How do you teach an intro level course, such as Introduction to Philosophy? Many of us have considerable freedom in organizing our courses in the way we see fit. There are so many possible ways to approach this material that it boggles the mind.
There has been a lot of recent discussion on Shen-yi Liao's unorthodox (at least in some respects) intro-level philosophy course, see e.g., here and in the Comments section on the Daily Nous blogpost, as well as Prof. Liao's follow-up post, here. Discussion has focused on what should be included in Intro level courses, to what extent we need to cover the classics, and how we can diversify the syllabus.
As the Philosophers' Cocoon aims to be a forum of advice for early-career (and not-so-early career) philosophers, we are starting a new series "How do you teach Intro-level courses?" In this series, we want to showcase the many ways in which one can approach intro-level courses, in particular Introduction to Philosophy.
So we want to hear from you, reader. We want to hear about the orthodox, the unusual, the outlandish, the hyper-focused-on-one-philosopher, the thought-provoking assignments. You are free to structure your contribution however you like, but we suggest the following elements to be present:
- The context: At what kind of place do you teach (e.g., a state university in the midwest, an elite liberal arts college)? What is the class size for this course? What is the student body like?
- The course: Please describe briefly how you approach the course. We are in particular looking for Intro to Philosophy courses but any intro-level course (e.g., Intro to Ethics, Intro to Philosophy of Science, Intro to History of Philosophy) is welcome. Give an overview of some of the readings, topics, and assignments
- The motivation: Why did you choose to structure your intro course this way?
- How do students respond: What is the reaction of students? How do they engage with the materials?
We hope this series will accomplish the following aims:
- Give a sense of the wide diversity of ways you can teach an intro-level philosophy course
- Give new ideas to anyone who is looking for inspiration to revamp their course
If it works out well, we might do future series on how people teach other kinds of courses (not intro-level, graduate seminars etc.) But for now, we want to focus on the intro!
Please contact Marcus Arvan (marvan at ut.edu) or Helen De Cruz (hde-cruz at brookes.ac.uk) if you want to be featured for this series, or comment below.
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