Discovery of Deduction Review

We are very impressed with the products from Classical Academic Press. I am pleased to review The Discovery of Deduction: An Introduction to Formal Logic with The Discovery of Deduction Teacher’s Edition. Elizabeth and I are enjoying it immensely. It’s our special time together when the littles play quietly in their rooms or outside now that the weather is getting nice. I love having this one on one time with my eldest and seeing her brilliant mind at work.

I remember taking a course in my first semester of college called Intro to Logic. I had hoped to sit around like a Beatnik and profoundly discuss Nietzsche and Sartre, but it was rather different than that image. I found it so difficult to decipher all the Venn diagrams and algebraic-looking formulas; I got a C!

This curriculum reminds me of that course, but I’m actually understanding it all now! It’s so well-written and fun to read and offers so much wonderful application to the real world. And my daughter is learning material at age 12, in grade 7/8, that I couldn’t master in college! I am so proud of her.

Philosophy means “love of wisdom.” Yes! We do love wisdom. And all wisdom comes from fear of the Lord.

According to Harvard University:

“Philosophy is a discipline requiring skills in reasoning and writing. Thus, the study of philosophy helps a person to develop the abilities to:

• Read texts closely
• Analyze positions critically
• Uncover tacit presuppositions
• Construct cogent arguments, and
• Explain and argue in clear persuasive writing.

These skills are extremely useful in many other disciplines beyond philosophy—and for a range of careers, such as law, computer science, business, medicine, writing, the arts, publishing, and many others. The abilities to write well and to “think outside the box” are in high demand from employers, and will serve students well in their post-college life…”

We love the history of philosophy in the introduction! Especially the section about the Middle Ages and Renaissance philosophers. That ties into our current history studies perfectly. I love relevant cross-curricular studies. {Be still my thumping heart!} Liz really likes any reference to Latin since she’s studied that language for the past 5 years and isn’t finished yet!

I enjoy the dialogue these “Deduction in Action” sections generate between my daughter and myself. These are at the end of each chapter and help further tie in the relevance of the philosophy to everyday life or historical studies. It’s Socratic Method at its finest!  It forces encourages my daughter to think. I like that. For instance, I love the one titled “Examining Your Personal Beliefs” in Lesson 5.6. It has a list of suggested topics that promises a lively and educational and spiritual discussion.

1. We’ve discussed the importance of apologetics and how to play devil’s advocate about evolution and young Earth/old Earth ideas.

2. We discussed how learning logic helps with writing persuasive essays. Or “arguing” with her dad.

3. We discussed the importance of learning logic to help with math, science, and technology studies. {At the end of lesson 6.4, it even has web links to discuss logic in math!}

And any curriculum that uses Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Garfield, Sherlock Holmes, and Julius Caesar as examples is just awesome in my book!

In Lesson 1.3, the Monty Python “witch” scene is an example to show the method of deductive logic – and it is hilarious. Form is all that matters, not whether it’s correct! lol

We read Socrates’ Apology by Plato together. I have this lovely collection of books left to me by my uncle and I am so pleased to finally get to use them! {I can’t wait to read Euthyphro and Crito later in the text!}

So we read through The Apology and Liz made this connection: “Socrates was the wisest man of his time. Sheldon thinks he’s the smartest. I’m smarter than all the kids I know. We should start a club for smart people and no one else can join!” Yes, that’s flawed logic, my dear. but wow. She throws out zingers like these all the time.

What a lesson looks like:

We read through the material in the book together. There are questions at the end of each chapter where students must define vocabulary and answer questions or fill in the blank or matching. There are often dialogues {between Socrates and a boy named Nate, with other characters} or stories that we discuss and apply the exercises which we learned.

Later on, there are translations and the exercises get more difficult, with more application and short answer. Students must create their own logical arguments with those {pesky} Venn diagrams! There are cumulative reviews at the end of each chapter.

The text consists of

• 4 Units
• 9 Chapters
• 2-7 lessons per chapter
• appendices and glossary

Elizabeth and I are greatly enjoying learning logic together. Would you like to learn too?

The Discovery of Deduction: An Introduction to Formal Logic Student Text is $26.95. You can purchase in Kindle or iBook format too.

The Discovery of Deduction Teacher’s Edition is $29.95. I highly recommend the teacher’s manual.

Check out the free extras (at the bottom of the page): Sample Chapters, Logic FAQ, and Suggested Schedule!