York UniversityY2021-2022

AP/MODR 1730 6.00 B, Modes of Reasoning: Reasoning About Social Issues

Class location: EClass, Zoom

Mondays11:30am-2:30pm

Instructor:Dr. Shyam Ranganathan Office: S446 Ross

Email: shyamr@yorku.ca Office Hours: by appointment
web: shyam-ranganathan.info before or after class

Tutorials: This course hassynchronous zoomtutorials. Video lectures are viewable throughout the
course.

Course Description: Reasoning About Social Issues is the version of Modes of Reasoning that
touches upon work in the social sciences (at least two) and addresses social issues, such as euthanasia,
abortion, or pornography. This is a skills-based course focusing on critical thinking, persuasive writing, and
strategic argumentation. A topic that will unite our exploration of these various themes is meditation as a
model for critical thinking, and also the topic of social scientific investigation.

Prerequisites: None. Course credit exclusions: AP/MODR 1760 6.00, AP/MODR 1770 6.00

Methods of Evaluation. Dialogue is an essential component of philosophy. Students in this class are
expected to participate in an informed class discussion. The final grade is based on three requirements, weighted as
follows:

• Participation: 40 % (±)
• Essay Outline with Annotated Bibliography: 15 % (Due: November 27, 2021)
• Essay: 15% (Due: March 26, 2022)
• Final Exam (x2): each worth 15 % (To be held during the final exam period) with Exam Study
Note Upload (contributing a maximum 2.5% to the curved exam grade)

Learning Objectives:

• Learn basic reasoning skills---informal and formal logic.

• Understand the difference between reason and belief, between argument and pursuasion.

• Think openly about projects of meditation and critical thinking.

Course Documents. Most of the documents pertaining to this class are downloadable from the class EClasssite:
http://eClass.yorku.ca/.
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Joining the Course

What if you want to enroll in the course but are not enrolled yet? Those who are not yet enrolled in the course
but wish to enroll must inform the Instructor via email (including their full name and student number), do all of the
assignments (as manually added users on EClass) and attend class (in person, or virtually—depending on the
offering). It is up to the student to continue to try to enrol themselves in this course. It is also up to the student who
is not officially enrolled in the course to keep screenshot records of their EClass grade book, in case the information
is erased when they are officially added to the course. Students who enroll late acknowledge that they are joining a
class already under progress and are agreeing to be treated like other students in the course. Hence, students who
enroll late agree that they cannot be given accommodation for assignments they missed, whether because of late
enrolment or not. Students who enrolllatealso assume responsibility for catching up themselves. Students who enroll
late may not have access to the eClass material until 24-48 hours after they enroll and recognize that this as a non-
accommodated cost of enrolling late. Students who enrol late agree that ignorance of course requirements cannot be
grounds for makeup assignments. Students who enrol late cannot use extra obstacles to class integration that come
on the heels of enrolling late as grounds for makeup assignments or accommodation.

Course Delivery Several platforms will be used in this course (e.g., EClass, Zoom, etc.) through which students
will interact with the course materials, the course director/TA, as well as with one another. Please review this
syllabus to determine how the class meets (in whole or in part), and how office hours and presentations will be
conducted.

Students shall note the following:

• Zoom is hosted on servers in the U.S.
• If you have privacy concerns about your data, provide only your first name or a nickname when you join a
session. If you wish to use a nickname, inform your TA by email of your. You may always use backgrounds
on Zoom to hide details of your location.

Course Expectations
Syllabus, Course Documents and Contract. The syllabus, course documents and course eClass sites constitute a
contract that students agree to when they enrol in this course.

• By staying enrolled in the course, students agree to the requirements as outlined in course documents and
platforms (e.g.EClass).

• If there is a divergence in interpretations of course documents or expectations as spelled out on EClass ,

students agree to defer to the TA and ultimately the Course Director to clarify course expectations.
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Similarly, though the topics we shall investigate are controversial, the point of this course is to understand the topics
of controversy. Disagreeing with the material is par for course. The Instructor’s advice on how to frame the topics of
controversy will take precedence in the course.

Course Assignments. With the exception of in-tutorial/classcommentary/commentaries, the class assignments

are to be submitted to EClass. All enrolled students should familiarize themselves with the class EClass site.

Academic Honesty. All written assignments in this coursemust conform to prevailing standards of academic
honesty. Any material that you borrow ideas or wording from must be properly cited both in text and in the
bibliography, except in your commentaries. If commentaries are on a specific reading or in response to a test
question, academic honesty is respected so long as you author the commentary is in your own words. If you borrow
wording to answer your commentary question you must describe where you got the wording from after your
quotation. Information on how to properly reference sources is contained in a document accessible from the class
EClass site.

