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I strongly believe that if everyone were to take an introductory philosophy course such as this, the world would be a much better place. It seems most arguments

I strongly believe that if everyone were to take an introductory philosophy course such as this, the world would be a much better place. It seems most arguments that people make, on both sides of any issue, are fallacious and hide the really important points that should be discussed instead.

perturbation 12y ago
Maybe it's just me, but I think the title is kind of off-putting. These really are valuable skills, but anyone who got into arguments or did debate in high school, etc., etc. developed at least the rudiments of making arguments and discerning when a point was/wasn't valid just as verbal 'self-defense'.
GuiA 12y ago
> I strongly believe that if everyone were to take an introductory philosophy course such as this, the world would be a much better place. France has mandatory philosophy classes in the 12th grade. The average French citizen is far from being a model of critical reasoning and a paragon of logical thought. (this week the "bac" takes place, a final exam French students have to take to graduate high school. A text from Victor Hugo was in the French language exam; shortly after the exam, "Victor Hugo" started trending on Twitter, insulted by high schoolers all over the country [0]). [0] http://www.france24.com/en/20140619-france-victor-hugo-twitter-baccalaureat-exam-insults/ http://www.france24.com/en/20140619-france-victor-hugo-twitt...
maxerickson 12y ago
In my philosophy 101 class at a decent public university, people had a lot of trouble actually engaging with the questions, every week we had a couple of asides dealing with what were usually pretty silly points. I thought the instructor did a decent job with it, but it was always a boring period in the class.