2019-2020 / PHIL0084-2

Logic and theory of legal and political argumentation

Part 1

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Duration

Part 1 : 20h Th
Part 2 - Reading seminar : 6h Pr, 20h Lect.

Number of credits

 Bachelor in political sciences : general5 crédits  

Lecturer

Part 1 : Bruno Leclercq
Part 2 - Reading seminar : Kathleen Lemal

Language(s) of instruction

French language

Organisation and examination

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Schedule

Schedule online

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents

Part 1

The course will be centered around the problems of defining criteria allowing to distinguish between correct and incorrect reasonings (especially legal reasonings). It will also be a question of identifying typical errors of reasoning.
First chapter will be about deduction as an ideal of perfectly rigorous rationality. Second chapter will deal with dialectical and rhetorical aspects of daily argumentation. Third chapter will be concerned with argumentation schemes and fallacies.

Part 2 - Reading seminar

The students are asked to read, analyze and then comment scientific texts related to the subject matter of the first part of the "Logic and theory of legal and political argumentation" course. 

Learning outcomes of the learning unit

Part 1

Good command of a few theoretical notions of logic and argumentation theory.
Ability to identify the logical structure of reasonings
Ability to identify their argumentation schemes as well as to estimate their correction on the ground of relevant critical questions.
Ability to create short reasonings in accordance with some logical forms, dialectical principles or rhetorical figures of speech.

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Reading sessions are meant for the students to sharpen their analytical and summarizing skills and to perfect oral language and written expression. 

Prerequisite knowledge and skills

Part 1

Secondary education. Good command of french language.

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Secondary education.
It is essential to master the French langage. 

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Part 1

Oral presentation, reference book, e-learning website, exercise classes with an older student.

Part 2 - Reading seminar

This course, wich will be given in small groups, is based on an active learning teaching method. The students will take part in three sessions during wich they will be asked to read, analyze and discuss scientific texts. From one session to the other, they will carry on thinking in subgroups of four or five students in order to expound the result of their research and to prepare a paper on a subject proposed during the first lecture. 

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning)

Part 1

The course will take place during the first term (September-December) on thursdays from 10:00 to 12:00 am. Place : Room 1 (Noppius) at "Complexe Opéra".
 

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Attendance to the three sessions is compulsory.
Students are required to participate. 
The three sessions are due on Saturdays October 26, November 16 and 30, from 8 to 10 AM for group 1, from 10 to 12 for group 2 and from 12 to 2 PM for group 3.
The composition of the groups will be posted on MyULiege. 
It is forbidden to switch groups. 