Participation Rationale. The participation component is designed to reward students for participating in their own
education. Students who participate well increase their own learning success and contribute to the maintenance of a
learning environment that is safe for everyone to participate and learn in. Participation is a qualitative assessment of
a student’s performance in a course and consists in a recognition of a student’s work to keep up with the course
schedule, discussion constraints, and contribution to the success of the course. While tangible, pass/fail work will be
used to inform a student’s participation grade, their total participation grade is a combination of the tangible
successes and intangible failures (if any) to conduct themselves in a manner that promotes a healthy learning
environment. By staying enrolled in the course, students agree to have their participation so judged. While
participation credit is meant to reward students for participating in their own education, discretionary participation
penalties are applicable to discourage students from participating in a manner that undermines the learning dynamic
between peers and between students and their teachers (TAs and the Professor). A student undermines the learning
dynamic between peers and themselves and their teachers when they act in a manner that does not respect other
students’ or their teacher’s need for their dignity or privacy to be respected. A violation of others dignity or privacy
can occur when a student adopts an attitude of acrimony or belligerence towards their peers or teacher.

• A students so disposed to acrimony or belligerence undermines their own receptivity to guidance and
teaching from their teachers and peers and is paradigmatic of negative participation.

Such violations of courteous interaction can occur in the form of informal and rude correspondence, or other modes
of online harassment. As participation is anassessment not of tangible work but a student’s contribution to the
learning dynamic, participation is not a piece of work that can be reappraised at a later date. It is not a mere tally of
credits, but the sum of credits and penalties, if any.

Covid 19 brings with it opportunities to adapt old practices to a fully online medium, and challenges. As assessing
tutorial or class participation in a Zoom environment is difficult, class attendance has been converted into virtual
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assignments. Like class attendance, these must be done on time, and they cannot be made up for in cases of
tardiness. Moreover, virtual attendance and other virtual participation components are paradoxical. For some, who
are relatively untouched by the Covid 19 pandemic or other equity issues, they are extremely easy. For others, who
are not directly sick but peripherally effected by the pandemic, or directly by equity issues, they can be challenging.
To address this challenge, participation, while out of 40 %, will have a 34 % cap. Practically, this means that all
students can miss 6 % worth of participation assignments (or fail 6 % worth of participation assignments) without it
adversely effecting their participation grade. It also practically entails that while students may earn an A+ in the
course, this will only be possible if they earn an A+ at least one other component. Two exceptions to this
participation cap are two bonus assignments, each worth 1%. Students can hence earn a maximum of 36 out of
40% allotted to participation, which is 90% or A+. Any participation points earned above these 36 points will not
count towards a student’s grade. Students may use the bonus mark participation points to round their grade up.

Course Communication and Participation. In all courses, all communication---including email---will be

considered part of class discussion and subject to participation assessment.If a student engages the instructor or TA
by any variety of communication, the course is on, and considerations of participation apply: this extends to the end
of classes and the exam. Students communicating with the TA or Instructor renders the course on (regardless of
when this communication occurs) and considerations of participation kick in. Hence, they apply even at the formal
end of the course, after the submission of grades and in the case of grade-reappraisal requests. Conformity to class
email policies will be seen as a form of positive participation, and failure to do so a form of negative participation
that may warrant discretionary penalties. Formal communication provides a buffer against rash and easily
misunderstood communication and deviations from these procedures invite misunderstanding.

In online courses, electronic communication will be especially scrutinized for participation quality. Failing to
communicate according to class email policies, to maintain common courtesies, and engaging in hostile or
belligerent communication to other class members or the TA or Instructor will all be treated as negative participation
and may earn participation penalties at the TA’s or Instructor’s discretion. It is the student’s responsibility to
monitor their own communications and to conform to communication guidelines. And it is the TA’s or Instructor’s
job to assess whether students are crossing lines of productive communication. Students who adopt a belligerent or
rude mode of communication make it difficult for themselves to learn and difficult for TAs or instructors to teach
and hence such behavior will be subject to penalties. Such hostility typically requires excessive time and attention
on the part of teachers to de-escalate and constitutes a drain on positive teaching time. Hence, the negativity of such
participation is never directly reducible to what is said but the effect it has on the learning environment, in class or
via electronic communication. Students who engage in such behavior may have parts of their penalties reversed
upon a written apology, though how much will be reversed is up to the Instructor or TA. Students who opt to
apologize for their negative participation agree to accept the Instructor’s or TA’s judgment of how much, if any,
penalty is to be reversed. The amount of penalty to be replaced will be determined after receiving a full apology.
The Instructor and the TA are not under any special obligation to explain the penalties while a student participates
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negatively. They may refer the student to the syllabus and it will be the student’s responsibility to figure out the
grounds of the penalty. Rather, it is the negatively participating student who owes it to themselves and the class to
revert to positive participation.

