Background
The Philosophy Department at UCSD offers a number of courses in logic, one of which (Philosophy 120: Symbolic Logic I) is a requirement for all philosophy majors. The prerequisite for this major requirement is the lower division course, "Introduction to Logic" (Philosophy 10). In addition to its role in the philosophy major, Philosophy 10 satisfies a number of requirements elsewhere in the university. Some of the colleges and at least one department (Psychology) have a "formal skills requirement", which can be satisfied (or partly satisfied) by taking this course.
Many of California 's community colleges offer introductory courses in logic. Further, a number of these colleges have "articulation agreements" with UC, whereby transfer students automatically receive UC credit for such courses. Students thus often arrive at UCSD with a reasonable expectation that they will receive credit for Philosophy 10, and will have satisfied the prerequisites for Symbolic Logic I. Some of the logic courses taught at community colleges are equivalent to UCSD Philosophy 10, but others are strictly courses in informal reasoning, having no substantive formal component at all. These are often very useful courses, but they neither provide the background necessary for Symbolic Logic I nor the training one would expect in a course satisfying a "formal skills requirement".
On Jan 10, 1997 , the Philosophy Department adopted the following policies clarifying the curriculum requirements for Philosophy 10. The aim of the policy is twofold: (A) to ensure consistency in the granting of transfer credit for Philosophy 10; (b) to ensure that students who are granted transfer credit for an introductory course in logic are adequately prepared for the upper division Symbolic Logic course.
1. Philosophy 10 ("Introduction to Logic") provides an introduction to the basic concepts and techniques of both informal and formal logic and reasoning. It includes a treatment of all of the following topics:
basic concepts of logic (argument, premises, validity, soundness, etc.)
informal fallacies
the sentential (propositional) calculus
symbolization
truth tables
natural deduction
indirect and conditional proof
2. The Philosophy Department will grant transfer credit for "Introduction to Logic" only by petition. Petitions must be accompanied by documenting materials (a copy of the syllabus or a letter from the instructor) showing that these topics were covered.
3. The following are examples of widely available logic textbooks that cover these topics. Note that these are not the only textbooks that will be recognized, and that these textbooks cover topics (e.g., the predicate calculus) that are not covered in Philosophy 10.
Hurley, A Concise Introduction to Logic, 6th ed. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 6, 7)
Bergmann, Moor & Nelson, The Logic Book, 2nd ed. (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 5)
Copi & Cohen, Introduction to Logic, 9th ed. (Chapters 1, 3, 8, 9)