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41. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 3
Kevin Zanelotti Taking Motivation Seriously: Proposals for Overcoming Student Resistance to Critical Thinking Courses
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Traditional critical thinking courses introduce students to tools for analyzing and evaluating arguments and reasoning. There are, however, good reasons to think that those courses fail to motivate students to make full use of those tools. It is this motivational problem that is the focus of the present paper. In what follows, I present several proposals for overcoming student resistance to the discipline of critical thinking. I offer a three-step strategy for challenging students’ presumption of competency regarding critical thinking, thereby motivating them to embrace the tools we offer. I also sketch how this strategy can be applied in sections of a critical thinking course.
42. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 3
Michael B. Burke Electronic Media Review: Logic and Proofs (Web-based course)
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Logic and Proofs, developed at Carnegie Mellon, is the only instructional program that can support a computer-taught course (not justa computer-assisted course) in modern symbolic logic. First I provide a description and an assessment of the program. Then, drawing on my twenty years of experience, initially with Patrick Suppes’ Valid (no longer available), recently with Logic and Proofs, I discuss the very substantial benefits, as well as the challenges to be addressed, when offering symbolic logic via a computer-taught course.
43. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 3
Heather Battaly Teaching Intellectual Virtues: Applying Virtue Epistemology in the Classroom
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How can we cultivate intellectual virtues in our students? I provide an overview of virtue epistemology, explaining two types of intellectual virtues: reliabilist virtues and responsibilist virtues. I suggest that both types are acquired via some combination of practice on the part of the student and explanation on the part of the instructor. I describe strategies for teaching these two types of virtues in the classroom, including an activity for teaching the skill of using the square of opposition, and several activities that encourage students to practice open-minded acts, intellectually courageous acts, and the motivation for truth.
44. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 4
Trevor Smith Homosexuality and the Bible: A Pedagogical Argument
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The argument presented here explores homosexuality within the context of applied Christian ethics. The argument works by asking students to grapple with and define the common characteristics of all eros relationships. Once the students analytically break down eros relationships, and wrestle with defining concepts such as “love,” “sex,” and “desires,” basic biblical moral precepts are applied. After this biblical application it can be shown that there is latitude enough in Christian morality to openly permit homosexuality that iscompatible with biblically stated ethical dictums. The argument is pedagogical in nature, and is a challenging, engaging, and accessible argument that avoids the educational pitfalls that entangle other arguments of this nature.
45. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 4
Gregory M. Fahy The Quality of Confusion: Pragmatist Ideals and Aporia
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This paper draws on the social psychology of John Dewey to illustrate the importance of aporia, or confusion, to pragmatic pedagogywithin an ethics classroom. The strategic use of aporia solicits an appropriate expression of emotion within students. This emotional response involves dissatisfaction with the present; these dissatisfactions function as pragmatic ideals. Such ideals are not a refuge from the present, but enable students to critically and progressively reconstruct present experiences. Aporia is thus critically important for pedagogical success from a pragmatist perspective.
46. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 4
Scott D. Wilson Peer-Review Assignments
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Most philosophy professors want to help their students improve their writing, but determining a good way to do so is not easy. Requiring students to write rough drafts is a good start, but the extra work these require can overload already busy professors. In this article I describe and defend the use of peer-review assignments as a way of improving undergraduate writing. The largest benefit of such assignments is that they allow the students to take a more objective view of their own writing. I also provide sample questionsto use in such assignments.
47. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 4
Christopher Panza, Adam Potthast, Christie Cathey Thinking Outside the Room: Enhancing Philosophy Courses with Online Forums
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Generating group interaction is a necessary part of teaching philosophy, but there are many obstacles to creating it in a traditional classroom. We propose that philosophy courses can be improved by turning to hybrid models that integrate classroom discussion with online message boards, or forums. Using anecdotes and a comprehensive survey, we argue that using forums helps instructors overcome time constraints in the classroom, helps some students overcome anxiety over contributing, improves discussion, reduces the need to review, and gives instructors a better view of how their students encounter philosophy. We also provide examples of how to use forums and forum assignments.
48. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 29 > Issue: 4
Kurt Mosser Looking for a Fight: An Agonistic Strategy for Teaching
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This exercise requires students—particularly in Introduction to Philosophy courses—to use Internet chatrooms in an “agonistic” fashion,actively seeking out others with whom to argue. Generally using topics in applied ethics, students develop skills in articulating their positions, providing evidence to support those positions, and presenting arguments. These Internet exchanges have resulted in improvement in students’ critical thinking skills, writing, and classroom discussion, and have revealed the value of defending a position with a dispassionate, well-reasoned argument.
49. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 1
Steven M. Cahn Teaching about God
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I suggest that in teaching about God we remind students of the following four essential points: (1) belief in the existence of God is not a necessary condition for religious commitment; (2) belief in the existence of God is not a sufficient condition for religious commitment; (3) the existence of God is not the only supernatural hypothesis that merits serious discussion; and (4) a successful defense of traditional theism requires not only that it be more plausible than atheism or agnosticism but also that it be more plausible than all other supernatural alternatives.
50. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 1
Michael Cholbi Orcid-ID Intentional Learning as a Model for Philosophical Pedagogy
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The achievement of intentional learning is a powerful paradigm for the objectives and methods of the teaching of philosophy. This paradigm sees the objectives and methods of such teaching as based not simply on the mastery of content, but as rooted in attempts to shape the various affective and cognitive factors that influence students’ learning efforts. The goals of such pedagogy is to foster an intentional learning orientation, one characterized by self-awareness, active monitoring of the learning process, and a desire for publicly certified expertise. I provide a number of examples of philosophy-specific teaching strategies that follow this paradigm.
51. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 1
Maughn Rollins Gregory A Framework for Facilitating Classroom Dialogue
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Classroom dialogue can be democratic and evidence critical and creative thinking, yet lose momentum and direction without a plan for systematic inquiry. This article presents a six-stage framework for facilitating philosophical dialogue in pre-college and college classrooms, drawn from John Dewey and Matthew Lipman. Each stage involves particular kinds of thinking and aims at a specific product or task. The role of the facilitator—illustrated with suggestive scripts—is to help the participants move their dialogue through the stages of the framework and to model and prompt good social and cognitive dialogue moves within each stage, until the participantslearn to become self-managed.
52. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 1
Nancy Stanlick Individual-Centered Collaborative Research: Method and Theory
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A method of assigning, assessing, and utilizing individual-centered collaborative research groups enhances student learning, addresses problems of academic integrity such as plagiarism and free-riding in groups, and incorporates the insights of recent literature on the value of collaboration between and among philosophers and scientists. The method stresses the value of collaborative research while maintaining appropriate focus on individual contributions to avoid problems normally encountered in “group work.”
53. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 1
Alan Fox Teaching Daoism as Philosophy: Teaching Thinking through Controversy
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I propose to consider chapter 1 of the famous, classic, and foundational Daoist text Dao De Jing, attributed to Laozi, in order to enable a non-expert to negotiate the subject of Daoism in a global philosophy context, and to further enhance the teaching of philosophy by introducing and emphasizing at least some of the controversies that inevitably surround interpretation of a classical set of texts and ideas. This forces students to see through simplistic dichotomies and form subtler conclusions, on their own, and I suggest that this is what the teaching of philosophy should always involve, to be considered philosophy.
54. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 1
David Socher A Little Roundup of Modus Tollens in the Flesh
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Modus Tollens is the following valid deductive argument form: “If P, then Q. (But) Not Q. Therefore not P.” I show how this structure plays an important part in everyday argument and in everyday non-argument; I show how the argument form fits into non-argument cases. The structure is common as argument, as rhetorical emphasis, and as explanation. Students can see how this pattern is rooted in everyday thought, when elements of the structure are unspoken but nonetheless relied upon, what pictures the structure evokes, and how these pictures and this pattern fit into everyday thought and discourse. Many examples are provided. A homework handout is presented which encourages the student to find and explicate sample cases from current media, world literature, movies, proverbs, etc.
55. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 2
Alison M. Jaggar Teaching in Colorado: Not a Rocky Mountain High; Academic Freedom in a Climate of Repression
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The main purpose of this paper is to offer an account of academic freedom. By way of context, it begins with a brief history of challenges to academic freedom at the University of Colorado. It then turns to the following questions. Who enjoys academic freedom and which of their activities does it protect? What is the relationship of academic freedom to constitutionally and internationally protected civil liberties? From whom or what does academic freedom provide protection? Is academic freedom compatible with public accountability? What are the rationales for academic freedom?
56. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 2
Ann Cudd Revolution vs. Devolution in Kansas: Teaching in a Conservative Climate
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This paper is about teaching progressive ideas where fundamentalist and conservative views are prominent among the students. I take up two questions: What should we take our task as feminist teachers to be? How should it be carried out? I explore three teaching strategies that a progressive teacher might use in a hostile conservative climate: the whole truth strategy, the dismissal strategy, and the bridge strategy. I reject the first two of these and argue that the third is most likely to be effective and also best exemplifies the value of academic freedom.
57. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 2
Anita M. Superson Teaching in the New Climate of Conservatism: Introduction
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This paper (1) summarizes the main points of the papers in the volume which demonstrate some of the ways that academic freedom is at odds with recent conservative attacks on the professoriate; (2) argues that some of the conservative attacks from students on faculty are at base a failure to acknowledge their equal personhood, but treat them as inferior beings and thus elicit harmful psychological reactions similar to those found in victims of racist slurs; and (3) examines possible solutions, including distancing on the part of faculty, and distributing the burden of critical thinking among all faculty and college courses, thereby making academic freedom a reality for all.
58. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 2
Michael Goldman From the Editor
59. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 2
Jennifer Faust Moving the Academy Closer to Utopia: What All Professors Can Do to Create LGBT-Friendly Campuses
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In spite of the fact that most university campuses are considered bastions of liberalism (in contrast to the conservative “mainstream”), it remains difficult for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered faculty members and students to come out, and instances of poor treatment still occur. In addition, curricular issues related to LGBT identities and concerns continue to be met with resistance or outright hostility. In this paper, I argue that all faculty—not just LGBT faculty—have an obligation to play a more active role in creating an LGBT-friendly environment on their respective campuses. I end with suggestions for achieving this goal.
60. Teaching Philosophy: Volume > 30 > Issue: 2
Jeanine Weekes Schroer Fighting Imperviousness With Vulnerability: Teaching in a Climate of Conservatism
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This essay explores challenges that arise for professors who teach critical theory in our current climate of conservatism. Specifically, it is argued that the conservative commitments to non-revolutionary change and reverence for tradition are corrupted in our current political and intellectual climate. This corruption, called “ideological imperviousness,” undermines the institutional structures put in place to produce a functional educational environment that protects the interests of both professors and students. The result is an environment that imposes an unjust vulnerability on professors and risks depriving students of the opportunity to acquire the critical skills necessary to combat their own vulnerabilities.