Teaching Statement
Teaching is a central element of my job as a philosopher. As a teacher, I draw on my own experiences as a student. My own professors fostered in me a desire to learn, apply that knowledge to diverse areas of my life, and think of myself as critically thinking participant in an ongoing conversation. In light of these experiences, as a teacher I aim to (1) foster in students an appreciation for philosophy, (2) give them the tools to apply philosophical thinking in their own lives, and (3) encourage them to see themselves as philosophers—full participants in an ongoing conversation about human existence.
I find directly engaging students in the learning process is the best way to cultivate this mindset. While lecture classes are a key component of any teacher’s repertoire, I find that undergraduates benefit greatly from an emphasis on discussing their own ideas. For many of them, a classroom conversation where they are an full participant is a new experience. This kind of approach gives students the opportunity to make the content they learn personal by discovering how this knowledge both addresses and challenges their own preconceptions.
In teaching philosophy, the danger is that the subject becomes too abstract—too difficult for the student to locate within their own experience. Letting students approach topics through their own ideas re-configures philosophy as an intensely personal endeavor.
I find directly engaging students in the learning process is the best way to cultivate this mindset. While lecture classes are a key component of any teacher’s repertoire, I find that undergraduates benefit greatly from an emphasis on discussing their own ideas. For many of them, a classroom conversation where they are an full participant is a new experience. This kind of approach gives students the opportunity to make the content they learn personal by discovering how this knowledge both addresses and challenges their own preconceptions.
In teaching philosophy, the danger is that the subject becomes too abstract—too difficult for the student to locate within their own experience. Letting students approach topics through their own ideas re-configures philosophy as an intensely personal endeavor.
Recent Courses (Primary Instructor)
Critical Thinking
(Phil. 130) |
Philosophy is about the very human project of trying to figure out reality and "critical thinking" is the part of philosophy that examines the intellectual "toolbox" we use to perform that task. This "toolbox" helps us do two important things: (1) we as humans try to show whether something is true (or false); (2) we as humans try to show how something can be explained. Both activities are widespread; we do them in science, in law, in politics, even our everyday lives (for example, if you ever tried to explain to someone the best way to cook something, you've done a simple version of this!). Thinking clearly, carefully, and with minimal error is the foundation for everything else we as humans try to do, as such, it is useful to understand more deeply how we do this. This class will help you do that.
We will begin by looking at the basic building blocks of (1) asserting and (2) explaining: "arguments." We'll define different types of arguments. Learn some skills for identifying them. And even discuss some very basic formal logic and probability theory. Then, we'll turn to discuss some ways that our reasoning can "go wrong" by looking at logical fallacies and cognitive biases. Finally, we'll end the course by doing some exciting "philosophy of thinking" and discuss the types of critical thinking issues that arise in the media (especially social media), scientific reasoning, and religious experiences. I will warn you, critical thinking is a skill-based class, like a language or mathematics, so it requires some time investment at the beginning to get used to it. However, once you get used to these skills I think you'll find that it can lead to rewarding discussions about things that really matter and deepen our understanding of our place in the world around us. I'm excited to be exploring this with you this semester! |
Professional Responsibility
(Phil. 244) |
Ethics is the part of philosophy that asks fundamental questions about issues of value and morality in order to understand how to live better. “Professional Responsibility” is the part of ethics that applies this understanding to questions that arise in the context of work. How you answer these questions depends on how you understand the role ethics plays within the workplace. Moreover, we can ask, “are some answers better than others?” To engage with these questions is to consider the issue from a philosophical perspective. That is what we will do in this course. We will start with some general discussions about values, work, society, and how they relate to personal happiness, as well as issues of justice, and the value of work. We will then spend the remainder of the semester looking at various examples of ethical issues within a variety of professions. Through our discussions, we will figure out both what others have to say on these matters and also what we, ourselves, believe.
