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Back to Think Again I: How to Understand Arguments

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Think Again I: How to Understand Arguments by Duke University

4.6
stars
2,905 ratings

About the Course

In this course, you will learn what an argument is. The definition of argument will enable you to identify when speakers are giving arguments and when they are not. Next, you will learn how to break an argument into its essential parts, how to put them in order to reveal their connections, and how to fill in gaps in an argument by adding suppressed premises. By the end of this course, you will be better able to understand and appreciate arguments that you and other people present. Suggested Readings: Students who want more detailed explanations or additional exercises or who want to explore these topics in more depth should consult Understanding Arguments: An Introduction to Informal Logic, Ninth Edition, Concise, Chapters 1-5, by Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Robert Fogelin. Course Format: Each week will be divided into multiple video segments that can be viewed separately or in groups. There will be short ungraded quizzes after each segment (to check comprehension) and a longer graded quiz at the end of the course....

Top reviews

AA

Oct 10, 2016

Very good course, made me really think again. The professor is very clear on his explanations and he also made the course smooth and funny, which helped on the learning process. Highly recommended!

FY

Jul 5, 2018

I found this course very challenging as I find critical thinking very difficult. However this course was extremely rewarding and I will be taking the other three modules in the Think Again series.

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576 - 600 of 767 Reviews for Think Again I: How to Understand Arguments

By 赵晨

Oct 5, 2016

great

By Xashimova S A

Aug 3, 2020

good

By Asma A

Jul 9, 2020

شكرا

By Sriskantharajah V

Jun 6, 2020

good

By Polina K

Apr 24, 2020

Cool

By Nguyễn N Ý

Nov 5, 2019

NICE

By Jay G P

Nov 16, 2017

nice

By TERESA A P

Oct 2, 2023

ok

By ALAN A C F

Jun 12, 2023

ok

By Winnifred J

Aug 28, 2020

w

a

By hisham a

Aug 14, 2021

By David R

Sep 16, 2020

G

By Yelizaveta K

Mar 26, 2017

5

By Puni P

Mar 13, 2018

I loved to take this course.

The professor is clever, funny and clear.

However, maybe because of being English my second language, I found difficult to get some issues ( i.e. "speech act" ) or understand the nuances in some exercises regarding "speech act" and" suppressed premises" (particularly in the final quiz, the more difficult questions to me were about the "suppressed premises").

So I would have liked that these harder issues have had found a clearer explanation during the lectures. Also in the final quizzes, it would have been useful giving the reason for the wrong answer (besides explaining the right one).

In fact, the quizzes are useful both for testing our understanding the matter and for learning from our mistakes too. In fact, we learn in a different and deeper way from our mistakes. To explain the reason for the mistakes is a good way to teaching and learning.

Although these notes, the course give enough awareness about our logical and linguistic skill and I'm going to take another one: "Think Again II: How to Reason Deductively". See you soon!

By Lion F P d S

Aug 18, 2017

This course is funny, and it is really good to introduce people on how arguments are made. It shows a lot of features that makes an anrgument, and also that makes an argument valid and sound (both terms described inside the course). And it teaches how to reconstruct and deep analyse arguments, so you can understand positions, and better argue about all of them. Also, it teaches the abuses of some terms in arguing, in the way you can spot them, and immediately can start to dismiss with knowledge foundations. Tis course is part of a set of courses that go deep inside more content, so what out if you want to go through all of them. The teacher is funny and it is kind stereotype, at the way he looks, to a mad scientist, besides the fact that he is a phylosofer. That also makes the course interesting.

By Luciana R V

Jun 28, 2020

I have really enjoyed the course and found myself thinking about while working and building my own arguments or listening to others. The books is good support material if you want to review the content and I would recommend reading it before completing the final test.

I like the fact that it uses videos and quiz and open questions as different ways of learning and keeping the attention.

It is a shame to see the lack of quality in the overall participation in the discussion forums. Many people clearly do not even make an effort to answer properly. To be fair, some questions are quite confusing. Maybe the discussions forums could help add points to the final test if answers are adequate and motivate others to participate and discuss further?