Assessed Grades: On rare occasions, the university permits the awarding of assessed grades. The policy states:

“If a course director has graded assignments that amount to 70% or more of the final grade in a
course, the instructor may give students the option of receiving a final grade that is based on a re-
weighting of assignments already completed, provided the instructor is satisfied that the learning
objectives of the course have been achieved and that fairness to students and academic integrity are
preserved.”
This policy makes clear that an assessed grade is contingent upon a re-weighting of graded work, and that it is up to
the instructor to decide whether awarding such a grade is in keeping with course objectives, fairness and academic
integrity. If the instructor decides that an assessed grade would compromise these ends, the policy will not allow for
an assessed grade and students do not have a right to such a grade. In the unlikely event that the university permits
assessed grades on the basis of graded work, and the instructor agrees that it is in keeping with course objectives,
fairness and academic integrity, participation may not count for more than 40% of the total assessed grade. The
remaining graded components will be re-weighted to account for the remaining 60%. Students who are granted the
assessed grade option may be asked to remind the professor at the end of the course, after the exam, of the request.
This does not mean that the students will be expected to write the exam if it will not be part of the assessed grade.

Participation (Video Lectures, Fully Online---Modes). As informed dialogue is an essential part of philosophy,
students in this class are encouraged to participate as a way to contribute to their overall grade. Participation
provides credit for student commitment to the on-schedule learning process. The participation grade is comprised of
two components, starting just before topic 3. (1) <200 word commentaries/quizzes and (2) attendance. (1) Note on
Commentary and Quizzes. Students are expected to submit, each week, 1 or 2 (typically) <200 word commentaries
in response to a question posed on the video lecture for the relevant class or answer true/false quiz questions in
accordance with the specific expectations per assignment, specified on EClass, with some exceptions. (“Or” does
not mean, ‘one or the other but not both.’ It means ‘one or the other, and possibly both.’) Occasionally, longer
commentary questions may be posted. Please check EClass for the exact deadline and questions. Students are
responsible for knowing the deadlines for all assignments: ignorance of such deadlines is not an excuse. Students
who are busy with alternate obligations during our course are not entitled, for those reasons, to makeup participation
assignments. This applies equally to students who enroll late. If no commentary question is posted, it will be in the
video lecture. Commentaries/quizzes are graded on a pass/fail basis, at the Course Director’s or TA’s discretion.
Each passing EClass commentary or quiz is worth 0.5-2/40 of the participation grade, or 0.5-2% of the total grade.
Negative participation is possible and arises from student behavior that undermines the student-student relationship,
or the student-teacher relationship. The typical example of such behavior is belligerence in communication.In the
place of tutorial, students will complete, for each topic, a self-assessment online test. This will count as 0.5-2% of
the attendance mark. The test will consist in two parts. In the first part, students will be given a serious of questions
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to transcribe and answer. Next, after this is due, students will be given the answers and will have to provide a self-
assessment of their answers. Students who do both will get full credit.

A passing commentary will:

(a) consist of original reflection of the student in response to the specifics of the assignment as per date and within
the prescribed word limit;

(b) be original and not plagiarized or lifted from an internet source;

(c) be submitted electronically before class via EClass with the exception of the mandatory in-class
commentary/commentaries;

(d) and should, where relevant, present the student’s views on the substance of the readingsand never their
emotional reactions to the reading;

All passing commentaries should ideally describe the thesis of the commented reading and present a response from
the student.

The Instructor or TA reserves the right to fail commentaries that:

(a) are not submitted;

(b) break prevailing standards of academic honesty;

(c) are of the form of a high school book report, that express sentiments like “I found the author’s writing difficult
to read” or “the author did a good job of making her point”;

(d) are of the form of a “Dear Diary” entry (that include personal anecdotes etc.),

(e) are insufficient (as judged by theInstructor’s or TA’s discretion),

(f) are poorly written (breaking standards of grammar and spelling) or are unintelligible.

Commentary submissions that are not in a student's own words may result in a penalty of 5% of the student's total
grade. Evidence that a student's commentary is not in their own words is a60% Google match.

Students must inform the Instructor of their illness before they are allowed to make up for their absence, or failure to
submit a commentary on time, by being allowed to write additional commentaries on readings of the Instructor’s
choosing. Students must send relevant documentation (such as doctor’s notes) as email attachments with their
requests. Students without appropriate corroborating documentation will not be granted accommodation except at
the Instructor’s discretion.

Lecture and Class. In this course, video lectures are posted online on EClass. Students are expected to view the
lecture prior to synchronous Zoom tutorials. Students can view the lectures as help in writing their commentaries or
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answering online quiz questions. Tutorial time is primarily devoted to discussion. All tests and submissions are
electronic, via EClass.

Essay. Information on the essay assignmentis available via our course EClass site. Note: all the reasons to pass or
fail a commentary apply to the evaluation of essays as well. Your Instructor or TA reserves the right to penalize late
submissions by 5% per day.

The default submission standard for essays is Turnitin. Students who opt out of submitting their paper via eClass
through Turnitin will be expected to show evidence of the paper's formation. This consists of submitting three drafts
(including the final version), all notes used in the formation of the paper, and an oral examination on the paper. The
time of the oral examination will be determined by the Course Director. Students who do not show up to the
appointed time of the oral examination, or do not submit the required supporting documentation, will not have their
paper graded, and will get an "F" in the assignment. The material, when possible, must be submitted electronically
via email. Hand written final drafts will not be accepted.