Recommended or required readings

Part 1

Reference book : BOUQUIAUX L. and LECLERCQ B., Logique formelle et argumentation, Bruxelles, De Boeck, 3rd edition, 2017.
References : On formal deductive logic : ARISTOTE, Organon, livre II : les premiers Analytiques, traduction Tricot, Paris, Vrin, 1936. COPI I. M., Introduction to logic, 8ème edition, New York, Prentice-Hall, 1998. GOCHET P. et GRIBOMONT P., Logique I, méthodes pour l'informatique fondamentale, Paris, Hermes, 1990. LEROUX J., Introduction à la logique, Diderot Editeurs, 1998. LUCAS T. et al., Initiation à la logique formelle, Bruxelles, De Boeck, 2007. QUINE W. V. O., Méthodes de logique, Paris, Armand Colin, 1984. VERNANT D., Introduction à la logique standard, Paris, Flammarion, 2001.
On argumentation theory : HUBIEN H. ed., Le raisonnement juridique, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1971. KALINOWSKI G., Introduction à la logique juridique, Paris, LGDJ, 1965. PERELMAN C. et OLBRECHTS-TYTECA L., Rhétorique et philosophie : pour une théorie de l'argumentation en philosophie, Paris, PUF, 1952. PERELMAN C. et OLBRECHTS-TYTECA L., La nouvelle rhétorique. Traité de l'argumentation, Bruxelles, Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 1992. PERELMAN C., Justice et raison, Bruxelles, Presses universitaires de Bruxelles, 1963. PERELMAN C. ed., Les antinomies en droit, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1965. PERELMAN C. ed., Le problème des lacunes en droit , Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1968. PERELMAN C., Eléments d'une théorie de l'argumentation, Bruxelles, Presses universitaires de Bruxelles, 1968. PERELMAN C., Logique et argumentation, Bruxelles, Presses universitaires de Bruxelles, 1968. PERELMAN C., Le champ de l'argumentation, Bruxelles, Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 1970. PERELMAN C., La règle de droit, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1971. PERELMAN C., Logique juridique, Paris, Dalloz, 1976. PERELMAN C., L'empire rhétorique : rhétorique et argumentation, Paris, Vrin, 1977. PERELMAN C. et FORIERS P., La preuve en droit, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1981. PERELMAN C. et VANDER ELST R., Les notions à contenu variable en droit, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1984. PERELMAN C., Le raisonnable et le déraisonnable en droit : au-delà du positivisme juridique, Paris, LGDJ, 1984. SCHMETZ R., L'argumentation selon Perelman. Pour une raison au coeur de la rhétorique, Presses Universitaires de Namur, 2000. TOULMIN S. E., Les usages de l'argumentation, Paris, PUF, 1993. VAN EEMEREN F. et GROOTENDORST R., La nouvelle dialectique, Paris, Kimé, 1996. VAN EEMEREN F. et al. ed., Fundamentals of argumentation theory, Mahwah (New Jersey), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1996. VAN EEMEREN F. ed., Crucial concepts in argumentation theory, Amsterdam, Sic Sat, 2001. VANNIER G., Argumentation et droit, Paris, PUF, 2001.
On argumentation schemes and fallacies :ARISTOTE, Organon, livre VI : les réfutations sophistiques, trad. Tricot, Paris, Vrin, 1939. ARNAULD A. et NICOLE P., La logique ou l'art de penser, Paris, Presses Universitaires de France, 1965. COPI I. M. et BURGESS-JACKSON K., Informal logic, 3ème édition, London, Prentice Hall, 1996, chapitre 3. FISCHER D. H., Historian's fallacies, Londres, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971. HAMBLIN C. L., Fallacies, Londres, Methuen & Co, 1970. HANSEN H. V. et PINTO R. C. ed., Fallacies, Classical and contemporary readings, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995. MILL J. S., Système de logique déductive et inductive, Paris, Felix Alcan, 1896, livre V. WALTON D., Argumentation schemes for presumptive reasoning, London, Routledge, 1995. WALTON D., REED C. et MACAGNO F., Argumentation schemes, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2008. WOODS J. et WALTON D.,Critique de l'argumentation, logique des sophismes ordinaires, Paris, Kimé, 1992.

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Required readings : Chaïm Perelman. Extraits choisis.
Refer to items online (required course materials)

Assessment methods and criteria

Part 1

Written exam in January and in September. First year students who would have failed in January have the opportunity to take the exam again in May-June.
No student will be allowed to take the exam on another day than the other students.
 
A short (optional) essay, which should be uploaded to e-campus board before Saturday the 13th of December 2019, could exempt the student from two questions of the written exam (counting for 5 points out of 20).
This essay (1 page ; around 3 to 4000 signs) will consist in evaluating some reasoning (produced after July 2019 !) spotted in the media (and which must be provided with accurate information on its source); the evaluation requires a brief theoretical analysis, critical questions and a well-argued reply. Organisation of the thought, clarity and accurateness of the expression, correct language are part of what will be marked.
December 13 is the deadline after which no essay will be taken into consideration.
Results will be released on Saturday the 21st of December.

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Assesment is based for 2/3 on the paper written in groups of four or five students and for 1/3 on indivual participation during the talking sessions. 
The subject matter and requirements will be specified during the first session. 

Work placement(s)

Organizational remarks

Part 1

Besides the teaching a few exercice sessions will be organized by an older student.
  
 The first session will be held on the 19th of September 2019 at 10:00 am.

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Paper due on : December 20 2019
The paper is to be sent to klemla@uliege.be
Reminder : it is strictly forbidden to change groups.

Contacts

Part 1

Bruno LECLERCQ Département de Philosophie Place du XX août, 9 (2ème étage) 4000 Liège B.Leclercq@uliege.be

Part 2 - Reading seminar

klemal@uliege.be

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the May-June 2020 session

Teaching methods implemented : distance-learning

Part 1

xxx

Assessment subjects

Part 1

xxx

Assessment methods

Part 1

xxx

Part 2 - Reading seminar

 
  Assesment is based on the individual paper.
The subject matter and requirements will be specified by mail. 
Paper due : mai 3 2020
The paper is to be sent to klemal@uliege.be
   

Contacts

Part 1

xxx

Part 2 - Reading seminar

klemal@uliege.be
   

Adaptation of teaching commitments following the COVID-19 pandemic for the Aug-Sept 2020 session

Assessment subjects

Part 1

xxx

Assessment methods

Part 1

xxx

Contacts

Items online

Part 1

e-campus
Website

Part 2 - Reading seminar

Chaïr Perelman. Chosen texts.
Texts extracted from the works of Chaïr Perelman