Rand Hirmiz
hirmir@yorku.ca
Office Location:  TBA
Office Hours:  TBA

In this course we will be tackling questions about the meaning of life by splitting the big question into a bunch of smaller ones and looking at different views on the following (among other) questions:

Is there meaning in life?

Is the meaning of life subjective or objective?

Is the meaning of life natural or supernatural?

What does a good life consist in?

Should we stop procreating?

Is death bad?

Would immortality be good?

Should we transcend our human condition by enhancing our capacities with technology?

[Note that this is a blended course, meaning students will have access on eClass to pre-recorded video lectures, readings, and lecture slides, which they will be expected to study individually, at their own pace, but there will also be mandatory in-person tutorial meetings that will take place weekly at fixed times, according to the course timetable]

Technical requirements for taking the course: In order to be able to access the lectures, readings, notes,  and other course announcements that will be made available through eClass, students will need to have access to a computer and a stable internet connection.

Times and locations:

Lectures: Online/Asynchronous (pre-recorded lectures will be accessible through eClass)

There is no required textbook for this course. All the readings will be made available through eClass.

Tutorial Participation (20%)

Essay 1: on a topic from weeks 4-7   (25%)

Essay 2: on a topic from weeks 8-10 (25%)

Final exam (to be held online on eClass during the examination period)  (30%)

This is a blended course. The lectures are asynchronous but the tutorials are held in person at the York University campus. Pre-recorded lectures will be posted on eClass at the beginning of each week (which students can watch on their own time). The week’s material will then be discussed in tutorials, which will be held at the time/location indicated on the student’s timetable.

By the end of this course, students will:

• Become familiar with the various approaches to the question, “what’s the meaning of life”, which will include questions relating to whether there is meaning to begin with, whether that meaning is subjective or objective, whether life is worth living/prolonging, and what it means to live a good life.

• Be able to understand, analyze, and critically engage with various positions on important topics.

• Be able to formulate arguments to defend their own philosophical positions.

• Learn to be open to and comfortable with re-evaluating and revising their own arguments and positions when needed.

• Better understand the value of studying philosophy.

• Make steps toward constructing their own view about the meaning of life.

Exam: There will be one final exam in this course, held online on eClass during the examination period. This exam will be cumulative and will cover all the material discussed in the lectures and tutorials, including the readings. It will be comprised of multiple choice/short answer questions. Students are responsible for having a functional computer that will allow them to write the exam on eClass.

Tutorial participation: 20% of the grade will be allotted to tutorial participation. Students are expected to attend the in-person tutorials weekly and regularly contribute to class discussions.

Course policies

Late assignments: Late assignments without a valid reason will be penalized 10% per day, including weekends.

Academic dishonesty: All assignments will be submitted on eClass and automatically checked for plagiarism. Plagiarized papers will be taken up with the department, where an official AH (academic honesty) case will be opened.

Reattempts on assignments: No reattempts on assignments will be allowed past an assignment’s due date.

Grade challenges:  All grade challenges must be discussed with the student’s teaching assistant first. To challenge a grade on an assignment, students are required to submit a document addressing the feedback points that they disagree with and explaining why they feel the grade they received is not deserved. If no agreement is reached with the TA, students may submit their challenge to the course instructor by email, attaching the original document along with the TA’s feedback and the document containing the student’s reasons for challenging the grade.