The Course Director reserves the right to ask all students to show evidence of the paper's formation, though this is
not a requirement for students who submit their paper through Turnitin.

Please note: the due date for non-Turnitin papers is a week prior to the published due date in the essay assignment
sheet, and at the top of the syllabus. It may take up to a month to return these papers to students. As well, the late
penalties for these papers will be double the usual amount: 10%. Resubmission penalties will also be double the
usual amount: 4%.

Annotated Bibliography, Essay Outline assignment. The same considerations concerning the evaluation of
Essays apply to Annotated Bibliography and Essay Outline assignments.

The essay, like all assignments in this course, must be completely authored and edited by the student
themselves. By staying enrolled in this course, students agree not to use essay writing services or essay editing
services. A failure to abide by these constraints constitute a violation of academic honesty requirements. Pass fail
assignments that appear to be professionally edited may receive a 0, graded assignments that seem professionally
edited may receive a 20% penalty, or the student may be required to submit to an oral examination to prove that they
are the author and editor of the submission---at the discretion of the course director or TA. An unsatisfactory oral
examination may result in a 0% in the assignment or further formal academic honesty inquiries that might lead to a
permanent note on the student’s academic record. Instead of professional editing services, students are encouraged
to invest in editing software.

Grading of Written Assignments. Students are entitled to an explanation of the grade they earn on a paper. To
decipher the explanation, compare the numeric grade assigned to your paper and the essay grading rubric published
on the (main) eClass page of this course. This explains the virtues of your paper. If you want to know how to
improve your paper, compare the grade that your essay earned with your preferred grade: the difference in criteria is
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the scope for improvement. The TA or your Instructor may leave additional comments on your paper. This is not
essential.

Bonus Marks. In courses with easy participation or bonus mark opportunities, students have the tools they need to
inflate their own grade. Students who make use of these opportunities to raise their own grade have already inflated
their grade, or if they did not, they did not take advantage of the opportunities afforded to them to raise their own
grade. Either way, Dr. Ranganathan (or the TA) will not raise grades for the asking. Students who wish to discuss
raising their grade forfeit bonus marks, and may make the case that their grade without the bonus marks should be
raised. The previous consideration, will continue to be relevant. For instance, if a student, with the bonus marks,
earns an 89.5 and they ask for the grade to be raised further, the grade raising request will be considered, but on the
basis of the grade without the bonus marks: 87.5. If the request involves violating some further feature of the
syllabus, participation penalties may apply.

Requests to Raise a Grade. Students are often under the mistaken impression that there is an automatic grade
rounding policy at York. There is no policy to round up grades. Individual professors may choose to do so. Given
the high degree of transparency of our course, and student opportunity to raise their own grade with a generous
participation component and bonus marks, there are no grounds for further grade raising in this course. Moreover,
your TA and Instructor award grades on the basis of the merits of assignments relative to consistently applied
grading considerations. It is unethical to ask your TA or instructor to simply raise a grade: they do not have the
authority to do that. Students with high As hoping to have their grade boosted to an A+ should be especially weary
of such requests. They have demonstrated themselves to be exceptional and capable of earning an A+ by their own
merits and without grade subsidies from the TA or instructor. The failure to earn such a grade will be referable back
to the student as their failure. Repeated requests to raise grades will result in participation penalties.Students argee
not to ask for all grades to be reviewed in hopes of an increase.

Students may, under certain circumstances, ask for grades to be rechecked or reappraised. A request for a grade
reappraisal is not the same as a request to raise a grade: a reappraisal might lead to the grade being raised, left alone
or lowered upon further scrutiny.

Grade Reappraisals. If you disagree with the grade, within a week of receiving it, you must explain to the TA or
Instructor how your assignment earns a different grade in accordance with the published grading criteria—in
writing, via email. Requests for grade reappraisal may result in a grade being raised, confirmed or lowered. Serious
requests for grade reappraisals are expected within a week of a grade being released. In the absence of evidence of
illness, bereavement or other crises that interfere with students asking for a grade reappraisal in a timely manner,
they will not be considered: this applies especially to requests for grade reappraisals at the end of the term, after the
release of final grades.
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Students who pursue frivolous requests for grade reappraisals as a means of raising grades, and with no argument
that such a reappraisal is warranted given grading criteria, may find participation penalties levied. Penalties start at
3%.

In a course with a TA who graded work, students ought to contact the TA before requesting a reappraisal from the
Course Director. Great effort resulting in a poor grade is acceptable, if the grade accords with the published grading
criteria.

Students should be advised that a grade reappraisal may result in a grade being raised, left as is, or lowered if
previously undocumented faults come to light. Students should only request a reappraisal if they are confident that
there are grounds to positively reassess the paper, and they are willing to take the chance that the grade may be
lowered.

