Course Instructor Contact: Dr. H. Davis
hdavis@yorku.ca

Virtual Office hours: by appointment on Zoom or Google Chat on Tuesdays between 4:00-5:30pm, EST

Office hours will be offered by appointment on Tuesdays, between 4:00-5:30pm.  They can be scheduled for Google Hangouts (chat) or Zoom.

• This introductory course explores a number of questions about the meaning of life, including: What is the meaning of (my) life? Is there any meaning at all?  Is life absurd?  If life is without meaning is that necessarily a bad thing?  What is happiness?  Is happiness identical to pleasure?  Is there a difference between living a happy life and a good life?  Should death be feared?  Should we want to live forever?
• In exploring these questions, we will read selections from the works of classical and contemporary philosophers such as Schopenhauer, Camus, Epictetus, Robert Nozick, Daniel Haybron, and Susan Wolf

Times and locations:

IN-PERSON COURSE

Lectures

Mondays. 11:30am-12:30pm in LAS B

Wednesdays, 11:30am-12:30pm in ACE 001

See York Course Timetable for Tutorial times and locations

This course uses eClass to post lecture slides, course announcements, important links, and assignment instructions.  All written assignments must be submitted to Turnitin via eClass.  You must have a Passport York account and active York email which you check regularly.

Each week there will be an online quiz on eClass that must be completed by 11:59pm EST on Wednesday.

The final exam will be in-person, location and time TBA.  There will be no online or remote option for the final exam. If you know you will not be able to take the final exam in person you should not take this course.

• Coursepack available from York Bookstore
• Jennifer Wilson Mulnix & M.J. Mulnix, Happy Lives, Good Lives: A Philosophical Examination.  (Broadview Press, 2015).
• Lewis Vaughn and Jillian Scott McIntosh, Writing Philosophy: A Guide for Canadian Students, Second Canadian Edition.  (Oxford, 2012).
• Electronic readings as indicated on the course schedule

**Students are expected to attend lectures and tutorials regularly & to prepare all the reading assignments.**

• minor essay =20%

• major essay = 30%

• participation = 10%

• weekly quizzes (online) = 10%

• final exam (in-person) =30%

       TOTAL                                                                                                           100%

Please note that this schedule of deadlines and grading breakdown is non-negotiable.  The value of assignments will under no circumstances be reweighed or redistributed.  

• Two 50-minute in person lectures per week
• One 50-minute in-person tutorial per week

• To learn how to identify the main point (or thesis) and critically evaluate the arguments presented in short philosophical writing.
• To learn to write clear and engaging essays that present arguments supported with strong reasons.
• To learn about a variety of different philosophical approaches to life, death, happiness, and meaning.
• To reflect on your own conception of what constitutes a good or meaningful life.

Course policies

• The lecture slides, handouts, and all materials found on eClass are for the personal use only of students who are registered in this course, PHIL 1100M. They are for educational purposes only and intended only to enhance accessibility. The instructor of this course holds the copyright to this material and does not give permission for any course material to be to duplicated, copied, and/or distributed outside of the class.  Nor do students have permission to upload course materials to commercial websites, file sharing websites or apps, or social media.  Anytime you download material from this eClass site you agree to these terms. Any person who uploads or shares course material without the instructor's permission violates copyright regulations and also FIPPA  and will face serious consequences.

• Successful academic performance includes students not only completing assignments, but completing them on time. Late penalties are applied to assignments submitted after the due date. Exceptions to the late penalty can be presented to the course director by email for consideration. All essays must be uploaded to Turnitin via eClass.

• An assignment will be considered late one minute past the Turnitin deadline.

• You are strongly encouraged to avoid uploading assignments within the last hour of a deadline. If, for whatever reason, your document does not upload, it will be considered late.
• There will be no opportunity to make-up missed weekly Online Quizzes.  If you miss these weekly deadlines, you will receive a “0” for the assigned work. 

• The lowest 2 marks will be dropped for the weekly online quizzes. This is to say that of the 12 weekly quizzes only the highest 10 will count toward your final mark.
• The final exam will be in-person, location and time TBA. There will be no online or remote option for the final exam. If you know you will not be able to take the final exam in person you should not take this course.
• No make-up work or outstanding assignments will be accepted after Wednesday, April 6^th

An important message about in-person classes and activities:

As part of York’s Community of Care Commitment, all members of the York community share in the responsibility of keeping others safe on campuses. In this class, as elsewhere on campus, students must comply with all University health and safety protocols, including:

• Upload proof of vaccination to YU Screen as soon as possible and get vaccinated with a Health Canada-approved vaccine.
• Use YU Screen daily before coming to campus to screen for COVID-19 symptoms and confirm it has been done.
• Get free rapid testing if you are partially vaccinated, unvaccinated or have an approved vaccination exemption at either of York’s Testing Clinics.
• Stay home and don’t come to campus if you feel sick or answer YES to any of the screening questions.
• Wear a masks or face covering that completely covers your mouth, nose, and chin while on campus.
• Visit a mask vending machine if you lose or damage your mask/face covering.
• Don’t eating or drink in classrooms, research and in shared spaces (e.g., Libraries)
• Wash or sanitize your hands frequently and practice good hand hygiene.
• Follow the instructions in designated spaces, as they pertain to giving space to one another and/or protocols for entry to and exit from classrooms, instructional and other shared spaces (e.g., Libraries), when applicable.

Information about COVID-19 health and safety measures can be found on the Better Together website. The Senate Executive Committee’s Principles to Guide 2021-2022 Course Planning encourage us to uphold compassion, kindness, empathy, and a sense of responsibility towards one another. We all have a duty to uphold professional and respectful interactions with one another.