Ever wanted to know the difference between a good argument and a bad one? Think you know how to identify and evaluate arguments? Now you can learn all about arguments including the nature of, the different types, argument logic and how not to mistake bad arguments for good ones thanks to the University of Oxford.

Marianne Talbot, from the Faculty of Philosophy in the Department of Continuing Education at the University of Oxford, teaches the six-week course online, Critical Reasoning for Beginners. The cool thing is that you can download the audio version, the video version or the document version. How great this is that you can take courses online from what is the third oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest surviving in the English-speaking world dating back to the 11th century. It wasn’t until 1209 that several Oxford students and academics had an “argument” with the town of Oxford and went northeast to establish what is today, the University of Cambridge.

Thankfully, for Monty Python fans, both universities weren’t far apart as Oxford was home to Terry Jones and Michael Palin and Cambridge was home to Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle. Not sure how Chapman, Cleese or Palin would have fared in the online course, but maybe this will provide you with the tipping point needed to enroll. Can’t wait to see the final exam.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y