Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (AP)

The Department of Humanities does not offer a degree program or certificate but does offer courses in modes of reasoning as part of general education offerings.

Note: AP/MODR 1000-level courses are part of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies’ general education requirement. General education courses do not fulfill elective or major requirements.

Modes of reasoning is a part of LA&PS’s general education component offered through the Department of Humanities. All modes of reasoning courses count toward the general education requirement. A student may take only one modes course for credit. Like all general education courses, modes seeks to introduce students to university culture, interdisciplinary modes of inquiry, and critical skills. However, modes emphasizes additional critical reasoning skills. The skills taught in each modes course can be divided into three major areas: critical thinking (analyzing and criticizing arguments toward the end of figuring out what makes the most sense to believe or to do within a given context), critical reading (analyzing texts with the goal of understanding and summarizing them and determining their strengths and weaknesses) and critical writing (constructing essays which clearly and concisely explain and support a position or point of view). Practice and mentoring of skills is emphasized through the use of numerous examples analyzed both in class and in homework and assignments.  These skills are applied to texts and issues on a variety of topics and in a variety of fields, depending upon the emphasis of the particular modes of reasoning course. Some examples of courses include: Reasoning about Morality and Values, Reasoning about Women and Sexism, and Techniques of Persuasion.

Note: only AP/MODR courses (offered through the Department of Humanities) and not GL/MODR courses count toward LA&PS’s general education requirements. Students are advised before registering in a course to consult the detailed course outlines on the Internet (http://www.yorku.ca/laps/huma/coursesmodr.asp). This is particularly important whenever two or more sections of a course are being offered in any particular session as important differences of emphasis may exist relating both to content and methodology.

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Modes of reasoning is offered by the Faculties of Glendon and Liberal Arts and Professional Studies.