Teaching Philosophy

Curriculum Vitae | Current Projects | Teaching Philosophy | Teaching Experience | Syllabi

“Qui docet, discet.” (He who teaches, learns.)
— Seneca

“Such is the business of the philosopher, to open new ideas. It is not his business to impose them on people.”
— Merlyn, The Book of Merlyn by T.H. White

My teaching philosophy is aptly summed up by the two epigraphs above. My experience in teaching, limited as it is at this early stage in my career, has taught me the truth of the old adage that you do not really know how well you know a subject until you attempt to teach it. Teaching is a learning process on several levels. When you set out to teach something, you find that you have to constantly maintain and improve your knowledge of the subject in order to keep up with the field and to convey the information and skills to your students clearly and effectively. And one can learn surprising things from one’s students as well. At the same time, it is not enough simply to have a firm grasp of the subject matter about which you are trying to educate your students. Teaching itself is an art or skill. It is not enough simply to dump the information on students in stationary, dull, monotone lectures class after class. A good teacher is friendly and accessible to his students both inside and outside of class. He finds ways to engage their interest and keep it, encouraging them to learn and, ideally, to fall in love with learning itself. This involves being a lively instructor and showing students how the subject matter is relevant to their own lives as well as encouraging interaction and developing critical thinking skills. I have learned much from the classes I have taught thus far, and though I have much still to learn I am committed to improving my abilities as a teacher.

As a teacher and a philosopher I believe my job is, following T.H. White’s Merlyn, to open my students to new ideas, not to impose a particular set of ideas on them. We all have our own preferred set of ideas and they will unavoidably be reflected in our classes, both in content and presentation. While I am not sure that we do our students any service by attempting to thoroughly disguise or suppress our own judgments about the material we are teaching, it is important that teachers, especially teachers of philosophy, not impose those judgments on our students. It certainly would be wrong to create an environment in which one’s students felt they had to parrot back what they think their teacher wants to hear in order to get a good grade or an A. I do not expect my students to agree with my judgments about the material I am teaching, if they can glean them. Nor do I desire such agreement, actual or pretended, if it is not an honest belief arrived at on their part, voluntarily and without pressure, by thoughtful consideration of the issues. My goals are for my students first to learn the material well, not merely just well enough and long enough to pass a test, and secondly to develop from this foundation their own considered opinions about the material. To this end I make an effort to present a range of views, often mutually opposed and sometimes controversial. My aim is to expose my students to new ideas, both inside and outside the mainstream, so that they can evaluate the ideas side-by-side on their own merits and make up their own minds about them.

Finally, I’d like to say a few words about a professor’s dual roles as teacher and scholar. I believe it is both possible and obligatory to maintain a healthy balance between these two roles. I am committed to being a productive and respectable scholar but also, and no less importantly, to giving my students a quality education. Indeed, as I’ve indicated above, I believe the two roles can be complimentary.