teaching
Help With Philosophy Teaching
The editors of the Blog of the American Philosophical Association have begun a new series to help members of the profession with questions, challenges, and problems, about teaching philosophy. Jennifer Morton (CUNY) writes:
The Teaching Workshop is a new, regular feature on the Blog of the APA, run by the APA’s committee on the teaching of philosophy. Every other..
Benefits of Teaching Philosophy in Primary School (updated)
A study suggests that teaching primary/elementary school students philosophy may benefit their language and math skills, with those from particularly disadvantaged backgrounds showing the most improvement:
Teaching philosophy to primary school children can improve their English and maths skills, according to a pilot study highlighting the value of training pupils..
Boxill Denies Teaching 160 Independent Studies
Jan Boxill, who recently resigned from her position as member of the philosophy faculty at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill following allegations last year that she played a major role in academic fraud involving fake classes there, is now defending herself. She was interviewed recently by The Daily Tar Heel, which reports:
Records obtained by The Da..
Teaching As If Our Students Were Not Future Philosophers
Since most of our undergraduate students are planning to go to graduate school in philosophy and become professional philosophers, it makes sense that the undergraduate philosophy curriculum is typically filled with courses that prepare them for that future. Their courses should introduce them to the way that contemporary professional philosophers understand their f..
Virtual Worlds and Video Games in Philosophy Teaching
Do any of you use virtual worlds or video games in your teaching of philosophy, and if so, how? In conversation the other day a colleague expressed an interest in creating a virtual world in which an epidemic was taking place, and having students immerse themselves in it to learn about addressing some of the various ethical challenges that confront agents in such si..
Teaching on Same-Sex Marriage
Most colleges offer lower-level philosophy courses on contemporary moral problems, one of the aims of which is to teach students how to think philosophically about assorted social and political issues. There are more of these kinds of issues than could be covered adequately in a semester, so the instructor must select which to include, and there may be some difficul..
Brilliant Combination of Teaching and Outreach (updated)
Mount Holyoke philosophy professor Thomas Wartenberg and College President Lynn Pasquerella co-teach a course called “Philosophy for Children.” An article at masslive.com describes it:
As part of the course, college students are teaching second graders at the Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School of Excellence in Springfield to question their own assumptions, lis..
Student Evaluations of Teaching
We’re confusing consumer satisfaction with product value.
That’s Philip B. Stark, a professor of statistics at Berkeley, discussing a mathematical critique of student evaluations of teachers he has written with a colleague, Richard Freishtat. There’s an article about the critique in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The study itself is here. Here’s a recap of major..
Non-Philosophers Teaching Philosophy
Several years ago, during an era of relative plenty, I tried to persuade our philosophy department to credit a new history course I was teaching on the Enlightenment. Neither the reading list, bursting with texts from Bacon and Locke to Montesquieu and Diderot, nor the publication of my own book on Hume and Rousseau undid the suspicion that a professional historian..
More on Teaching Philosophy in Prison
The notion of incarceration goes back to the beginning of philosophy, with the imprisonment and execution of Socrates—and the idea, expressed by his student Plato in the Republic, that we are all imprisoned by the cave of our own reflections but don’t realize it. “ face a lot of the issues ordinary people face, but in a heightened condition. We’re all doing life in ..
Teaching Philosophy in Prisons
Currently over two million people in the United States are in prison, and about nine million worldwide. There are many questions worth asking about the systems of criminal justice that lead to that result. The focus of this post, though, is quite narrow. It concerns just one thing academic philosophers can do, as academic philosophers, in light of this: teach prison..
Robert H. Kane (1938-2024)
Robert H. Kane, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, has died.
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Support for Canadian Graduate Students on Strike
A Canadian graduate student in philosophy writes in about how graduate students at several institutions are “on strike for a substantive money raise because our funding is incredibly low.” (more…)
Hobart and William Smith Colleges Fails Its Faculty and Its Students
Mark D. Gearan, president of Hobart and William Smith Colleges, has removed political theorist Jodi Dean from her courses because she authored a pro-Palestinian blog post, published on April 9th. (more…)
Say Hello to this Philosopher’s ExTRA
Appropriately enough, Luciano Floridi (Yale), known for his work in the philosophy of information and technology, may be the first philosopher with a… well, what should we call this thing? (more…)
“Why Philosophy?” Kate Manne
Kate Manne is interviewed by Céline Leboeuf. (more…)
“Why Philosophy?” Veronika Z. Nayir
Veronika Z. Nayir is interviewed by Céline Leboeuf. (more…)
Does Cutting Philosophy Help A University’s Budget?
“More than a year after its faculty cuts, enrollment at Emporia State has fallen 12.5 percent even though enrollment at other public institutions in the state rose 2 percent.” (more…)
University Revokes Philosopher’s Visiting Professorship over Signing of “Philosophy for Palestine” Letter (updated)
The University of Cologne yesterday withdrew its invitation to Nancy Fraser (New School) to take up its 2024 Albertus Magnus Professorship, a visiting position that the university considers a “special honor,” because Professor Fraser had been one of several hundred signatories of the “Philosophy for Palestine” open letter published last November. (more…)
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“Why Philosophy?” Kieran Setiya
A series of interviews with philosophers will be a new regular feature at Daily Nous. (more…)
BU Dean Recommends Replacing Striking TAs with AIs (updated)
The actual dean of an actual college of arts and sciences at an actual university has actually recommended replacing striking instructors with artificial intelligence apps. (more…)
John F. Malcolm (1931-2023)
John F. Malcolm, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of California, Davis, died last September. (more…)
Florida Philosophy Grad Student Seeks Legal Aid for Asylum Case
Shadi “Soph” Heidarifar is a doctoral student and teaching assistant in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Florida. She’s also suing the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for neglecting her asylum case. (more…)
How Many People Are Applying for Philosophy Jobs? (guest post)
How many people went on the philosophy job market this past cycle?
Kent Administration Approves Proposal to Cut Philosophy
Last summer, and again this past February, the administration of the University of Kent proposed cutting its philosophy program (see here). It has now decided to implement that proposal. (more…)
Fatphobia in Philosophy
How is philosophy hostile to fat people? (more…)