Jagdish Hattiangadi

Instruction: Mondays: 2:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.

Office Hours: Mondays 1:30 -2:20 p.m., by appointment

Email: jagdish@yorku.ca, Tel. Ext. 77524 at York U. Please contact by e-mail for an appointment to consult by telephone, Zoom or in-person.

This course is designed for an in depth discussion on skeptical realism and relativism. You do not need to have any background in philosophy. A background in University level courses at the first and second year level will be helpful to do well in the course. The course focus is on some particular difficulties for skepticism, raised by relativists, which will be introduced in the first half of the course. It will be introduced by discussing the Socratic elenchus, or his method of refuting widely accepted opinions, and its difficulties as they were recorded in Plato’s Gorgias, Meno, Republic, and Theaetetus. Plato was responding to the Sophists, who were often relativists. We will also study a modern resolution of his difficulty, which may have led to the method of modern science. Your midterm paper will discuss this and related issues.

The method of modern science makes a distinction between evidence and hypothesis, both of which are fallible. How we distinguish between the two, if both are fallible, is the issue that arises for us out of Plato’s epistemology. It will be the topic of the second half of the course. In doing so, we will look at biological, sociocultural and epistemological aspects of the difference to try to answer the difficult questions we can raise. These topic may be fun to discuss, but the discussion is fraught with difficulty.

The format of the course will be primarily a discussion of each lecture in depth. I will prepare each lecture in sections, and each section will be discussed briefly before I deliver the next. I will also post a gist of each lecture after the class, and you will also have access to the Zoom recording of the class. Each class will begin with a critical discussion of the previous week’s lecture, and then proceed in stages through the lecture of the week.

Our critical discussion of the subject matter introduced in a lecture is the tutorial segment in the course. The lecture segment is much like any other lecture, except that it is divided into sections for purposes of ease of discussion. The tutorial segment however is different from the usual course of instruction. Usually, the tutor is the lecturer (or a teaching assistant) and the student learns from the tutor. In this course, it is different.  The students (you) are the tutors. It is the lecturer (I) who will learn from your critical comments. When I award your final grade, I will be judging how much I learnt from you. The more, the better your grade. First, I will have to judge whether you understood the subject matter well enough to raise pertinent difficulties. This will earn grades up C, or up to B. It will depend on how well you understand the subject matter. Second, I will have to judge how much difficulty at least one of your critical comment during the term caused. The more trouble they caused, the better your grade, from B+ to A+.

One of the skills you will be asked to practice is to respectfully disagree with another, which takes some courage, and to a raise cogent criticism which requires understanding of the other’s point of view.

Particular papers or books mentioned in lectures are not mandatory for you to read, but they are recommended. You may not have the time to follow up on all of them, but some of them may be enough to help you find your critical voice. To develop critical skills it helps to know different points of view other than the one being examined. If you read the suggestions made during lectures, you may find that there are ready made criticisms that you can produce to your credit (with a citation, of course.) Usually you will need to modify a point of view different from the lecturer’s (with a citation, of course) to make its criticism stick. You will probably enjoy the last mentioned part of the course.

Technical requirements for taking the course:

You must have a computer, a high speed internet connection, a webcam, and a microphone to participate in this course. A smart device like a tablet or smart phone with these features is not adequate. There is no on campus meeting scheduled for this course. All planned contact is through video conferencing. Anyone taking the course must be prepared to also appear on video (e.g., for tutorial/seminar discussion, remote proctoring, etc.). You must consent to show your image on video recordings to others in the course. Video recordings will be made available to all participants for viewing only (You may not make private recordings of other participants without each of their written permissions.)

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.]

Times and locations: Please note that this course depends on remote teaching and learning. There are no in-person interactions or activities planned on campus.

We will meet by Zoom between 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. each Monday. All lectures may be attended by Zoom, or reviewed by Zoom recordings, possibly saving you travel time.

Virtual office hours: Mondays before class, remotely, 1:30 – 2:20 p.m.; by appointment. Please ask in class or by e-mail <jagdish@yorku.ca> for a telephone call, a Zoom appointment or in person meeting.

TBA

Final paper 40%

Midterm paper 30%

Class Participation 30%

TBA

1. A third year course such as this has as its primary learning objective the ability to follow difficult but intriguing issues in abstract philosophical theory.
2. As a course in the epistemology of realism and relativism, it will also prepare the student for graduate work in related areas.
3. Abstracting intricate arguments, weighing the merits of opposed but seemingly well-argued positions and making high level judgments based on merits of arguments are key skills needed in many professions and vocations. Learning them in this setting will help anyone who will take up other intellectually challenging work after graduation, even if this does not involve continuing study on this or a related topic.
4. Writing essays clearly and making relevant arguments and points in discussion are also valuable skills to develop for those who seek a wide variety of challenging job opportunities after graduation.
5. Challenging the received opinions of others with respect takes courage, skill and practice, which practice this course will allow students to hone.

Course policies

1. All comments on an E-class (or Moodle) forum should be uploaded at least 24 hours before the E-class begins. If you are not in time, then you may raise your query personally at the beginning of the next class. Grades of 30% of the final course grade will be awarded for the quality of participation either in writing or personally and of course, both.
2. Midterm and final papers each have a deadline date set on the Moodle page. Late papers without permission of the instructor will be penalized at the rate of 2% for each day late.
3. All grading decisions will be made considering how well the subject matter is understood, and if well enough, then on its critical evaluation.