Teaching

Recent and upcoming courses
Spring 2021
On Sabbatical.

Fall 2020
PHIL 210: Logical Thought
This course cultivates sound reasoning. Students will learn to see the structure of claims and arguments and to use those structures in developing strong arguments and exposing shoddy ones. We will learn to evaluate arguments on the strength of their reasoning rather than on the force of their associations and buzzwords.

Phil 222: Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics
Physicists have come up with a set of mathematical rules that allow us to predict quantum mechanical phenomena will remarkable accuracy. But while we know how to use this formalism, our understanding of what that formalism means is quite limited. In this class we will examine the various interpretations that physicists and philosophers have developed for the mathematical formalism with an emphasis on the philosophical issues at stake: the nature of explanation and probability in the physical world, how if at all we can make choices between empirically equivalent theories, and the role of appeals to intuition, common sense, and simplicity in science.

Spring 2020
PHIL 104: Science and Human Values
PHIL 350: Radical Metaphysical Hypotheses

Fall 2019
PHIL 210: Logical Thought
PHIL 272: Metaphysics

Teaching resources
Feel free to use and share.

How to get an A on your philosophy paper.
Detailed guidelines for writing an undergraduate philosophy paper including the grading matrix method I adapted from Chris Robichaud. (PDF)

Philosophical Arguments Primer.
Answers the questions: What is a philosophical argument? What does it mean to reconstruct an argument? What makes for a good argument? For students taking their first philosophy course (or needing a refresher). (PDF)

Sample In-class Debate Handout.
A sample handout that can be used to guide a 1.5 hour in-class debate. (PDF)

Sample Writing Workshop Handout.
A sample handout that can be used to guide a 1.5 hour in-class writing workshop. (PDF)

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure
I sometimes use a choose-your-own-adventure-style activity to make sure students understand the relations between the various positions we've been talking about. This example is from a unit on composition and colocation in an upper-level undergraduate metaphysics course. (PDF)