The general aim of this course is to introduce some issues that occur at the intersection of professional life and morality, it also fulfils the “Oral Communication” requirement, as such many of your assignments will involve presentations. This course, like all philosophy courses, will challenge and cultivate your ability to read, write, think, and speak. We will assume for the purposes of this course that equally intelligent, well-meaning people can sincerely disagree about questions of right and wrong, and we will endeavor to understand how we as members of a pluralistic society can do so in helpful and responsible ways. |
Contemporary Moral Problems (Phil 252)
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“What is the right thing to do?” “How can I live a good life?” These two questions are some of the most important and deepest we will ask in our lives. Moral disagreements happen when people give different answers to those questions. For example, I might think that it is always wrong to torture people, even if you could get life-saving information from them. You might think that sometimes it is right to torture people, as long as the information we get is worth it. You and I have different answers to the question “what is the right thing to do?,” therefore we have a moral problem. Moral problems happen whenever you have groups of people—in culture, in society, or even in families. Since we inevitably face such moral difficulties the question we must ask ourselves is: “how do we discover the correct answer?”
This course aims to do three things: 1) introduce you to the basics of moral reasoning, moral theories, and moral concepts, 2) together investigate several contemporary moral problems and the arguments surrounding them, and finally 3) challenge you to respectfully and rationally articulate, in assignments and discussion, your answers to these moral problems and why you believe that they are the correct answers. The point of this course is not to make you a more moral person—I am just a teacher, not a counselor, pastor, or family member. Instead, I hope to give you the mental tools to work towards the correct conclusion (whatever it might be) on your own. In other words, this class attempts to increase your understanding of the moral landscape. If you take this class seriously, I think this understanding will equip you with tools to become more thoughtful, careful, and charitable in your own moral disagreements. My hope is that this will, in the long run, allow you to flourish as human beings. |
Introduction to Philosophy
(Phil 101) |
Life brings with it some difficult and important questions: “Why am I here?”, “What is worth spending my life pursuing?”, “How can I know what is true?”, “What is right and wrong?”, and many more. Over time, whether we realize it or not, we acquire answers from our parents, our friends, our culture, our nation, our religion, and our own investigations. Philosophy is the academic discipline that (1) teaches us to examine our answers to these questions and (2) attempts through careful reasoning to evaluate them. This class serves as an introduction to the basic methods and questions of western philosophy. It will be structured as a topical survey of some of those fundamental questions. We will read and engage with a variety of philosophic texts (both ancient and contemporary) to learn the skills of philosophical reasoning and then, through discussion and writing, learn how to utilize those skills.
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Bioethics
(Phil 345) |
Issues of life, death, and medical care have always been morally loaded. The rapid development of medical technologies in the 21st century—and biological sciences more generally—have pushed these concerns to the forefront of society. We only need to look at the debate currently raging in the United States regarding healthcare to see how moral, legal, and biological issues are closely connected. In response to these developments the field of bioethics—unheard of 50 years ago—has developed to think carefully about the issues that arise in these value-laden topics.
Bioethics is a field of applied ethics, this means that it stands with one foot in the abstract theorizing of moral philosophy and the other foot firmly planted in the messy circumstances of the world as we find it. The goal of the bioethicist is to bring these two “worlds” together to better understand how we--as medical professionals, researchers, and fellow citizens—should act. Of course, answers are difficult to establish in ethics, but we can make much progress by attempting to clarify the questions. A bioethicist’s job is to make it manifestly clear what is morally, legally, and medically at stake in any given case. This understanding can then serve as the basis for informed policymaking, professional standards, and individual choices. In this class, I ask you to take up the role of bioethicist. To learn how to think carefully about the difficult ethical questions that surround medical practices and the biological sciences. We will start by learning about some particularly useful ethical theories, as well relevant aspects of the legal system, and then move into discussions centered on: the right to care, informed consent, end of life issues, privacy and confidentiality, reproductive health, cultural sensitivity, and medical research. To engage these issues, we will make frequent use of past cases. This course does not presuppose previous experience with philosophy and is aimed at providing skills and outcomes that would benefit those interested in careers in healthcare, research, or public policy. |