Course Director Right of Review. In a course with or without a TA, the Course Director reserves the right to
review all grades and to adjust them, even after they have been released, if they are too low, or inflationary (i.e. too
high). Any curved grade may be re-curved towards the end of the course if the curving was in error contributing to
too high class averages or too low class averages. Two criteria will guide the review of grades: fairness to students
within a course (ensuring that all students are graded according to the same criteria) and fairness to students across
courses (ensuring that students in other sections of a course or across courses at the same level) are being assessed in
a similar manner leading to non-anomalous course outcomes.

Final Exam. The final exam is held during the examination period. In a condensed 6 credit course, one term exam
will appear half way through the course. The exam tests student mastery over course material. This includes the
readings, but also anything taught in the course. Keeping up with course readings or video lectures is a good way to
prepare for the exam.

• 3 credit course with one exam = 30% exam performance (which may be curved), which contains 5% of
exam grade study note credit

• 6 credit course with two exams = 12.5% exam performance (which may be curved) which contains 2.5% of
exam grade study note credit

Study Notes Upload. In support of student learning, and to ensure that standards of academic honesty are followed,
students must upload 6 pages of exam study (cheat) notes as a Turnitin assignment, for an automatic 2.5% (6 credit
course) /5% (3 credit course) component of their curved exam grade. The study note component is not a separate
graded component, and simply contributes to a student’s exam grade. Students must generate these notes
themselves, in their own words (except for the inclusion of technical terms) and without the help of classmates. The
notes must summarize the course material that will be tested in six pages. Students should a lot a half page per 1
week/topic of course content: 12 weeks/topics of a course = 6 pages. While the exam is open-book (in theory), and
may be written in a place of the student’s choosing, students must write and study for the exam on their own.
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• Unusually high uploaded study note similarities will be grounds for pursuing an academic honesty inquiry.

• Wide discrepancies between the study notes and a student’s final exam responses will be grounds for an
academic honesty inquiry.

The expectation is that the submitted study notes represents the student’s awareness of material that will be tested.

• Six pages, 12 point font, double spaced, divided into Topic/Week Headings (two on each page),

• All in the student’s own words (maximum 3 technical terms per Topic/Week—the rest paraphrased)

• with an extra one page, cover page specifying the student number, name and course.

Study note uploads that meet these criteria will earn full marks. As with the commentary assignment, no weight is
given to whether the submission is accurate. The exam grade total will be a combination of the credit for the study
note upload, and the student’s awarded exam grade. Students who do not upload the study notes may receive either
a 0 or a 20% penalty on the graded exam. Students who do not write the study notes in their own words, but merely
copy and paste class notes will receive 0% on the assignment and may receive either a 0 or a 20% penalty on the
graded exam. Study Notes will be due 24 hours before the exam. Students who submit a poorly executed in class
commentary (e.g. blank page with only student name and number) but detailed study notes may be the subject of an
academic honesty inquiry. Late submissions may be penalized, and no submission will be accepted past the exam
start time.

All Penalties (for late assignments, or participation) are ultimately under the sole discretion of the Instructor.
Students agree to this by staying enrolled in the course. The application of penalties in particular cases does not
require the student’s agreement. TAs may apply appropriate penalties in accordance with the assignments.

Discussion Etiquette. The TA and Instructor are responsible for maintaining an inclusive environment where all
students can participate. There is hence a built-in asymmetry in a class: the TA and ultimately the Instructor reserves
the right to have the last word on any topic to keep students focused on course material and to maintain an inclusive
environment. Students are expected to communicate with their TA and Instructor in a manner that respects and
acknowledges this responsibility, and to each other in a manner that maintains an inclusive environment. Students
who adopt a combative posture, assuming that the point of class is for students to air opinions or to engage in
debates are mistaken. Our goal is to explore the controversies of any topic we are investigating: sharing an opinion
is a description of what side of a disagreement one takes to be true, which is quite besides the point of our inquiry.
Our goal is to explore controversies together and nothing in the way of the substance of what is explored requires
student agreement. This includes TA or Instructor guidance on topics of research that they specialize in. Your TA or
Instructor may share conclusions they draw on the basis of such research, and this falls within their mandate to
maintain an inclusive environment, and to teach content that students do not have to agree with. Students who wish
to challenge the responsibility of the TA or Instructor to moderate and guide discussion, or who adopt a rude and
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discourteous approach to others in our class, including the TA or Instructor, class participate negatively. Belligerent
communication (even if one feels justified) is a paradigm case of negative participation.

Email policy. Philosophy is not an easy topic to discuss over email. Thus, your Instructor and TAs encourage
students to use email for the following reasons only:

1. To contact us in the case of an emergency to receive the appropriate accommodation (accommodation will be
provided in cases of serious illness and bereavement and not for issues under the control of the student such as
poor time management, poor energy management, ignorance of course requirements made clear at the start of
the course via the syllabus or EClass, or employment related scheduling problems); and

2. To inform your Instructor or TA that you wish to meet with one of us during office hours or to make an
appointment with us outside office hours.

Email will not be used to review or rehash comments or grading. If students have concerns about a grade they can
make a case for a grade reappraisal as outlined above.