By Jodi J

Jun 10, 2020

I thoroughly enjoyed this course. I was looking for a course that would be interesting, would be relevant to my everyday situations, and would be mentally challenging. This course ticked all those boxes, plus the instructor was engaging and amusing. I withheld one star because I kept expecting the second professor to appear as "advertised" and he never did, which was (oddly) distracting and also because I found some of the quiz questions to be debatable and/or not adequately explained and I often had feelings of frustration around this. However, this is my first online class and frustration could be an unavoidable consequence of not having access to a live instructor.

Thank you very much for this really enjoyable learning experience.

By Maymay P

Jun 23, 2020

This course is really good and introduces a more complex and challenging way of thinking for me, which is really good. Another thing I really like is how the professor teaching this course is really funny, nice and knowledgeable, and is really passionate in this subject. However, there are some topics in this course that I found it hard to understand, such as the speech act etc. But still English is my second language, so that might be why. But overall this course is one of the better course on coursera and I would definitely recommend it to my friends and family. Finally, the professor explain most things really good, so I understand most things here quite well, and I’m only thirteen.

By IRMA A P

Feb 8, 2023

Es complicado de sí la filosofía así lo es, pero la manera como te guían es aceptable, yo quede con varios conocimientos aún poco claros, no fui de calificaciones de excelencia, pero si creo haber aprendido esas partes donde la filosofía requiere de hacer un alto para analizar varias temáticas que permiten buscar los elementos que fundamenten un buen argumento. Sin embargo, la manera tan agilizada de llevar el presente curso me genero mucho estrés y desgaste emocional, el tiempo me comía y tuve que agilizar lecturas y videos, sugiero sé de más tiempo para esto y así lograr un proceso de Enseñanza -aprendizaje más duradero, adecuado y que tenga buenos resultaos a futuro .

By Nanop S

May 13, 2020

I need to state first that, this course provides very interesting knowledge and activities in the course and it provides great experiences to me. However, I think that it is a difficult course one if this is called as "Beginner level course". For non-English native users like me, it is quite hard to fully understand each word in details since it requires learner to have a good chunk of linguistic knowledge before taking this course, if I'm just a normal (not even a good one) user. So, it would be more fit if this course is "Intermediate level course" (Level 2) rather than "Beginner level course" (Level 1).

By Natalia M

Jul 3, 2020

This course is a very good introduction to critical discourse analysis. It both presents key concepts that facilitate this kind of analysis and illustrates how to apply them step by step. I like that it applies a number of notions from mathematical logic in analysing arguments, but at times it feels like it might be easier to actually introduce these notions explicitly in order to clarify a few ideas. I could, of course, be wrong in thinking that would help, but it felt contrived to avoid them. Thanks for the careful, detailed lectures!

By Cindy C

May 9, 2020

This can be quite a content-heavy course but the lecture videos are very engaging, making the learning experience extra fun! Loved that there are plenty of examples mentioned in the videos to illustrate the concepts. Practice quizzes after every lecture video was extremely helpful in keeping track of your understanding on that particular topic. They prompted questions after each lecture to open for discussion challenged me to think about that topic deeply and more critically. Overall a pleasant learning experience!

By Vicky

Apr 10, 2018

Very well organized course, with many videos and exercises. Professor Armstrong explains everything really well and in a funny way. Unfortunately the discussions in the forums are not something really interesting, since most of the people don't participate or write something just to pass. All in all I would recommend this course but be prepared, cause it takes at least 4-5 hours of participation per week. Also, something I noticed is that sometimes I felt like we were over-analyzing. But this can be me.

By Philip A

Apr 14, 2022

This course is very interesting and informative. iT has afforded me the capacity to evaluate different arguments and also think deep to avoid misunderstanding arguments. Now i know how to analyse arguments and position myself to argue sensible and intelligently. th approach was also very strategic in ensuring that learners have a hands-on , this improves understanding and ability to practicalize what was taught. kudos to the presenter for his tact and wit in the delivery .

By Kaze B

Sep 4, 2020

It is not a basic course in debating or arguments. It is quite theoretical and assesses logical questions in places. If you are looking for a course on basic debating and or arguing, this is not it. It did help me, however, to see the theory behind some of the arguments I make. I look forward to practically applying some of it, in my line of work.

It is also taught quite clearly and with enough focus, it is easy to follow. Even when it gets challenging. I would recommend.