About the initiative

Philosophers have great potential as college teachers. We are trained to engage interlocutors in open dialogue, to communicate ideas with clarity and precision, to seek justification for our claims, and to explore interesting questions without a clear end. But these skills and dispositions alone do not lend themselves to good teaching—especially when the profession of philosophy prizes academic scholarship over and above pedagogical training, despite its essential place in faculty roles. It is hard to become a good college teacher when the incentives are low, resources are limited, and the very values of academic culture tend to push teaching aside. 

As graduate student teaching assistants, we felt the need to improve our teaching practices for the benefit of our students. After all, most students we encounter will not become professional philosophers. Our impact isn’t necessarily to guide them on a narrow career trajectory, but to help them do philosophy well and confidently in the company of their peers, so that they can pursue lives of meaning and value in their communities. Some students don’t need a lot of support in that endeavor. But when we don’t prioritize good teaching for all students, we risk harming those who need it most. We risk missing out on the talents of our students who, upon getting proper guidance and encouragement, do incredible work. Good teaching helps to equalize learning experiences and promote diverse participation in philosophy—so this is our imperative as college teachers, to serve our current students as well as the future of the field.

Teaching is a complex practice, with many epistemic aims and ethical demands. It involves, among other considerations, meeting students at their unique entry points to the subject, scaffolding lessons so that students are able to draw from their existing strengths and stretch toward new ones, and building relationships rooted in trust and care. Especially in the humanities, it is common to think of teaching as an art—a reflection of someone’s admirable abilities to command a classroom, foster excitement and attention, or facilitate productive discourse. If we think of good teaching as an inscrutable form of personal expression, we might also think it is reserved for those who already have a knack for it. But there are best practices that can demystify good teaching and aid each teacher’s development of their own pedagogical style. 

And so, we created Philosophy Teaching Bites, to provide action-guiding resources for college teachers in philosophy across four domains: (1) classroom structure and design, (2) classroom culture and norms, (3) feedback, formal and informal, and (4) teaching mindset. This initiative began in the fall of 2023 with a Leadership in Inclusive Teaching Fellowship at Stanford’s Center for Teaching and Learning to support TAs in the Philosophy Department. Now, we intend to grow this repository of resources and make these them publicly available and shareable. We hope that other philosophers will join us in this effort to celebrate and improve college teaching.

Who we are

Bendix Kemmann is a PhD Candidate in Philosophy at Stanford University.

Caitlin Murphy Brust is a PhD Candidate in Philosophy of Education at Stanford University and incoming post-doctoral teaching fellow in Stanford’s Civic, Liberal, and Global Education Program. Her research in feminist epistemology and political theory explores epistemic injustice in liberal U.S. higher education, with special interest in the ethics of liberal arts teaching and mentoring.

Contact

Bendix Kemmann at kemmann@stanford.edu

Caitlin Murphy Brust at cbrust@stanford.edu