This is an abbreviated version of my teaching philosophy.
Teaching philosophy at its best is practicing philosophy with students. There is nothing like recognizing that a student has made an idea their own. Understandably, many students do not come with zest, know-how, or appreciation of philosophy’s intrinsic goods. Moreover, awakening and trusting the capacity in oneself to be intellectually flexible and also confident enough to take a stand or ‘make a cut’ does not come easily to many. It can be particularly hard to access for students who are not ‘at home’ in university spaces, as I experienced as a racialized trans person. But the problem is more general, for the philosophical alchemy of curiosity, attention, patience, and perseverance is undermined by features of society: the fatigue of information overexposure, the pervasiveness of epistemic and social bubbles, and the premium placed on quantifiable outputs rather than process and experience. Under these conditions, it’s difficult to envision, or see the value in, thinking carefully and hard.
Teaching philosophy at its best is practicing philosophy with students. There is nothing like recognizing that a student has made an idea their own. Understandably, many students do not come with zest, know-how, or appreciation of philosophy’s intrinsic goods. Moreover, awakening and trusting the capacity in oneself to be intellectually flexible and also confident enough to take a stand or ‘make a cut’ does not come easily to many. It can be particularly hard to access for students who are not ‘at home’ in university spaces, as I experienced as a racialized trans person. But the problem is more general, for the philosophical alchemy of curiosity, attention, patience, and perseverance is undermined by features of society: the fatigue of information overexposure, the pervasiveness of epistemic and social bubbles, and the premium placed on quantifiable outputs rather than process and experience. Under these conditions, it’s difficult to envision, or see the value in, thinking carefully and hard.
My role is to get students intrigued by philosophy, learning philosophy, and then doing philosophy. To meet these challenges, I design courses and learning environments that instill curiosity and aim at the creative practice of philosophy. Students who do (and not just learn) philosophy exercise intellectual skills to come to a clearer understanding of the matters at hand, with an awareness of the history and social context of their topic. Ideally, a student who does philosophy experiences philosophy’s self-unveiling character. They learn about the intrinsic goods of philosophizing—like the satisfaction of a conceptual distinction, the joy of curiosity, or the excitement of coming to understand another’s reasoning—by practicing. I view philosophy classrooms as workshops and gyms: places where people try and fail to work things out by progressively pushing their limits. The values essential to achieving this ultimate goal are collaboration, engagement with real interlocutors, and self-reflexivity.