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24634 - Logic and Legal Reasoning

Academic Year 2020/2021

                
                        Docente:
                        Giuseppe Contissa
                    
                        Credits:
                        6
                    
                        SSD:
                        IUS/20
                    
                        Language:
                        Italian
                    
                        Teaching Mode:
                        Traditional lectures
                        
                            Campus:
                            Cesena
                        
                            Corso:
                            Second cycle degree programme (LM) in
                            Applied cognitive psychology (cod. 0991)

                                Also valid for
                                
                                    Campus of Ravenna

                                    Single cycle degree programme (LMCU) in
                                    
                                        Law (cod. 0660)
                                    
                            Teaching resources on Virtuale

Learning outcomes

Students will be introduced to a) the main kinds of arguments, their logical structure (schemes of argumentation) and their use in various cognitive situations; b) the fundamentals of rhetoric and dialectic, and c) their application to legal argumentation (in particular to the "art of cross-examination").

Course contents

The course will be organized around the following themes: 1) Logic; 2) Rethoric; 3) Dialectic. The organization is flexible. The arguments to be treated can vary according to the students' interests and the teacher's planning. They are likely to include: kinds of arguments; deduction, induction, abduction; proof and argumentation; the method of hypotheses; argumentation and persuasion; the rhetorical system; ethos, pathos, logos; truth and truth-likeness; arguments and fallacies; questioning and refuting; perception and reality; psichology of testimony; cognitive errors; the trial: law, rhetoric and epistemology; the reasonable doubt; real truth and legal truth.

Readings/Bibliography

1) A. TRAVERSI, La difesa penale. Tecniche argomentative e oratorie, Giuffrè, Milano, 2014.

2) G. CAROFIGLIO, L'arte del dubbio, Sellerio, Palermo 2007.

The student will also read one of the following books:

3a) O. REBOUL, Introduzione alla retorica, il Mulino, Bologna, 2002.

3b) R. ALEXY, Teoria dell’argomentazione giuridica, Giuffrè, Milano, 1998.

Teaching methods

The course is structured in frontal lectures (24 lectures of 2 hours, in all 48 hours). Each lecture will consiste in a presentation of a topic followed by an "open" discussion with the students in order to promote the students' involvement as well as to sharpen the students' critical abilities.

Assessment methods

There will be an oral final exam consisting in a discussion of three arguments, one of which chosen by the student and the other two chosen by the teacher, the aim being both to ascertain the knowledge acquired by the student and to evaluate the degree of the student's "response" to the course learning objecitves, in particular as regards the students' critical abilities.

Teaching tools

Slides, texts and occasionally audio-visual aids provided by the teacher and aimed to stimulate students's interest and participation.

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe Contissa