Visiting Lecturer 

M.A. West Virginia University
andy.pintus@mail.wvu.edu

Specializations:

History and Philosophy of Science
Critical Reasoning

Professional Bio:

Andy Pintus has taught Critical Reasoning at the West Virginia University Philosophy Dept. since 1992. He began teaching as a graduate assistant, then as visiting lecturer in 1995. Andy's master's thesis is a critical analysis of some of the reasoning strategies used by Sir Isaac Newton in his Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy. A chapter of his thesis is published in Sciences of the Earth: An Encyclopedia of Events, People, and Phenomena. Andy's M.A. program was interdisciplinary, focusing primarily on philosophy and history of science. In addition to teaching philosophy, Andy is also the polevault coach for the WVU track team and since 1989 has produced numerous Big East champions with both men and women vaulters and an Olympic Trials Finalist.

Andy Pintus' Critical Reasoning course takes an historical approach to the analysis of the basic elements of reasoning. Many examples used in class emphasize source material. The course focuses on strategies for the analysis and critcism of arguments. It examines arguments from diverse fields of interest while emphasizing scientific reasoning strategies and the nature of hypothetical reasoning.