A bit about my teaching
I aim to foster a classroom environment wherein students are active participants in rigorous, critical, but mutually supportive dialogues about topics of philosophical interest. By framing my courses in terms of the cultivation of dialogical virtues, I encourage students to see education as more than a means to a promising financial future - instead it is a way to become a more thoughtful interlocutor, a better reasoner, and a more intentional learner.
What I'm Teaching this Semester (Winter 2025)
PHIL 331W
Modern Philosophy
The traditional narrative surrounding the development of philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries revolves around a dispute between so-called “rationalists” (Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz), “empiricists” (Locke, Berkeley, and Hume), culminating in a great unifier (Kant).
There are a number of reasons to be unhappy with this narrative. It oversimplifies the complex interactions and influences important thinkers had on one another; ignores the contributions from anyone other than wealthy white men; forces us to study systematic thinkers in an incomplete way; and offers at best a shallow understanding of tremendously rich philosophical and scientific issues.
In this class, we will focus on only three figures from the “modern” era: Rene Descartes, Margaret Cavendish, and Anton Wilhelm Amo. We will devote substantial time to developing and understanding their philosophical systems and the interconnections between these thinkers. The idea is to develop the skills required to approach the works from this era (for example: how to read texts closely, how to extract extended arguments from longer manuscripts, how to reconstruct arguments in a way that is charitable to the author, how to be sensitive to and avoid anachronism, and how to approach a philosopher’s work systematically). The reason that we will focus on these skills is that they will allow you continue to read modern philosophy carefully and attentively well beyond our short time together. To that end, I have included on the last page a list of works from the 17th and 18th centuries that we will not read this semester, but that deserve careful attention, and will prepare you for future studies better than almost any of your peers.
Student Hours
Monday and Wednesday: 10:00a-12:00p (Office)
1:00p-2:30p (Office)
& by appointment
Logic Primer
I wrote this little primer on logic and argument evaluation. If you're looking for a quick overview of the (very) basics of philosophical logic and argument evaluation, then this is for you.
The Lyceum Programs
I believe that a philosophical is too important to wait until, and reserved for those who have the means to attend, college. With the hope of helping to expand access to philosophy I co-founded the Iowa and Utah Lyceum Programs. The Lyceum is a non-residential philosophy summer-camp for middle and high school students. Always free of charge to participants, the Lyceum provides students with philosophical texts, lunch, and instruction in philosophy, logic, and more.
The Lyceums' success has led to other similar programs being created all of the United States including:
