PHIL 109 · Rutgers University–New Brunswick
Introduction to Formal Reasoning and Decision Making
This course introduces students to some of the formal tools used to model reasoning and decision making. We cover the basics of propositional logic and probability, and apply them to reasoning and decision making under uncertainty. Emphasis is placed on foundational and philosophical issues related to these topics.
Textbook
Introduction to Formal Reasoning and Decision Making
The course textbook, in three parts: Logic, Probability, and Decision and Game Theory. The web edition has the solutions to the exercises and links into the labs. The whole book is also available as a PDF.
Labs
Interactive tools for the course. They run in any web browser, on a laptop or a phone, with nothing to install.
Logic Lab
Truth tables for formulas and arguments (with a practice mode, random practice problems and a step-by-step reveal), a syntax-tree builder, and practice translating English sentences and arguments into PL.
Probability Lab
Stochastic truth tables (calculating probabilities and conditionalizing), probability problems solved step by step from the axioms, definitions and theorems (with hints), Bayes’ theorem word problems worked the book’s way, and eikosograms: an interactive picture of how evidence moves a prior to a posterior.
Decisions & Games Lab
Decision matrices under ignorance and under risk (dominance, maximin and leximin, minimax regret, and (conditional) expected utility), and two-player games: iterated deletion of dominated strategies, Nash equilibria, Pareto optimality and saddle points, with classic games such as the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Practice modes and random practice problems throughout.