Professor Maggie O’Brien
mjobrien@yorku.ca
Office Location:  S438 Ross Building
Phone Number:  (416) 736-2100 Ext. 77586
Office Hours:  Wednesday 12:30 – 1:30 (Online) and Thursday 11:30 – 12:30 (In-person)

This course is a full-year introduction to philosophy. We will explore some of the central questions of philosophy, including: What is the nature of reality? How can we know about the external world? Does the existence of evil provide evidence that God does not exist? What’s the right thing to do? How can the state be justified? Does justice require equality? What is race? And we will begin with the questions: what is philosophy, and how do we do it well? We will study texts by both historical and modern-day thinkers.

Technical requirements for taking the course: internet access, and software necessary to view Microsoft Office files (MS Word and MS Powerpoint) or Adobe Reader (for pdf files).

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: The lectures for this course are scheduled to be held in-person on Tuesday and Thursday from 10:30am – 11:30am in DB 016. In addition to scheduled lectures, this course also has in-person tutorial groups. Please check your schedule for your specific tutorial group time and location.

The Norton Introduction to Philosophy, 2^nd Edition. Eds. Gideon Rosen, Alex Byrne, Joshua Cohen, Elizabeth Harman, Seana Shiffrin. (New York: Norton Publishing, 2018).

In-class tests (2)          15% each

Essays (2)                   15% each

Final exam                   30%

Tutorial Participation    10%

This course takes place in-person. It consists of lectures and tutorials. Materials (e.g power point slides) will be provided on Eclass.

Each student will be assigned a teaching assistant, who will lead the student’s tutorial and who will be responsible for grading assignments and will be the student’s first point of contact for the course.

All assignments, with instructions, will also be posted on the eClass website

Students who complete this course should be able to:

• Read a philosophical text and identify and summarize the author’s main

philosophical claims or positions as well as some of the arguments used to support those claims.

• Write a clear essay in which they identify and summarize another philosopher’s

argument, evaluate that argument, and defend a philosophical view of their own.

• Identify, define, and apply some basic philosophical terms and distinctions.
• Identify, and display familiarity with, some of the basic issues, questions, and problems in philosophy, as well as some of the main philosophical views that have been taken on those topics.
• Demonstrate an increased ability to communicate their views clearly and effectively, and to engage in constructive philosophical debate, with others both in the classroom and outside of the course

Course policies

• This course has a flexible extension policy. Extensions will be granted by the instructor/TA for religious accommodation and extenuating circumstances such as illness or bereavement. If you don’t think you will be able to submit an assessment, please be in touch with the course instructor or TA.
• A late penalty of 2%/day will be given for late essays (including weekends).
• Students may not duplicate, copy and/or distribute recordings of the lectures without the instructor’s permission. These recordings are protected by copyright laws, and the university may take disciplinary or legal action against students who violate copyright.
• Email policy: I will do my best to reply to your emails promptly (within 48 hrs). To help reply efficiently students should indicate the course code and tutorial/TA in the subject of their email. I will not reply to email over the weekend. Each student will be assigned a TA who should be their first point of contact.