Teaching

Courses Teaching & Taught

Currently Teaching (Winter 2024)

Nature and Ideas: Nature as a Source of Normativity (MRU, 40 students)

An introduction to the humanities and humanistic inquiry via an examination of the idea that nature is a source of normative ideals in works of philosophy, psychology, and literature from ancient China, early modern Europe, and 19th and 20th century Europe and North America.

Texts and Ideas: Meaning and Nihilism (MRU, 40 students)

An introduction to the humanities and humanistic inquiry via an examination of the idea of 'the meaning of life' -- and the idea that life has no meaning -- in works of philosophy, psychology, and literature from ancient China, early modern Europe, and 19th and 20th century Europe and North America.

Power, Violence, and Evil: 20th Century Continental Philosophy (MRU 22 students)

An overview of Continental philosophy from after World War II to the 1970s, in the context of the aftermath of the war and of decolonization. Philosophers examined include Hegel (as background), Franz Fanon, Simone de Beauvoir, Hannah Arendt, and Max Horkheimer.

Information Technology Ethics (UCalgary, 100 students)

This course, intended in particular for computer science majors, is an examination of ethical and moral problems arising in and about information technology. Topics include: values and technology, privacy; AI ethics; facial recognition; human-computer enhancement; online speech and expression; social media; virtual reality; 'deepfakes'; and artificial intelligence.

Previous Courses

Nature and Ideas: Nature as a Source of Normativity (Fall 2023; 80 students in 2 sections)

Artificial Intelligence (Spring 2023; 28 students)

A look at the philosophical issues raised by the very idea of AI, going beyond the hype to get at fundamental questions about the nature of mind, intelligence, and agency, as well as understand the history of philosophical and scientific attempts to answer those questions. We looked at AI from the perspective of the philosophy of mind and language, and also examined its ethical, social, and political ramifications.

'The Way' in Classical Chinese Philosophy (Spring 2022; 16 students)

This course was a third-year and above seminar-style introduction to the major philosophers of the Warring States period of Ancient China. We began with the Daodejing, and moved on to cover Kongzi (Confucius), Mozi, Mengzi (Mencius), Zhuangzi, and Xunzi, as well as representatives of 'The School of Names' and 'Yangism'.  The class investigated themes such as human nature, virtue, knowledge, language, ethics, and the nature of the cosmos.

Information Technology Ethics (Summer 2020, online; 70 students)

Philosophy of Religion (Spring 2018; 33 students)

This second-year level course is a survey of some of the main topics in the philosophy of religion, including the nature of religion; the existence and nature of God or gods; religious experience; miracles; the relationships between faith, evidence, reason, and science; religious language; and death and the meaning of life. In confronting some of the major metaphysical, epistemological, and existential questions raised by religions, students come to see -- whatever their personal beliefs or opinion of religion -- the deep philosophical issues which it raises and often attempts to answer.

Philosophy & Psychology (Summer 2017; 40 students)

This second-year level course is a survey of both historical and contemporary issues in the philosophy of mind. Course topics include theories of mind (dualism, behaviourism, mind-brain identity, functionalism),  intentionality, the emotions, and consciousness. In this course I seek to do justice to both the historical development of the subject as well as its enduring philosophical problems, while also incorporating the latest and most novel approaches, such as embodied and enactive theories.