teaching
I am an openly queer, non-traditionally religious philosopher from the Deep South. I make sure my students know and I ask them to use my pronouns, but I try—in accordance with my faith—to practice grace and forgiveness. My identities and teaching history inform my teaching expectations and practices. While I am particularly concerned with teaching students who traditionally feel marginalized, my job is to teach everyone. For me, the ‘teaching bullseye’ of teaching philosophy is sparking philosophical curiosity. It is my desire that students have a deep but wide understanding of philosophical perspectives, arguments, and figures, and that their understanding instills in them an intense curiosity for the world. This manifests itself in a variety of ways, from the “aha!” expression to desires to engage further with academic philosophy. It is to provoke, as J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “questions that need answering,” and to equip their natural curiosity with philosophical rigor.
Below are the courses I’ve taught, along with some further information about my teaching experiences and pedagogy.
GRADUATE
UNDERGRADUATE
I am an openly queer, non-traditionally religious philosopher from the Deep South. I make sure my students know and I ask them to use my pronouns, but I try—in accordance with my faith—to practice grace and forgiveness. My identities and teaching history inform my teaching expectations and practices. While I am particularly concerned with teaching students who traditionally feel marginalized, my job is to teach everyone. For me, the ‘teaching bullseye’ of teaching philosophy is sparking philosophical curiosity. It is my desire that students have a deep but wide understanding of philosophical perspectives, arguments, and figures, and that their understanding instills in them an intense curiosity for the world. This manifests itself in a variety of ways, from the “aha!” expression to desires to engage further with academic philosophy. It is to provoke, as J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “questions that need answering,” and to equip their natural curiosity with philosophical rigor.
Below are the courses I’ve taught, along with some further information about my teaching experiences and pedagogy.
GRADUATE
- Graduate Seminar on the Ethics of Self-Defense (Fall 2019-PDF)
UNDERGRADUATE
- Philosophy of Race and Gender (Spring 2020)
- Trolleys, Torture, and Terror (Summer 2019-PDF)
- Ethics of Harming and Killing (Fall 2014)
- Medical Ethics (Summer 2018-PDF, Spring 2017)
- Contemporary Ethical Problems (Autumn 2018, Spring 2016, Spring 2015)
- Introduction Ethics (Autumn 2016)
- Introduction to Philosophy (Spring 2020, Fall 2019-PDF, Fall 2016, etc.)
- Existentialism and Film (Spring 2019)
- Practical Reasoning (Winter 2019)
- Human Nature (Spring 2015)