POLS 120 — POLS 120
54 LECTURE HOURS This course introduces students to the major authors of political thought and examines the assumptions and central issues involved in political thinking. Concepts such as: democracy, fascism, justice, rights, law liberty, political authority, political principles, and consequences will be examined through an analysis of classical and contemporary reading selections. (L) Grades are P/NP Option. Limitations on Enrollment: Course not open for credit to students with credit in POLSC- 6. PHIL-12 3 UNITS Critical Thinking TRANSFERABLE TO CSU AND UC 54 LECTURE HOURS This course instructs students in critical thinking skills emphasizing the relationship of language to logic, leading to the ability to analyze, criticize, and advocate ideas, to reason inductively and deductively, and to identify the assumptions upon which particular conclusions depend. Students will gain the ability to distinguish fact from judgment, knowledge from belief, truth from falsehood; to use elementary inductive and deductive processes; and to recognize common logical errors or fallacies of language and thought. Topics include: definitions of critical thinking, language and meaning, claims and reasons, argument and inference, argument identification and reconstruction, inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning, underlying assumptions, evaluating assumptions, assumptions and evidence, worldviews as a context for critical thought, evaluating arguments, sound and fallacious reasoning, informal fa