Courses Taught as Primary Instructor

Contemporary Moral Philosophy: Respect, Tolerance, and Civility, Queen’s University

Respect, Tolerance, and Civility syllabus (pdf) | course website

What does it mean to respect others?  Is tolerance a form of respect, or something else entirely?  Do we have obligations to tolerate even those who are intolerant?  When, where, and why ought we be civil to one another?  What does civility entail?

This third-year course addresses a set of moral issues having to do with respect, tolerance, and civility.  Throughout the term, we will examine these concepts, their connection to one another (or lack thereof), and what moral obligations are associated with them.  This examination will involve theoretical analysis - with an eye towards differing approaches to these issues - as well as inquiry into particular cases and contexts where such questions arise.  For example, we will explore possible responses to purported cases of moral conflict between cultural groups - both international and domestic - and evaluate recent debates about what role civility should play in public political discourse.


Philosophy of Human Rights, University of Washington

Human Rights syllabus (pdf) | course website

This third-year course is designed as an introduction to and exploration of issues in the philosophy of human rights.  Throughout the quarter, we discuss how one ought to conceive of and justify human rights, guided by a close examination of various themes and controversies that surround these issues. Students have the option of doing service learning with a Seattle-based human rights organization in conjunction with this course.

This course is also designed to teach philosophical writing, emphasizing the difficult practice of turning an initial idea into a finished philosophical work. To this end, the students are required to write short papers in response to the reading, then encouraged - with extensive feedback from me - to build upon these short response papers to create the longer papers required for the course. One of the longer papers also requires the students to research a current human rights issue to use as a foundation for philosophical analysis, and many students use their service learning experience - organized through the university - as a basis for this research.


Introduction to Philosophy, Everett Community College and University of Washington

Everett syllabus (pdf) | UW syllabus (pdf)

This introductory course aims to acquaint students with several major themes in the history of Western philosophical thought in order to gain a fundamental understanding of the discipline.  I am of the opinion that this goal cannot be adequately accomplished without a concurrent focus on becoming comfortable with philosophical methodology.  So, throughout I focus heavily on practicing philosophy through:

1. Close reading of (small sections of) original texts,
2. Analysis of argumentative structures,
3. Focused class discussions, and
4. Numerous opportunities to engage in philosophical writing.

The students are given many small skills assignments throughout the term, which isolate particular philosophical skills (examples include: exegesis, comparison, and objection/response). In this way, the course answers the question of what it means to do philosophy. It also - with the help of exemplary texts - helps to answer the question what it means to do philosophy well. In addition, throughout the course we frequently pause in our historical project to link older writings to contemporary works, emphasizing the fact that philosophy is a living, breathing discipline in the modern world.

Courses Taught as Teaching Assistant
(2004-2007; all at the University of Washington)

As a teaching assistant, I was the primary contact for most students, and was responsible for leading discussion sessions, preparing and planning the content for these sessions, and evaluating student work. Since I was able to T.A. most of our core courses twice - with different instructors each time - I learned much about how to develop these courses as a primary instructor.

Introduction to Ethical Theory, with Jean Roberts
Introduction to Ethical Theory, with Stephen Gardiner
Environmental Ethics, with Andrew Light
Contemporary Moral Problems, with Adam Moore
Contemporary Moral Problems, with Michael Blake
Introduction to Philosophy, with Ann Baker
Introduction to Philosophy, with Michael Rosenthal
Introduction to Logic, with Cass Weller
Introduction to Logic, with Arthur Fine

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