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Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (AP) – Modes of Reasoning

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Modes of Reasoning is not a degree program or certificate. Modes of Reasoning courses are general education courses offered through the Department of Philosophy.

Location: Department of Philosophy, S448 Ross Building, Tel.: 416-736-5113
Website: http://www.yorku.ca/laps/phil
Coordinator: H. Jackman

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 Philosophy. All Modes of Reasoning courses count towards either the Humanities or the Social Science component of 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 whether the particular Modes of Reasoning course is designed to fulfill the Humanities or the Social Science general education requirement. Some examples of courses include: reasoning about morality and values, (which always counts as a Humanities general education course), reasoning about social issues (which always counts as a Social Science general education course), and techniques of persuasion (which can count as either).

Note: only AP/MODR courses (offered through the Department of Philosophy) and not GL/MODR courses (offered at Glendon College) 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. 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 to methodology.

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