Nathan Dyck
nddyck@yorku.ca

Office Hours: Friday 12-3:00 PM, or by appointment

Human beings are natural storytellers. The question of the meaning of life arises for us at least in part because of our desire to tell the most comprehensive story about ourselves that we can: one about the nature of Existence itself, and our place within it. In this introductory course, we will inquire into such questions as: What is the ultimate nature of reality? Is this something we can really know? If so, what is our place in the cosmos; and if not, where does this leave us? Is God required for life to have meaning? Is God sufficient to give life meaning? Is meaning something we discover or create? What is required to live a good or meaningful life? In exploring these questions, we will read selections from the works of classical and contemporary thinkers such as Plato, Schopenhauer, Camus, Susan Wolf, Robert Nozick, and Simone Weil. 

TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR TAKING THE COURSE:

This course is listed as ONCA which means it will be held online with on-campus assessments. In this case it will be possible to complete and submit all assessments remotely. Students will, however, be required to attend both lectures and tutorials through zoom video conferencing – a portion of your grade will be based on tutorial attendance and active tutorial participation. This will require video/audio conferencing (e.g., for lecture attendance and tutorial/seminar discussion). Thus, in addition to stable, high-speed internet connection, students will need access to a computer with webcam and microphone (or other smart device with video conferencing capabilities) during the tutorial and lecture times listed above.

This course has a website on a platform called eClass. This is where you find materials like this syllabus, lecture slides, and so on. You will need a computer or mobile device that is able to access the internet. The eClass sites for this and your other courses can be accessed here.

These are some useful links for student computing information, resources and help:

Student Guide to eClass

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.

The Meaning of Life: A Reader, 4^th edition, E.D. Klemke and Steven M. Cahn, eds.

Online readings linked from syllabus/eClass

Weekly reflections (average of top 8)                20%

Tutorial Attendance/Participation                      20% (10% attendance, 10% tutorial participation)

Assignment 1 – scaffolding assignment              25%

Assignment 2 – argumentative essay                  35%

Tutorial Attendance/Participation:

Your tutorial grade is composed of two components – attendance and participation – each weighted equally. Thus, your active contribution and engagement during tutorials and classes make up a significant portion of your final grade. This can be intimidating for students – if you are struggling to find ways to contribute, I recommend reaching out to your TA for guidance, or speaking to me during office hours. Tutorial discussions will focus on readings discussed in lectures from the previous week.

Weekly Reflections:

Weekly reflections are an opportunity for students to engage more deeply with an issue from the course readings or lectures. They are also a great way to prepare for tutorial discussion: sharing your critical reflection in tutorial is a great way to boost your participation grade. To receive full marks, your weekly reflections must do two things. First, it must briefly (in one or two sentences) identify and express a claim or idea from readings/lectures that you found noteworthy. This could be a premise used by an author or it could be one of their conclusions (“Tolstoy argues there can be no meaning without God”). Second, in 3-5 sentences, explore this claim, from your own perspective. This might involve grappling with how to understand the claim if you found it confusing; considering an objection it might face; offering an alternative defense of the claim the author may not have considered; or exploring a personal connection/story/experience related to the claim.

Substantive engagement with an idea from the course is sufficient for full marks. Reflections should be between 150-250 words and are to be submitted weekly, using the links provided on eClass. Reflections are due by midnight on Mondays and should pertain to the UPCOMING week’s topic(s) and reading(s). Late submissions will not be graded. Your tutorial leader will read all your submissions; your grade will be based on your top 8 submissions.

Essay Scaffolding Exercise and Argumentative Essay

Paper assignments will develop your ability to explain and evaluate complex philosophical ideas and arguments in clear language. The scaffolding assignment will require you to plan out the core elements for your final paper, including writing a concise introduction, providing a sketch of an argument from a course reading, formulating a clear thesis statement either defending or objecting to this argument, and providing a rough outline of your supporting reasons.

Your final paper will build upon the scaffolding assignment, to work up a full argumentative essay. While you are not required to complete the essay you planned in the scaffolding assignment, you might want to speak to your TA before deciding to switch topics.

Detailed instructions about what is expected will be distributed at least 2 weeks before the due dates. Essays must be on one of the assigned topics and should be 5-6 typed, double-spaced pages (1200-1500 words).

Papers will be submitted to Turnitin via eClass. Use of ChatGPT or other LLM’s may not be used for any assignment – such use constitutes plagiarism.

SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS

WEEK 1: Introduction, or Why Are We Here?

Sept 4 – Course syllabus

WEEK  2: Science, Meaning, and God

Tutorials Begin: Tues, September 9

Sept 9 – Cottingham, On the Meaning of Life (excerpt, p1-11)

Sept 11 – Tolstoy, “My Confession” in The Meaning of Life: A Reader

WEEK 3: Is Life Absurd?

Sept 16 – Camus, “The Myth of Sisyphus” in The Meaning of Life: A Reader

Sept 18 – Nagel, “The Absurd” in The Meaning of Life: A Reader

WEEK 4: A World Without Value: On Suffering

Sept 23 – Schopenhauer, “On the Sufferings of the World” in The Meaning of Life: A Reader

Sept 25 – Gowans, “The Buddha’s Message” in The Meaning of Life: A Reader

WEEK 5: Nietzsche’s Response to Schopenhauer

Sept 30 – de Botton, “The Consolations of Difficulties” (Sect 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 23) in The Consolations of Philosophy

Oct 2 – Lecture on Essay writing

WEEK 6: Meaning and Artificial Intelligence

Oct 7 – Peschel, “Human innovation and the creative agency of the world in the age of generative AI”

Oct 9 – Gaggioli et al., “Extended Creativity: A Conceptual Framework for Understanding Human-AI Creative Relations”

Assignment 1 due Oct 10

READING WEEK (October 11-17)

WEEK 7: Is Meaning Something We Create? (Continued)

Oct 21 – Sartre, "Existentialism is a Humanism"

Oct 23 – Cottingham, On the Meaning of Life (excerpt, p11-18)

WEEK 8: Meaning, Value, and Morality

Oct 28 – Wolf – “The Meaning of Lives”

Oct 30 – Cottingham, On the Meaning of Life (excerpt, p18- 27)

WEEK 9: Meaning and Transcendence

Drop Deadline: Nov 4

Nov 4 – Nozick, "Philosophy and the Meaning of Life" (Excerpt)

Nov 6 – Cottingham, “The Meaning of Life and Transcendence”

WEEK 10: Meaning, Play, and Flow

Nov 11 – Moritz Schlick “On the Meaning of Life” in The Meaning of Life: A Reader

Nov 13 – Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Chapter 16 from Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.  (excerpt)

WEEK 11: Meaning and Love

Nov 18 – Eric Fromm: Excerpt from “The Theory of Love” (p7-17) in The Art of Loving

Nov 20 – Eric Fromm: Excerpt from “The Theory of Love” (p18-31)

WEEK 12: The Needs of the Soul

Nov 25 – Simone Weil, “The Needs of the Soul” (Excerpt from The Need for Roots p.8-17)

Nov 27 – Simone Weil – “The Needs of the Soul” (Excerpt p.17-38)

Final Paper Deadline: TBD

Some readings may be subject to change. Always refer to eClass for the most updated version of the syllabus and current readings.

COURSE TEXTS:

The Meaning of Life: A Reader, 4^th edition, E.D. Klemke and Steven M. Cahn, eds.

Online readings linked from syllabus/eClass

By the end of this course, if you apply yourself, do all the reading, attend all lectures and tutorials, and complete all assignments, activities, and quizzes, you can expect to see improvement in the following areas:

• Your ability to identify the main point (or thesis) of a philosophical work, and critically evaluate the arguments in favour of it.
• Your ability to write clear, compelling philosophical essays that present arguments supported with strong reasons.
• Your knowledge of a variety of different philosophical approaches to the questions relating to the meaning of life.
• Your ability to articulate and substantiate your own views about humanity’s place in the cosmos, and what constitutes a good or meaningful life.

Email/message protocols:

• Communication with the instructor should be conducted via email, or by asking questions during lecture, tutorial, or office hours. Do not use the message function on eClass.
• Please allow 2 days/48 hours for your instructor or TA to respond. We have other work duties besides teaching, and obligations outside of our jobs (family, etc.) that sometimes cannot be put off. Don’t panic if you do not get a reply right away!
• Do not expect your instructor or TA to answer email on weekends. They may choose to, but they are not obligated to.
• Please give your full name and the name and/or number of the course (PHIL 1100A The Meaning of Life) in all correspondence. Put the course title and/or number in the subject heading.
• Before you email us to ask a question, first consult the syllabus. Many questions (e.g. “Is there a final exam?” “When is the essay due?”) are answered in the syllabus. (That’s why we have a syllabus.) Likewise, if you have a question about an assignment, please see if it is answered in the assignment directions (which will be distributed via eClass) before contacting the instructor or TA.
• Do not send emails containing attachments without explaining what the attachments are.
• Essays are to be submitted using the link provided for this purpose on eClass. No essays will be accepted by email.
• If you require an extension on an essay or other assignment (and you have a good reason for the extension), do not wait until the due date to ask for it. Asking in advance will reduce unnecessary stress.

