Logic

On the way to Logic class in the Main building, Roderick can hear Old Ivy's string quartet in residence, which is aptly named The Old Ivy String Quartet in Residence. He recognizes Mozart's String Quartet K. 465, the "Dissonant" Quartet -- so named for the opening Adagio, where the cello begins with ominous low Cs, the viola joins with an A-flat moving to G, followed by the second violin on E-flat and the first violin on A. This lack of harmony and fixed key continues through the Adagio until it resolves to the C Major Allegro, and we understand that the music up to this point is simply an introduction. Mozart's contemporaries thought the score was printed with mistakes, or the musicians had gone mad.

Roderick thinks it's pretty.

Molly sits next to Roderick in the Main Lecture Hall, where the assembled class awaits Mr. Spinoza's entrance. Logic is a struggle for Molly, who is much better at pounding on the Bosendorfer, dispatching opponents in the karate dojo or putting her private parts on display for aspiring artists. Roderick, who is rather good at logic, has pledged to help her.

Megan Cupcake sits to Roderick's right. Megan is also not well suited to logic, being better equipped to pen trashy novels with artistic aspirations. She's also really good on the firing range, where she spent an hour this morning before class. Old Ivy has an excellent firing range, and the administration encourages students who are appropriately trained and licensed to bring guns to campus. At this moment, Megan's Glock rests comfortably on her hip.

Roderick has also pledged to help Megan with Logic.

The Logic program at Old Ivy is the foundation of the curriculum, on the premise that the educated person must be able to tell sense from nonsense. The Logic exam, which all students must pass, has seven parts, spanning syllogistic logic, propositional logic, predicate logic, modal logic, informal reasoning, mathematical logic, philosophical logic and computational logic. There are additional exams in advanced topics which students may take as electives.

Mr. Spinoza's Logic 1 class serves to prepare students for the first of the seven exams; it covers Aristotelian syllogistic logic, with a brief historical survey of Babylonian, Egyptian and early Greek logic. Roderick wants to do really well in the first exam. He's heard that Mr. Whitehead's seminar in the Spring term is the best way to prepare for the second exam, and admission is strictly limited to students with the top twenty scores on the first exam.

Looking around the room, he figures there are a couple of hundred freshmen. Squaring his jaw, he takes out his pen knife and sharpens his pencil.

Megan whispers in his ear: "It makes me really hot when you do that".

Roderick starts to respond, but stops when he sees Mr. Spinoza stride into the room and write on the chalk board:

Major Premise: Students must pass Logic to graduate.
Minor Premise: Some students do not pass Logic.
Conclusion: Some students do not graduate.

"Any questions?" Mr. Spinoza scans the room.

There are no questions.