academic examples often used in
logic courses.

This course has no prerequisites and does satisfy the logic area requirement for
undergraduate Philosophy majors.

Text: Rodes and Pospesel, Premises and Conclusions: Symbolic Logic for Legal
Analysis.