When emailing the Instructor or TAplease ensure that:

1. Our course code + section is in the subject line of the email;

2. The email is written in a formal manner with proper punctuation. Refrain from using instant messaging
abbreviations or shortcuts (such as “u” for “you” or “r” for “are”);

3. The email is signed with your first and last names; and

This policy is to be followed for every email: including responses. Email is not a chat function, and must be treated
with respect as a formal mode of communication.

We (your Instructor and TA)reserve the right to take three days—not including holidays and weekends—to respond
to emails. Every email must be written in accordance with this policy---including responses to email responses.
Email is not a chat dialogue but an exchange of letters. Students who fail to communicate in accordance with the
email policy exhibit negative participation. Students who fail to communicate in accordance with the email policy
especially after being reminded of the policy will earn participation penalties. The email policy is in place for a
reason: it forces us to be measured and formal in our communication, and to prevent rash and regrettable exchanges.
In this course, it is not an option but a requirement.

We cannot guarantee that we will always respond to emails that are not in keeping with the course email policy.
Many times we simply do not receive emails that fail these conditions, as they are promptly caught by spam filters
or they get lost among the hundreds of emails we receive on a daily basis. It is thus in the interest of the student to
ensure that his/her emails meet the requirements of the course email policy.

Those emails that the TAor Instructor do receive that are not in accordance with the course email policy will be
returned to the student with a message stating that the email is not in accordance with the course email policy, or
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with an invitation to review the course email policy. The student is welcome to contact the TA or Instructor again to
arrange a time meet with them in person to discuss their concerns.

How to Address your Course Director. Typically, a Course Director or Course Director is a scholar with extensive
research and training in the topic you are learning. They typically have advanced degrees, such as a PhD, in addition
to other graduate and undergraduate degrees. Course Directors have a one-to-many relationship in the course: there
is one Course Director to many students. As it is in the interests of students in a course to have a relationship with
their Course Director, I recommend choosing a formal address that affirms the role of the Course Director. In my
case: "Dr. Ranganathan." I have uploaded a sound file onto EClass to help students pronounce my name. If you
choose to address me by my first name I will not be offended: that’s how my friends and my parents refer to me, and
I don’t get offended. But the reason to adopt a formal mode of address with me has nothing to do with whether I will
be offended.

Bad Reasons not to address your Course Director as "Professor Ranganathan" or "Dr. Ranganathan":

• "Ranganathan" is too hard to say. ("Ranganathan" is no harder to say than any other name. All names
require effort to learn. A sound file is uploaded to EClass to help.)

• I want to be friends with my Course Director. (Friendship is a two way street, and your friends may want
something in return for your grades. The last thing you want is for your friend to be in charge of your grade
for they might want something in return for your grade. This could be costly. Relationships with your
Course Director are a one way street: Course Directors do not expect a return of favour or reward for
teaching or handing out grades.)

• My Course Director and I are equals, so I should address him as an equal. (The whole point of taking a
university course is to learn from someone who is not your equal. If you want to learn from an equal, save
your tuition and go for coffee with a friend.)

• If I call my Course Director by his or her first name, I can relate to him or her. (First name address is
informal. Your relationship with your Course Director is formal: it is defined by your eligibility to enroll in
a course, and your agreement to be bound by the criteria of the syllabus and the university. )

• I am here to share my opinion with the Course Director and my classmates, therefore my relationship with
my Course Director is defined by his interest in what I think. (Wrong. You are here to learn. Your TA or
your classmates are not interested in your opinion. They require your participation in our joint project of
learning. This is not necessarily the same as sharing your opinion.)

• The Course Director is an employee of the company that I (my family, my clan…) is hiring. Therefore, the
Course Director is my servant. As it is the job of a servant to follow orders, it is permissible to call a
servant by their first name. (Paying for a service does not imply that what you are paying for is a servant. A
servant is someone who follows the orders of a master. A judge provides a service, but it is not the job of
 13

the judge to follow the orders of those they serve: attendees of a court. A Course Director is a judge in
relation to their students. The Course Director's role is not to follow orders, but to teach and to set up a
context where the performance of students is judged according agreed upon criteria specified in course
documents. It is obligatory to not address judges by their first name, but by respectful, deferential address.)

• If I address my Course Director as "Course Director" I am feeding his/her ego, and making him or her
believe that he or sheis better than me. (To address someone formally is not in any way to endorse the
addressed as better than.It is about keeping the right kind of distance.)

Accommodation
Extensions. Extensions on essays, or other assignments, may be granted well in advance of the due date. In general,
students can approach the Course Director for an extension on their essay within the first two weeks of the course.
No extensions will be granted after the first two weeks of the course. No extension will be granted after this period
because of scheduling conflicts. Extensions are, in general, not granted to accommodate extracurricular activities.
They may be granted to students exercising foresight about assignment completion challenges across courses. But
this is not guaranteed nor a right. Students are obliged to keep to the due dates of the course unless alternative
arrangements are made with the professor.

