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19Annotated Bibliography: Introductory Philosophy Teaching in ContextAmerican Association of Philosophy Teachers Studies in Pedagogy 8 142-167. 2023.
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8On the Benefits of Philosophy as a Way of Life in a General Introductory CourseIn James M. Ambury, Tushar Irani & Kathleen Wallace (eds.), Philosophy as a way of life: historical, contemporary, and pedagogical perspectives, Wiley. 2020-10-05.Philosophy as a way of life (PWOL) places investigations of value, meaning, and the good life at the center of philosophical investigation, especially of one’s own life. This essay argues that PWOL is compatible with general introductory philosophy courses, further arguing that PWOL‐based general introductions have several philosophical and pedagogical benefits. These include the ease with which high‐impact practices, situated skill development, and students’ ability to “think like a disciplinar…Read more
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13Transforming Our Classrooms and OurselvesAmerican Association of Philosophy Teachers Studies in Pedagogy 6 34-52. 2021.I argue that Philosophy as a Way of Life (PWOL) represents a distinct pedagogy that differs from philosophy’s signature pedagogy because of PWOL’s differing views of what philosophy is and how it is successfully practiced. I further argue that this pedagogy is radical in two senses. First, PWOL is technically radical because it naturally incorporates cutting-edge pedagogical techniques that promote student success. Second, I argue that PWOL is transformatively radical because it seeks to transfo…Read more
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On the benefits of philosophy as a way of life in a general introductory courseIn James M. Ambury, Tushar Irani & Kathleen Wallace (eds.), Philosophy as a way of life: historical, contemporary, and pedagogical perspectives, Wiley. 2020-10-05.
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438An Argument for Asynchronous Course Delivery in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 PandemicTeaching Philosophy 45 (3): 335-359. 2022.I argue that campus closures and shifts to online instruction in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic created an obligation to offer courses asynchronously. This is because some students could not have reasonably foreseen circumstances making continued synchronous participation impossible. Offering synchronous participation options to students who could continue to participate thusly would have been unfair to students who could not participate synchronously. I also discuss why ex post facto…Read more
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869Towards a response to epistemic nihilismIn Alison MacKenzie, Jennifer Rose & Ibrar Bhatt (eds.), The Epistemology of Deceit in a Postdigital Era: Dupery by Design, Springer Nature. pp. 39-59. 2021.This chapter develops an account of epistemic nihilism—roughly, the rejection of truth’s intrinsic or instrumental value in favor of statements that reject or obscure truth to secure an advantage for the speaker—by examining three instances of such nihilism: lying, bullshit, and trolling. It further argues that epistemic nihilism, exacerbated by changes in the media landscape, can pose a significant threat to liberal democratic institutions and ideals by undermining the democratic ideal of good…Read more
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588Philosophy of Education in a New Key: Who Remembers Greta Thunberg? Education and Environment after the CoronavirusEducational Philosophy and Theory 53 (14): 1421-1441. 2021.This paper explores relationships between environment and education after the Covid-19 pandemic through the lens of philosophy of education in a new key developed by Michael Peters and the Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia. The paper is collectively written by 15 authors who responded to the question: Who remembers Greta Thunberg? Their answers are classified into four main themes and corresponding sections. The first section, ‘As we bake the earth, let's try and bake it from scratc…Read more
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838On the benefits of philosophy as a way of life in a general introductory courseMetaphilosophy 51 (2-3): 435-454. 2020.Philosophy as a way of life (PWOL) places investigations of value, meaning, and the good life at the center of philosophical investigation, especially of one’s own life. I argue PWOL is compatible with general introductory philosophy courses, further arguing that PWOL-based general introductions have several philosophical and pedagogical benefits. These include the ease with which high impact practices, situated skill development, and students’ ability to ‘think like a disciplinarian’ may be i…Read more
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1015“Many people are saying…”: Applying the lessons of naïve skepticism to the fight against fake news and other “total bullshit”Postdigital Science and Education 2 (1): 113-131. 2020.‘Fake news’ has become an increasingly common refrain in public discourse, though the term itself has several uses, at least one of which constitutes Frankfurtian bullshit. After examining what sorts of fake news appeals do and do not count as bullshit, I discuss strategies for overcoming our openness to such bullshit. I do so by drawing a parallel between openness to bullshit and naïve skepticism—one’s willingness to reject the concept of truth on unsupported or ill-considered grounds—and sug…Read more
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724Using Lectio Divina as an in-class contemplative toolJournal of Contemplative Inquiry 6 (1): 71-93. 2019.This manuscript discusses the author’s experience implementing a secularized version of Lectio Divina, a medieval monastic contemplative reading practice, in an introductory philosophy classroom. Following brief discussion of Lectio Divina’s history and a description of how the practice was modified for the classroom, I discuss three benefits (increased attention to cognitive and noncognitive reactions to the text, willingness to engage with the material in novel ways, and the opportunity to en…Read more
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1109The truth, but not yet: Avoiding naïve skepticism via explicit communication of metadisciplinary aimsTeaching in Higher Education 24 (3): 361-377. 2019.Introductory students regularly endorse naïve skepticism—unsupported or uncritical doubt about the existence and universality of truth—for a variety of reasons. Though some of the reasons for students’ skepticism can be traced back to the student—for example, a desire to avoid engaging with controversial material or a desire to avoid offense—naïve skepticism is also the result of how introductory courses are taught, deemphasizing truth to promote students’ abilities to develop basic disciplinar…Read more
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1437In defense of the progressive stack: A strategy for prioritizing marginalized voices during in-class discussionTeaching Philosophy 41 (4): 407-428. 2018.Progressive stacking is a strategy for prioritizing in-class contributions that allows marginalized students to speak before non-marginalized students. I argue that this strategy is both pedagogically and ethically defensible. Pedagogically, it provides benefits to all students (e.g., expanded in-class discourse) while providing special benefits (e.g., increased self-efficacy) to marginalized students, helping to address historic educational inequalities. Ethically, I argue that neither margi…Read more
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421This essay presents deductive arguments to an introductory-level audience via a discussion of Aristotle's three types of rhetoric, the goals of and differences between deductive and non-deductive arguments, and the major features of deductive arguments (e.g., validity and soundness).
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1066Restricting Mobile Device Use in Introductory Philosophy ClassroomsTeaching Philosophy 39 (3): 307-327. 2016.A restricted-use mobile device policy for introductory philosophy classrooms is presented and defended. The policy allows students to use devices only during open periods announced by the professor and is based on recent empirical findings on the effects of in-class mobile device use. These results suggest devices are generally detrimental to student learning, though they have targeted benefits for specific tasks. The policy is defended via a discussion of the ethical considerations surrounding …Read more
Jake Wright
University of Minnesota, Rochester
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University of Minnesota, RochesterSenior Lecturer
Rochester, MN, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Academic and Teaching Ethics |
Philosophy of Biology |
Areas of Interest
Academic and Teaching Ethics |
Philosophy of Biology |