Julie A. Allen

allenj@yorku.ca

Office Location: S445 Ross Building

Phone Number: 416-736-2100 Ext. 77541

Office Hour: Monday 5:00pm-6:00pm (by appointment)/ Tuesday 2:30pm-3:30pm/ Wednesday 1:00pm-2:00pm/ Friday 10:00am-11:00am (by appointment) *Additional days and times are by appointment only

Expanded Course Description:
This is a skills-based course focusing on critical thinking, critical writing, and logical and linguistic analysis. The course uses examples drawn from areas in the humanities where value judgments are made. The first half of the course will focus on arguments — their structure, type, construction and evaluation. This portion of the course will also include an emphasis on the identification of fallacious forms of arguments. The second half of the course will focus on passage analysis and applying the analytical skills to a range of writings drawn from philosophy, literature, history, politics, and various forms of media. Students will learn a set of techniques for tackling vague and ambiguous concepts and students will develop their own writing and argumentation skills. We will consider questions such as, Is self-interest always selfish? Should marijuana be recriminalized? Should homosexual marriage have been sanctioned? What is the basis of religious valuations? How is morality connected with judgments regarding humans in relation to the environment? Is pleasure the only valuable thing in life? What value judgments should we make regarding animals and nutrition? Are values subjective or objective? Should an agent always follow the dictates of her conscience, and so forth.

1 Jill Leblanc, Thinking Clearly: A Guide to Critcal Reasoning, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1998
2. Learning Evaluation Makes Understanding Real (LEMUR). www.wwnorton.com/lemur = Homework exercises

3 A custom edition of the Title: "The Power of Critical Thinking" Author:
Chris MacDonald and Lewis Vaughn Edition: York University Custom Edition, MODR 1760G/K/N N.B. This custom edition will not be needed or available until January 2020.

Meets every Tues. & Wednesday for 12 weeks

1 Argument Standardization & Categorical Claims Test 20%
2 Conditional Claims, Fallacies & Relevance Test 20%
3 Essay outline + Short essay 20%
4 Class Participation, Homework, group discussion, &
experiential participation assignments 15%
5 Take home assignment/exam 25%

** Each student is expected to read the assigned material for each class meeting. The class participation grade will in part reflect an assessment of preparedness. This assessment will be based both upon literal "participation", informal debates, experiential contributions, group work and on surprise in-class assignments based on attendance, readings and lectures.

Lecture

Students will develop the skills essential to critical thinking, clear and concise analysis and critical writing. This will be accomplished:
1. by working through the fundamentals of argument analysis & standardization,
2. by assessing the validity & invalidity of various forms of deductive argument,
3. by studying criteria for the acceptability or unacceptability of premises
4. by studying criteria for the relevance or irrelevance of premises
5. by working through the fundamentals for the standardization and assessment
of inductive arguments including generalizations, causal arguments, statistical arguments, and arguments from analogy.
We will also consider the details concerning reasoning about health care as well as specific arguments about morality and value from the perspective of three different forms of moral theory.

During the second portion of the course, the tools of critical analysis will be applied to a series of passages/texts wherein values and morality are considered from a range of areas in the humanities. In class exercises will include the analysis and critique of relevant passages and short texts.

Additionally, students will have opportunities for experiential learning outside of the classroom. Experiential participation assignments will include: real life counter examples to the truth of psychological egoism; syntactic or semantic ambiguity hunt; the fallacies search and the performance of random acts of kindness. Details regarding these participation assignments will give students the opportunity to boost their in class participation grade and will be announced at the appropriate junctures during the course.

• Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
• Alternate Exam and Test Scheduling
• Grading Scheme and Feedback Policy
The Senate Grading Scheme and Feedback Policy stipulates that (a) the grading scheme (i.e. kinds and weights of assignments, essays, exams, etc.) be announced, and be available in writing, within the first two weeks of class, and that, (b) under normal circumstances, graded feedback worth at least 15% of the final grade for Fall, Winter or Summer Term, and 30% for ‘full year’ courses offered in the Fall/Winter Term be received by students in all courses prior to the final withdrawal date from a course without receiving a grade (see the policy for exceptions to this aspect of the policy - http://www.yorku.ca/secretariat/legislation/senate/gradfeed.htm

“Final course grades may be adjusted to conform to Program or Faculty grades distribution profiles.”
If Term Test will be held outside of regularly scheduled class time, include announcement of day, date and time here (e.g., Saturday, October 28, 2006, 10 am to 11:30, room TBA).

•
"20 % Rule"
No examination or test worth more than 20% of the final grade will be given during the last two weeks of classes in a term, with the exception of classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on the weekend (Saturday and/or Sunday at any time). (Approved by Senate, November 28, 1996)