Professor Linda Carozza

Course Instructor Contact: Lcarozza@yorku.ca

Virtual office hours: Zoom or the eClass Chat function will be used for virtual office hours. Further information will be made available in the full syllabus on eClass.

Times and locations: This is an online course - all lectures, tasks, assignments, and meetings will be held online through the course eClass site. To be as accessible as possible, this course does not require you to log on and complete tasks and assignments and lectures at specific times. It is an ASYNCHRONOUS course - you can choose when to log on to keep up with weekly material. You must log on frequently to keep up with this accelerated course. Weekly content will be made available on Tuesdays. Webinars will be facilitated on Tuesdays. All deadlines fall on Mondays. Please note that there will be no in-person interactions or activities on campus.

Expanded Course Description:

The general purpose of all the Modes of Reasoning courses (MODR) is to equip students with critical thinking and reasoning skills, which are invaluable to academic studies, a professional career, and life generally.

This course is an introduction to a series of reasoning skills, concepts, and techniques from a multidisciplinary stance. With content from the fields of philosophy, psychology, sociology, and conflict resolution, students are guided to: read or listen to others' ideas with an engaged mind; think critically about those ideas; develop strong arguments and ideas of one's own; and, verbalize those ideas clearly and concisely, orally and in writing. We apply various theories and skills to the analysis of timely arguments in popular science, the legal realm, politics, and ethics (to name a few), that are found in the mass media (e.g. newspaper columns, blogs, advertisements, social media, documentary films, Ted Talks, etc.).

Students should leave this course with theoretical knowledge, practical skills (listed below), and general awareness about persuasion tactics used within our culture.

Information about the course breakdown will be available in January on eClass.

Technical requirements for taking the course: A higher internet speed is important to stream lecture material. In order to fully participate in this course students should have access to electronic devices that have video and microphone access. There will be weekly 60-minute webinars on Tuesdays at 11:30 am EST, as well as virtual office hours, using Zoom.

Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to Moodle

Zoom@YorkU Best Practices 

Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide

Computing for Students Website

Student Guide to eLearning at York University

To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.

Good Reasoning Matters! By Groarke & Tindale (must be 5^th ed.)

Other readings and visual material will be presented on eClass.

Optional Course Text:

Writing Philosophy by Vaughn & McIntosh

• Reading Comprehension
  • active reading; deconstructing others’ ideas; reading between the lines; deciphering unclear language
• Critical Thinking Skills
  • critically evaluating what we hear and read; rational decision-making; being aware of cognitive and illegitimate biases (self bias and others’ bias); understanding the environment that surrounds argumentative communication
• Critical Reasoning Skills
  • Summarizing/diagramming arguments; evaluating arguments for cogency; detecting and analyzing fallacious arguing; presenting strong arguments
• Awareness of Persuasion Techniques
  • recognizing manipulative persuasion; developing persuasive tactics, ethically
• Writing Skills
  • improve general writing skills (grammar, writing style, thesis development, etc.); essay organization; writing persuasively; improving self-editing techniques
• Personal Development
  • hone the disposition of a competent layperson (the ability to engage in civil discourse, even if one isn’t an “expert” on that topic); clarity and confidence when presenting views