Teaching

I am fond of teaching philosophy, especially at an undergraduate level. My areas of teaching specialisation are Moral and Political Philosophy, Applied Ethics, and Introductory Logic. My areas of teaching competence are, philosophy language, metaphysics, epistemology, and philosophy of mind.

My approach to teaching is to prepare students to do what philosophers do in published work. This means preparing them to situate a problem within a dialectic and respond to the problem by building arguments, objections and eventually larger theories. This is in contrast to teaching students general points, abstract principles or insights (as good as they maybe) about a philosophical topic or question. As such my approach to teaching is oriented towards students thinking and writing as contemporary philosophers do. On this approach the methodology of philosophy is represented as one of general theory choice to solve certain common problems. I find this general approach places students in good stead to see themselves as in a continuum with past philosophers and then to construct rigorous arguments in their work.

Sample Syllabi

Intro to Political Theory: Justice, Legitimacy, and Politics

Intro to Moral Theory: Classical Approaches

Applied Ethics: Wealth inheritance, Capital Punishment, Conceptual Ethics/Engineering

Teaching Experience

Lecturer at University of St Andrews:

• PY1011 Moral and Political Controversies
• Moral Philosophy module on International Summer School Programme

Tutor at University of St Andrews:

• PY1011 Moral and Political Controversies
• PY1012 Reasoning
• PY2012 Meaning and Knowing
• PY1010 Mind and World
• Moral Philosophy module on the International Summer School Programme