Employment and being a university student. Employment obligations cannot be used as a pretext for extensions
or accommodations in this course. Students agree to this by staying enrolled in the course.

Other Classes.Students cannot use obligations or requirements in other classes at York (or anywhere) as grounds
for accommodation in this course. Students agree to this by staying enrolled in the course.

Social Pressure and Course Obligations. Students, like all people, feel social pressure to conform to certain
expectations that conflict with course obligations. Course obligations are set out in the syllabus, and the various
course documents available to students via EClass, which enrolled students agree to. Social pressure that conflicts
with course obligations cannot be used as grounds for accommodation. Students who complain about not having
extracurricular activities accommodated may earn penalties up to 70% of the course grade (but no higher) and
applied at first to the participation grade.

Compassionate grounds for accommodation include: illness, bereavement, and unforeseeable tragedies that
befall a student. What does not count: anxiety, energy deficits or a lack of time that arise from a student’s own time
or energy management. Especially what does not count: time management pressures that arise from other classes,
employment or routine familial obligations. Students are adults who, knowing their other commitments, choose to
take this course, understanding the original burdens they have and the additional ones that this course poses.
Normally, students seeking significant accommodation for medical reasons should be willing and able to provide a
doctor’s note that testifies to an illness as interfering with meeting a deadline. In the absence of relevant
 14

documentation corroborating accommodation requests, it is up to the instructor’s or TA’s discretion as to whether to

extend such accommodation---and even with such documentation it will be up to the instructor to decide how much
accommodation is warranted. The general rule is that any accommodation extended must allow a student to hand in
all work by the end of classes. In an online course, in the absence of significant illness, students will be expected to
participate. Frivolous requests for accommodation on the basis of student choices or consequences of student
choices, (such as assignments in other classes, or extracurricular commitments) may result in participation penalties.
Students should not assume that because they lead busy lives, they deserve accommodation. Being busy is a good
thing. Accommodation is to offset the impact of bad things.

Alternate Moral Obligations. It may be the case that students have overriding moral obligations to do something
other than attend to their course commitments. In this event, students have no right of accommodation. If this
warranted a right, then we would all be obliged to accommodate other people in our activities if they could not
attend due to other obligations, such as the obligation to keep away from us. This right of accommodation would
undermine the weight of the overriding obligation, thus defeating the rationale for accommodation.

Essay Upload Problems. It is possible to upload a corrupted file to Turnitin. Here is an explanation of how you can
corrupt a file: http://blog.didierstevens.com/2009/06/09/quickpost-make-your-own-corrupted-pdfs-for-free/. Some
students believe that this buys them time. Uploads of corrupted files are treated as the submission of the wrong file.

Students who submit the wrong file via EClass may resubmit their file for a penalty of 2% per resubmission. After
the first day, late penalties also apply. The submission of the wrong file is a different offense than the submission of
a paper that contains plagiarized content or otherwise breaks conventions of academic honesty. All papers
submitted that are suspected of breaking the standards of academic honesty will be reported to the Undergraduate
Program Director (UPD) and will be treated as the student’s willful submission, pending the outcome of an
exploratory meeting with the UPD. Students may not request to resubmit such a paper. Under no circumstances
will a student be excused for submitting a paper that breaks the standards of academic honesty because they
submitted the “wrong file.”

Missed Exam Policy. In the case of a missed exam, students have 2 days from the missed exam date to contact the
Instructor to arrange for a makeup exam. Documented illness or bereavement constitute circumstances for which a
makeup exam can be scheduled. Failure to be in Toronto on the date of the exam does not constitute a valid excuse.

EClass Problems. Unless there is a problem with EClass that effects a wide number of students, late commentaries
are not accepted for grading from students who experience difficulty with EClass. If there is a discrepancy between
a student's EClass experience and what EClass reports to a TA or Instructor, the TA or Instructor's EClass
experience takes precedence. Wide spread problems are evidenced by an immediate receipt of emails from a
majority of students at the time of the difficulty. If you are prepared to hand in an assignment on time but EClass
does not seem to be obliging, send an email to your TA or Course Director immediately, with the attached
assignment by the due date, and attempt to resubmit on time if possible. Emailed assignments shall be accepted only
 15

once, per student, unless the problem is a function of a EClass outage. Do not leave submissions until the last
minute. Technical difficulties that occur 20 minutes or less before the deadline will not be accommodated. Late
assignments are not accepted via email.

Computer problems. Students are responsible for the operation of their computers, and for being able to access the
internet for the purposes of this course. A student’s technical problem with computers is the responsibility of the
student. Included in this category are technical problems with EClass accounts that do not effect all students. These
are not grounds for accommodation. Please do not ask your Course Director or TA for help on these matters.

