An important motivation for my teaching is to recreate the same fascination and thought-provoking atmosphere in the classroom that I experienced as an undergraduate taking philosophy courses. I would like to get students engaged and interested in the kinds of questions philosophers ask. It is my hope that the enthusiasm for philosophy I display in teaching will also be taken up by my students.
There are four goals I have in teaching. The first is to have students understand the historical and contemporary ideas of philosophers that have helped to shape the world in which we live. The second is to help students develop critical reasoning skills and to think on their own. Third, students should learn how to think and write in a clear and comprehensive fashion. Finally, as participating in philosophy is in large part a dialogical process, students should experience being a part of an important aspect of philosophical inquiry by partaking in lively philosophical discussion in the classroom. Here are my recent official teacher evaluations that each summarize an entire semester of classes. Spring 2024 Courses: Political Philosophy- PHIL 122, section 1 (Syllabus) Introduction to Philosophy - PHIL 6, section 3 (Syllabus) Introduction to Philosophy - PHIL 6, section 4 (Syllabus) |