Among the aims that the program aims to achieve:

• analytical understanding of a text;
• decomposition and recomposition of its structure;
• free imitation of classical models;
• compliance with rules and criteria useful in the construction of an essay.

There is no need for emphasis to make it clear that exercising critical thinking represents a task that, if accomplished, offers results that go beyond various academic paths, positively impacting information circulation and social life. The proposal of fundamental strategies for an appropriate process of reading and processing written texts, as a prerequisite for the study and preparation of all exams, will be carried out through the participatory study of a «critical thinking» education manual.

Once mastery of the vocabulary used in any text can be assumed, and the syntax of the sentences that compose it and the explicit or implicit connectors are clear, there is still the 'supreme' phase of comprehension to be carried out: the identification of the argumentative core of a text and the logical links that connect them, circumscribing and delivering to the more attentive and aware reader the fundamental meaning but also the justifications for why and how this and not another is the author's communicative intention.

In the eleven lessons that will make up the course, various themes will be addressed in educational units:

• how to deconstruct speeches (i.e., the rules for reading and paraphrasing statements);
• how to proceed from reasoning to argumentation (i.e., types of inference – deduction, induction, abduction – and their structure);
• the engines of deductive inference (i.e., the basics of logical calculus);
• categorical logic and syllogistics (Aristotle's model and set theory);
• monadic and polyadic predicates (i.e., first-order predicate calculus);
• the lands of possibility and probability (i.e., modalities, probabilistic reasoning);
• logic, psychology, and fallacies (i.e., logical errors and the psychology of reasoning);
• dialogue and pitfalls to avoid (i.e., the exchange of ideas beyond fallacies);
• tests of critical reading and writing (i.e., the form of argumentative text and its various levels of analysis).

Another aspect of the course is dedicated to recognizing methods and techniques masterfully adopted in the systematic and coherent treatment of principles that form the basis of the Isocratic circle – thinking, speaking, and acting well – through forays into the world of literature, dusting off some classics and granting equal time and dignity to new valuable proposals.

None.

• Knowledge and understanding:
  • among the expectations of the course, whether for attendees or non-attendees, there is an emphasis on understanding the logical structure of a non-fiction text.
• Applying knowledge and understanding:
  • among the expectations of the course, whether for attendees or non-attendees, there is a focus on acquiring the ability to comprehensively analyze and process an argumentative text.
• Making judgements:
  • among the expectations of the course, whether for attendees or non-attendees, there is an emphasis on learning to construct a firm logical framework that connects premises and conclusions, including the use of intermediate conclusions that serve as premises for further conclusions, all while maintaining an enhanced level of independent judgment.
• Communication skills:
  • among the expectations of the course, whether for attendees or non-attendees, there is an emphasis on acquiring the ability to clearly and rigorously convey the concepts present in any scientific work.
• Learning skills:
  • among the expectations of the course, whether for attendees or non-attendees, there is a focus on mastering the key criteria for evaluating propositional logic.

The teaching material prepared by the lecturer in addition to recommended textbooks (such as for instance slides, lecture notes, exercises, bibliography) and communications from the lecturer specific to the course can be found inside the Moodle platform › blended.uniurb.it

The teaching, structured through participatory frontal lessons (students are asked to reflect and discuss specific teaching units), also through classroom exercise laboratory activities, also includes support lessons and in-depth seminars.

Teaching

Teaching is structured through participatory frontal lessons (students are asked to reflect and discuss on specific didactic units) also through laboratory exercises in the classroom as well as in-depth seminars.

Innovative teaching methods

The lessons will be supplemented by optional exercises in small groups, also through the support of the Blended Learning UniUrb platform, followed by readings and collective discussions.

Attendance

No particular complex of knowledge is required to tackle the study of a critical thinking education manual and the exploration of the logical structures underlying the reading, comprehension, and elaboration of argumentative texts.

Course books

• Piro, Francesco, Manuale di educazione al pensiero critico: comprendere e argomentare, prefazione di Tullio De Marco, Editoriale scientifica, Napoli 2015, 276 pp. [ISBN 9788863427769]
• Calvino, Italo, Six memos for the next millenium, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1988, 124 pp. [ISBN: 9780674810402]

Assessment

Written test aimed at ascertaining the knowledge, the ability to use them and the critical concepts of the discipline. The evaluation criteria used for the tests are:

• relevance and effectiveness of the answers in relation to the contents of the program;
• level of response articulation;
• adequacy of the disciplinary language used.

The preparation of an individual report, such as development and in-depth analysis of the activities carried out in the classroom, constitutes an element of evaluation.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Teaching

Students are invited to regularly consult the Blended Learning UniUrb platform in which support material for the texts in the program will be promptly inserted (slides, in-depth materials or bibliographic ideas). Through the same platform, useful exercises will also be proposed for self-assessment.

Attendance

Non-attending students, instead of class hours, should choose ten of the reading cards proposed by Italo Calvino in Why read the classics, perhaps favoring texts that have already been read in full.

Course books

• Piro, Francesco, Manuale di educazione al pensiero critico: comprendere e argomentare, prefazione di Tullio De Marco, Editoriale scientifica, Napoli 2015, 276 pp. [ISBN 9788863427769]
• Calvino, Italo, Six memos for the next millenium, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachusetts) 1988, 124 pp. [ISBN: 9780674810402]
• Calvino, Italo, Why read the classics? Penguin, London 2009, 277 pp. [ISBN: 9780141189703]

Assessment

Written test aimed at ascertaining the knowledge, the ability to use them and the critical concepts of the discipline. The evaluation criteria used for the tests are:

• relevance and effectiveness of the answers in relation to the contents of the program;
• level of response articulation;
• adequacy of the disciplinary language used.

Disability and Specific Learning Disorders (SLD)

Students who have registered their disability certification or SLD certification with the Inclusion and Right to Study Office can request to use conceptual maps (for keywords) during exams.

To this end, it is necessary to send the maps, two weeks before the exam date, to the course instructor, who will verify their compliance with the university guidelines and may request modifications.

Other recommended reading:

• Borutti, Silvana e Vanzago, Luca, Dubitare, riflettere, argomentare, Carocci, Roma 2018, 240 pp. [ISBN: 9788843092918]
• Calemi, Francesco F., Argomentare, dimostrare, confutare. Un’introduzione alla logica, Carocci, Roma 2022, 220 pp. [ISBN: 9788829013616]
• Cambiano, Giuseppe, Perché leggere i classici: interpretazione e scrittura, il Mulino, Bologna 2010, 190 pp. [ISBN: 9788815146502]
• Poe, Edgar Allan, La filosofia della composizione, a cura di Luigi Lunari (testo inglese a fronte), La vita felice, Milano 2012, 61 pp. [ISBN: 9788877994417]
• Santambrogio, Marco, Manuale di scrittura (non creativa), Laterza, Roma-Bari 2009, 252 pp. [ISBN 9788842086406]