AP/MODR1760 6.0 B: Reasoning About Morality and Values
Offered by: MODR
Session
Fall 2021
Term
Y
Format
LECT
Instructor
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
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 judgements are made. Different sections will stress different topics in ethics, aesthetics, religion or law. Course credit exclusions: AP/MODR 1730 6.00, AP/MODR 1770 6.00.
Course Start Up
Course Websites hosted on York's "eClass" are accessible to students during the first week of the term. It takes two business days from the time of your enrolment to access your course website. Course materials begin to be released on the course website during the first week. To log in to your eClass course visit the York U eClass Portal and login with your Student Passport York Account. If you are creating and participating in Zoom meetings you may also go directly to the York U Zoom Portal.
For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.
For IT support, students may contact University Information Technology Client Services via askit@yorku.ca or (416) 736-5800. Please also visit Students Getting Started UIT or the Getting Help - UIT webpages.
Course Director: Dr. Vanessa Lehan
Preferred forms of address: Vanessa, or Professor/Dr. Lehan.
Pronouns: She/her
Email: vlehan@yorku.ca
Office Hours: Office hours are virtual and by appointment. Book here: https://calendly.com/
vlehan/office-hours?
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 judgements are made. The aim of the course is to
develop the student's ability to read, write and think critically. In this course we will study
informal fallacies, classical logic, propositional logic, and inductive methods and apply these
skills to current topics.
TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS: Several platforms will be used in this course (Eclass,
Zoom, etc.) through which students will interact with the course materials, the course director, as well as with one another.
Students shall note the following:
Zoom is hosted on servers in the U.S. This includes recordings done through Zoom.
If you have privacy concerns about your data, provide only your first name or a nickname when you join a session.
The system is configured in a way that all participants are automatically notified when a session is being recorded. In other words, a session cannot be recorded without you knowing about it.
Please review the technology requirements and FAQs for Eclass.
Here are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help: Student Guide to Moodle
Zoom@YorkU User Reference Guide
Student Guide to eLearning at York University
To determine Internet connection and speed, there are online tests, such as Speedtest, that can be run.]
Kelley, David. The Art of Reasoning (5th Edition). W.W. Norton, 2021.
Weekly Assignments: Worth 2% each to total 20% of final grade. You are to hand in 10 out of
the weekly assignments for which you will be given a pass/fail grade. The first five assignments must be handed in before December 6th at 4pm and the last five must be handed in before April 4th at 4 pm, though I strongly recommend that you do each assignment before or after the class that it relates to.
Quizzes: Worth 10% each, to a total of 40% of final grade, to be given on November 1st,
December 6th, February 7th, and April 4th.
Reading responses: Two responses worth 20% each, to a total of 40% of final grade. The first is to be handed in before December 6th at 4pm and the second must be handed in before April 4th at 4 pm.
Section I - Introduction
Week One — Introduction to Critical Reasoning
Read: Kelley, pp. xxiii-xxvii
Week Two— Definitions/ What is Feminism?
Read: Kelley, pp. 2-32 and read Magnanti http://tinyurl.com/cfsuvgh Assignment: Exercises on pp. 50-54 (I- VIII)
Week Three — Propositions/ Should Men be Feminists?
Read: Kelley pp. 32-50 and read Hurt http://challengingmalesupremacy.org/wp-content/uploads/ 2015/04/Why-I-Am-A-Feminist-Byron-Hurt.pdf
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 54- 56 (IX-XII)
Section II – Informal Logic
Week Four— Structure of an Argument/ Are Corporations People?
Read: Kelley pp. 57-98 and read Welch on eclass
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 99-104
Reading Week — Oct 9 - Oct 15
Weeks Five and Six — Fallacies/ What Obligations do we Have to Non-Human Animals?
Read: Kelley, pp. 105-140, listen to Singer https://philosophybites.com/2008/05/peter-singer-on.html, and read Callicott https://oxford-universitypressscholarship-com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/
9780199353903.001.0001/acprof-9780199353903-chapter-4
Assignment: Exercises on pp.141-146
Week Seven— Quiz #1 — Nov 1st
Section III – Classical Deductive Logic
Week Eight — Categorical Propositions/ What Counts as Racism? Read: Kelley, pp. 197-228 and read Nolan https://tinyurl.com/yd8tbb6t Assignment: Exercises on pp. 229-232
Weeks Nine and Ten— Categorical Syllogisms/ Should Drugs be Legal?
Read: Kelley, pp. 233-270 read Husak https://journals-scholarsportal-
info.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/pdf/0731129x/v22i0001/21_fpadd.xml, and Sher https://journals- scholarsportal-info.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/pdf/0731129x/v22i0001/30_otdod.xml
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 271-274
Week Eleven— Disjunctive and Hypothetical Syllogisms/ Does Antifa Have Bad Strategies? Read: Kelley, pp. 275-311 read Lopez https://tinyurl.com/ycylo8a3
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 312-317
Week Twelve — Quiz #2 — Dec 6th
Winter Break — Dec 6 - Jan 10
Section IV — Modern Deductive Logic
Weeks Thirteen and Fourteen— Introduction to Modern Logic/ Is it Ethical to Lie? Read: Kelley pp. 318-344 and read Borghini https://www.thoughtco.com/the-ethics-of-
lying-2670509
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 377-378 (I-IV)
Week Fifteen — Truth Tables in Propositional Logic/ Should There be Laws Against Hate Speech?
Read: Kelley pp. 344-376 and listen to Langton https://philosophybites.com/2012/07/rae-
langton-on-hate-speech.html
Week Sixteen — Rules of Inference in Propositional Logic/ Are we Ethically Responsible for how our Clothes are Made?
Read: Kelley pp. 380-385, 392-396, 404-407 and watch Oliver https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=VdLf4fihP78
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 396-397 (I and II), 408 (II)
Week Seventeen — Quiz #3 — Feb 7
Section V – Inductive Reasoning
Week Eighteen — Inductive Generalizations/ Is Human Nature Inherently Bad?
Read: Kelley pp. 518-539 and read Freud http://www.stephenhicks.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/ FreudS-Man-Wolf-Man.pdf
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 539-543
Reading Week — Feb 19 - 25
Week Nineteen— Statistical Reasoning/ Should there be Requirements for Welfare?
Read: Kelley pp. 569-592 read Govier https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.yorku.ca/ docview/1300115237?imgSeq=1&rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo&imgSeq=1
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 592-596
Week Twenty— Reasoning by Analogy/ Is Torture Ever Ethical?
Read: Kelley pp. 544-564 read Levin http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/torture.html Assignment: Exercises on pp. 564-568
Weeks Twenty-One and Twenty-Two— Cognitive Biases/ Is the Minimum Wage Adequate? Read: Kelley pp. 147-188 and read Pinkham http://tinyurl.com/ptbq7ye, and Gorman https://
www.econlib.org/library/Enc1/MinimumWages.html
Assignment: Exercises on pp. 189-193
Week Twenty Three— Quiz #4 — Apr 4
- Academic Honesty
- Student Rights and Responsibilities
- Religious Observance
- Grading Scheme and Feedback
- 20% Rule
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms. - Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
