Teaching Philosophy

This paper explores the state of teacher training in philosophy graduate programs in the English-speaking world. Do philosophy graduate programs offer training regarding teaching? If so, what is the nature of the training that is offered? Who offers it? How valuable is it? We conclude that philosophers want more and better teacher training, and that collectively we know how to deliver and support it.

This article is a critical response to Concepción, Messineo, Wieten, and Homan’s “The State of Teacher Training in Philosophy.” In it, I utilize an epistemologies-of-ignorance framework to highlight the incentives we, as philosophers, have to ignore teaching and learning about teaching and learning. I argue that the problems are not merely about our individual desires, but rather, that there is a regime of ignorance that encourages us not to know. I argue therefore that real change requires more than a shift in personal commitments; it requires a change to the system, including how and what we make public and how we evaluate and are evaluated by our peers.

Successful learning is based on a reciprocal relationship between instructor and student that, in turn, requires the instructor to have a deep understanding of the student’s background, interests, fears and resistances. In fact, many beginning philosophy instructors have a rather limited understanding of what their students bring to the educational interaction. The conclusion is that training in pedagogy must be more than teaching techniques but should also include more exposure to an understanding of the experience of contemporary college students. An experimental graduate student teacher preparation at Villanova University is presented as a model to stimulate further thought.

This article is a commentary response to the study results outlined in “The State of Teacher Training in Philosophy.” In recognition of the study’s determination that 70 percent of the jobs new philosophers will apply for are non-tenure track, our graduate programs must provide training in teaching excellence and the fostering of student learning, or what I call pedagogical areté. I will argue that achieving this teaching excellence requires 1) Familiarity with cognitive neuroscience advancements on how people learn, 2) Knowledge of today’s college students, and 3) Practiced methods for scaffolding and assessment of student learning. My claim is that pedagogic excellence is both a role-related moral obligation and a duty we owe to society—what Lee Shulman characterizes as the pedagogical imperative. This increased focus on pedagogical proficiency creates an opportunity for philosophy to establish and solidify its disciplinary value.