Teaching Portfolio

Below are sample syllabi and descriptions for courses I have taught or designed. At Coastal Carolina, I have taught Introduction to Ethics, Introduction to Logic, Introduction to Philosophy, Business Ethics, and Philosophy of Mind. You can see the courses I designed and offered for my Fulbright below as well. I am happy share my teaching portfolio with interested parties; please email me for that.

 

Introductory Philosophy Courses

Introduction to Ethics (syllabus)
This course introduces students to the three main areas of philosophical ethics, metaethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. Students will explore metaethical issues such as ethical subjectivism and objectivism, moral skepticism, free will and responsibility, major normative theories such as consequentialism and deontologism; and applied ethical issues such as animal rights, war, and cloning. The overarching goal will be for students to develop the skills necessary for thinking, writing, and speaking about ethical theories and problems while acquiring a basic understanding of these theories and problems.

Introduction to Logic (syllabus)
This course introduces students to formal logic. Students will learn to recognize deductive and inductive arguments. They will translate English statements into the language of propositional deductive logic, construct truth tables, and use proof procedures such as natural deduction to demonstrate the validity of arguments. Common forms of inductive reasoning, such as analogical or probabilistic reasoning, may also be introduced. The formal reasoning skills acquired in this course may benefit students taking professional and graduate school admission tests.

Introduction to Philosophy (syllabus)
This course is an introduction to the most central problems of philosophy. Topics include logic, God, mind, justice, personal identity, freedom and determinism, knowledge, skepticism, morality and responsibility. The course provides an introduction to argumentation, critical thinking, conceptual analysis, and problem solving skills.

Advanced Philosophy Courses

20th Century Analytic Philosophy (syllabus)
This course is a survey of the development of analytic philosophy in the Twentieth Century, with emphasis on both the works of prominent analytic philosophers and the methods now typical of contemporary analytic philosophy. The works of Frege, Russell, Moore, Wittgenstein, Ayer, Quine, and Kripke may be considered. Topics may include the role of analysis and common sense in philosophy, theories of linguistic meaning, the relation language has with the world, the relationship between science and philosophy, and the nature of necessity and possibility.

Africana Philosophy (syllabus)
This course is an introduction to Africana thought and philosophy. It focuses on what Africana Philosophy is, how it should be practiced, and how it should be approached by Westerners. We will examine how traditional African conceptions of personhood, metaphysics, time, epistemology, and morality relate to traditional Western ways of thinking of those notions. We will also consider race and gender in African thought.  

Bio-Medical Ethics (syllabus)
Ethical problems in medicine and biological research and the application of ethical principles to real-life situations involving patient autonomy, health care professionals, the beginning of life, the end of life, and human genetic experimentation.

Business Ethics (syllabus)
Ethical theory is presented and applied to business cases involving individual, corporate, and governmental rights and responsibilities. The following topics are covered: everyday ethics at work; ethical issues surrounding honesty and trust in business; fairness and justice in business; views on the proper role of social responsibility in business; ethical issues related to technology in business; the ethics of advertising, marketing, and sales; ethical issues related to product liability and consumers; the ethics of whistle-blowing and employee responsibility; ethical issues in international business; environmental ethics and business; and conceptions of the good life as they relate to business

Modern Philosophy, 16th-18th centuries (syllabus)
This course is a survey of Western philosophical thought from the early Renaissance through Hume. The chief emphasis is on the 17th and 18th Century, including Bacon, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hobbes, Locke, Berkeley and Hume.

Philosophy of Communication (syllabus)
This course covers a variety of philosophical issues that arise from the phenomenon of human communication. It explores the theoretical side of communication, looking at some foundational theories, but the emphasis is not merely on idealized communication. The course also focuses on non-idealized communication. The following philosophical topics in communication will be explored: the nuances of implicature and presupposition; the many ways in which speakers don’t tell the truth; bullshitting; the nature of slurs and pejoratives; lexical effects; and linguistic relativity and linguistic determinism. The course will often focus on these topics through a cross-cultural lens. 

Philosophy of Mind (syllabus)
This course is an introduction to the fundamental questions, concepts and problems of contemporary philosophy of mind including those concerning the nature of mind, the relationship between mind and world, the mind-body problem, intentionality, free will and determinism, perception and the self.

Fulbright Courses in Madagascar

Please click on course titles to see the course webpages.

American Studies I
This course is about American culture. We will talk about traditional American values, religion in America, government in America, ethic and racial diversity in America and also how American values are changing. We will also do cross-cultural comparisons between American culture and Malagasy culture.

American Studies II
This course builds on American Studies I, in which traditional American Values were explored along with religion, government, ethic and racial diversity in America. American Studies I also looked at how American Values are changing. In American Studies II, we will look at the following:

  • The failure to extend rights and equality in American’s history and the response of minorities

  • The importance of the frontier in America

  • American abundance and its explanation

  • A comparison of American education and Malagasy education

  • A comparison of American family and Malagasy family

  • America’s most famous philosophical system: pragmatism

As before, we will compare American and Malagasy values throughout.

Philosophy of Language
This course is mainly about the nature of meaning, though other topics will be discussed, namely the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis (aka linguistic relativity). We will cover some of the main theories about meaning in the history of Western philosophy and also explore the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis as it relates to Malagasy thought and the Malagasy language.

Academic English
This course is designed to improve your ability to use English in an academic setting. English is the default language of the academy so it is useful to improve your English for your career. In this course, we will practice debating, summarizing academic articles, and presenting your own research, all in English. We will discuss vocabulary related to your particular type of research and we will also cover complicated grammar points in English.

Teaching English to Adults
This is a book my wife (Emily Woodling) and I developed while teaching English in rural Madagascar. It is based on building confidence and functionality with speaking and listening by giving students vocabulary and structures relevant to specific realistic scenarios. There are 10 units for both beginning and advanced students.