How to be More Rational: Critical Thinking, Logic and Reasoning Skills

Applications are now open!

From advertising to social media, 24/7 news to reality TV, we live in a world full of information but how do we know what to trust or not? How can we tell what is distorted, biased or just playing up to what we want to believe? How can we interrogate our own assumptions and prejudices to arrive at sounder, more reasoned opinions?       

Join this timely and reflective course to learn how to think more rationally and argue better. In daily talks and discussions, discover foundational concepts and techniques in logic and reasoning that enable you to approach any topic methodically, from the structure of arguments, deduction, induction and rational persuasiveness to logical fallacies and cognitive biases. Learn how to apply these to spot bad arguments, effectively counter them, and reach more rigorous answers.  

Whether you are interested in the Arts, Social Sciences, Science, Engineering or Maths, take this course to find new ways to interrogate the information you are presented with, forge better arguments and arrive at sounder opinions and conclusions. 

What you will learn

This course aims to:  

  • Introduce some of the basic methods and techniques required to think logically 
  • Provide techniques for reasoning clearly and methodically about any subject matter 
  • Examine foundational concepts and techniques in logic and reasoning. 

By the end of this course, you will be able to: 

  • Apply central logical concepts, such as induction, deduction, and rational persuasiveness. 
  • Employ basic techniques of argument reconstruction and evaluation  
  • Explain core logical concepts. 

Teaching pattern

4 hours per day, Monday to Friday. 

Entry requirements

  • GPA of 3.0 (or equivalent)
  • you should be currently enrolled at an international higher education institution

This is a beginner course and no previous experience of studying philosophy is required, just a curiosity to learn. 

If your first language is not English, you must meet our minimum proficiency level:

  • International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic module (not General Training) overall score of 6.0, with no sub test less than 5.5
  • we also accept equivalent scores in other recognised qualifications such as ibTOEFL, CAE, CPE and more.

This is a guide, for further information email internationalsummerschools@glasgow.ac.uk