To be successful in this course:

• Do all of the required readings before lecture and review them after lecture. Even if you don’t understand a text when you read it in advance of the lecture, the initial reading will help you to follow the lecture and to comprehend it the second time you read it, after the lecture. Philosophical texts are normally more challenging than other kinds of texts, and will probably take more time to get through. I have made an effort to choose readings of a manageable length, however philosophical works can be difficult and sometimes take more than a single read-through to grasp.
• Complete all coursework by the deadlines posted.
• If you are accessing this course from a different time zone please be aware that all deadlines and launch times are Eastern Standard Time. You are responsible for meeting all deadlines even if you are in a different time zone.

• You should be taking notes when you review video lectures. The powerpoint slides are a visual aid for the lectures, not a substitute for note-taking.

• You should be taking notes when you read the course material.
• Philosophical writing and argumentation is a distinctive skill which you may not be familiar with – attend carefully to the lecture on philosophical essay writing, as this will include essential resources for understanding the expectations of philosophical writing.
• Ask for help if you need help. Ask questions if you have questions. Make use of your TA’s as they are knowledgeable and are here to help.
• For an updated and helpful website with tips and tools, for writing, time management, and other necessary tools and skills for university success, see: http://www.yorku.ca/spark/
• Take care of yourself. Balancing the academic, professional, family, personal, and other aspects of your life can be challenging sometimes, but always aim to create some balance.

Assistance with Writing - http://www.yorku.ca/laps/writ/

It takes time and practice to become a better writer. Invest some time into your writing skills while you are enrolled in York courses. The Writing Centre is currently offering its services remotely. You might be interested in: (a) one-on-one online video chat with a writing instructor regarding an assignment you are working on (by appointment only, book online); (b) eTutors who will read over and comment on essays you submit to them; or (c) general online writing workshops. You are paying for these services through your tuition, so take advantage of them!

Assistance for ESL Learners - http://www.yorku.ca/eslolc/keele/default.asp!

At the ESL Open Learning Centre (OLC), students can ask for help in any aspect of learning English (e.g. writing, speaking, listening, etc.). There are group workshops and individual tutoring sessions available. There is a multimedia library, where you can review materials the OLC has that relate to supporting you in learning and practicing English. There is also a movie and discussion night - great practice for gaining confidence in speaking English. These services are available to any student who identifies themself as ESL (International or Canadian student) who is enrolled in courses at York University.

Assistance with Special Needs - http://www.yorku.ca/cds/

It is important that students with special learning needs, requiring accommodations of any sort in connection with their successful completion of a course, contact the appropriate office(s). Contact the Counselling and Disability Services (CDS) for specifics. Notify your instructor of any special needs on the first day of class. Often the CDS will provide a letter outlining your learning needs, and you should submit a copy to your instructor as soon as possible.

Academic Integrity:

You commit plagiarism when you use someone else’s ideas and present them as your own. This could take several forms: cheating on a test; letting someone copy from you during a test; having someone write your paper; copying parts or all of the paper off the internet; buying a paper; summarizing ideas from any source without properly citing this source; using LLMs to generate or modify text. For further information on plagiarism see:  http://www.yorku.ca/academicintegrity/

It is also a violation of academic honesty to represent another's artistic or technical work or creation as one's own. Just as there are standards to which one must adhere in the preparation and publication of written works, there are standards to which one must adhere in the creation and presentation of music, drawings, designs, dance, photography and other artistic and technical works.

It is also a violation of academic honesty to forge another student’s signature on an attendance sheet, submit a fraudulent medical excuse, or collaborate on work with classmates or peers which is assigned individually.   

It is your responsibility as a student to be informed about academic integrity. No level or form of plagiarism or academic dishonesty will be tolerated. Penalties for academic dishonesty range from a grade of zero on the specific assignment, to failing the course, to having an official note of academic dishonesty on your university record.