No-Shows. Students who do not submit any assignments during our class period or who attended less than 34% of
classes/tutorials are not entitled to hand-in assignments after classes are over. Students who do not participate during
the course are not entitled to accommodation after the course. Students who do not attend the tutorial that they are
officially registered in are not entitled to attendance recognition. The only exception is make-up assignments that the
Course Director prescribes as a result of documented illness or bereavement. Make-up assignments for participation
due to illness or bereavement must be negotiated prior to the end of class. Except in extremely rare cases, this rule
applies to students with special needs as well. No make-up work or original assignments (such as essays) will be
accepted past the final exam date. I am glad to keep in touch with my students to talk about philosophy after the end
of our class---schedule permitting. But our class has a definite end date and all assignments must be in by then for
all students in our class.

Disabilities and Special Accommodations. The Instructor is committed to ensuring that students with disabilities
receive the accommodation they require to excel in this course. Disabilities can include physical challenges as well
as mental and neurological challenges. It is the student’s responsibility to inform the Instructor at the beginning of
the course of his or her requirements and provide proper documentation in order to receive appropriate
accommodation. Special accommodation requires planning and it may not be available to those who do not inform
the Instructor well ahead of time. The Instructorencourages all students with disabilities at York to register with the
York’s Counseling and Disabilities Services (http://www.yorku.ca/dshub/). This service supports the student in
obtaining appropriate accommodation and ensures that the student’s privacy is maintained. The Instructordoes not
need to know what a student’s disability is if he receives a letter from York’s Counseling and Disabilities Services
vouching for the special needs. However, it is the responsibility of registered students to pass along the appropriate
letters to your Instructorfrom York’s Counseling and Disabilities Services. Students who do not inform the
Instructor of their disabilities within the first two weeks of the course are not entitled to accommodation. The point
of accommodations is to facilitate responsible behavior: it is not a reward for students who ignore their disabilities
until it is too late. Students who receive accommodation for their disabilities in this course are expected to have all
material submitted by the final exam. The course has a definite start and end date: accommodation ends with the
course. Students who choose not to take advantage of accommodation during a course choose not to use such
accommodation and hence cannot have such accommodation extended after the course is over. Any grade that
follows as a result of this choice is the student’s responsibility.
 16

Drafts. Students who want feedback on their Essay prior to submitting for grading must inform the TA or Course
Director six weeks prior to the essay due date via email, and get the complete, best-form draft to the TA or Course
Director four weeks prior to the due date via email. A best-form draft is a complete essay, spellchecked with
acceptable grammar, section headings, proper citations, assignment-specified-title page and bibliography. If the TA
or Course Director has time, they aim to speak with you about your draft within a week so that you have roughly
two weeks to revise your paper. If students choose to take up this option, they promise not to change their essay
topic after receiving feedback. Students who change their essay topic after receiving feedback may receive a 5%
penalty on their Essay submission.

Students who do not produce a draft early enough may nevertheless speak to the TA or Instructor about the essay.
While the TA or Instructor cannot help a student write their paper, they can engage in general conversations about
the assignment and possible arguments. The TA or Instructor will not engage in such a conversation any later than
two weeks prior to the due date of the essay. This is to discourage last minute essay planning. Students should be
planning their essay a month in advance of its submission.

Readings will be taken from:

The following books are required reading for the course:

Patañjali. Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra. Penguin 2008. (Available on Kindle)

Online Readings, linked via EClass

How your readings are chosen

The readings are chosen to provide a balanced overview of the topic. Every effort is made to
select free readings, or to choose the least expensive, scholarly alternative.
Readings for the following “topics” (weeks) are specified in EClass
~`~`~`~
Topic 1. Introduction to Course:2021-09-13

Topic 2. Reasoning and thinking vs. Believing:2021-09-20

Topic 3. Yoga Sutra Book 2: 2021-09-27

Topic 4. Reason and Public Participation :2021-10-04

Topic 5. Yoga Sutra Book 2:2021-10-18

 17

Reading Week: October 9, 2021 — October 15, 2021

Topic 6. Arguments:2021-10-25

Topic 7. Reason and Persuasion:2021-11-01

Topic 8. Yoga Sutra Book 3:2021-11-08

Topic 9. Skepticism:2021-11-15

Topic 10. Fallacies:2021-11-22

• Essay Outline with Annotated Bibliography: 15 % (Due: November 20, 2021)

Topic 11. Categorical Deductive Reasoning:2021-11-29

Topic 12. Review:2021-12-06

Winter Break

Topic 13. Propositional Logic : 2022-01-10

Topic 14. Mindfulness 1 : 2022-01-17

Topic 15. Inductive Reasoning : 2022-01-24

• Essay(Due: March 26, 2022)

Topic 16. Mindfulness 2 : 2022-01-31

Topic 17. Inference to the Best Explanation : 2022-02-07

Topic 18. Science of Yoga : 2022-02-14

Reading Week: February 19, 2022 — February 25, 2022

Topic 19. Psychology and Sociology (Social Sciences) : 2022-02-28

Topic 20. History and Law : 2022-03-07

Topic 21. Judging Scientific Theories : 2022-03-14

Topic 22. Anthropology (Social Science) : 2022-03-21

Topic 23. Yoga and Religion : 2022-03-28

Topic 24. Review : 2022-04-04