What are the differences between Traditional Logic and Informal Logic?

[Kathie in VA]

I seem to keep going back and forth on which to use. I'm thinking of doing formal logic next year with my rising 8th grade dd and 7th grade ds. We are working on Fallacy Detective now and hope to get and go thru Teaching Toolbox before next year... if not perhaps we'll do it along side each other.

I know Informal Logic from Cannon Press has recently been updated/revised so going back to older comparisons might not be accurate. Has anyone been able to compare these two?

TIA

[Beth in Central TX]

By traditional logic, I'm assuming you mean formal logic. Formal logic is the study of the form or structure of an argument. This includes programs like TLI and TLII. Informal logic is the study of the content of reasoning. This includes programs like Art of Argument and Fallacy Detective.

[Kathie in VA]

Sorry for the confusion. I meant to ask about the differences between the two main courses for formal logic: Traditional Logic by Cothran published by Memoria Press and Introductory Logic by Nance & Wilson published by Cannon Press.

ITA

[Beth in Central TX]

I have the old version of Logos School's Intro to Logic, but I've never seen the updated edition. Here is a good overview of the differences between TLI and Intro to Logic: http://www.memoriapress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=406

A good rule of thumb that I learned from these boards is that a student who is ready for Algebra I is probably ready for formal logic program too.