Teaching

If It Looks Like a Science, Walks Like a Science, and Quacks Like a Science…

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Teaching 2 Comments

… then it must be a duck. Beginning today, my Philosophy of Race class will be learning about the first theorists of eugenics, an early 20th C. pseudo-science that (in the words of one of its founders and leading proponents, Sir Francis Galton) studied “all agencies under human control which can improve or impair the…

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Speaking of Philosophy

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Teaching 2 Comments

The picture to the left there is from my dissertation defense party, which took place at a much-beloved dive bar in Philadelphia (Oscar’s Tavern) where I have imbibed almost equal amounts of libations and philosophical conversation. As a matter of fact, this setting (and settings very much like it) is about my favorite mise-en-scène for…

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There Are No Stupid Questions

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Open Source Pedagogy, Philosophy, Teaching 4 Comments

When I was an undergraduate, I remember one of my (English Lit) professors saying on the first day of class: “There is no such thing as a stupid question.” Obviously, this was a warm-and-fuzzy attempt to impart some measure of confidence to students, to encourage us to voice our questions and concerns without reservation, and…

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Blogging in the Classroom, Revisited

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Open Source Pedagogy, Philosophy, Teaching, The Search for Values 5 Comments

As promised in my earlier post on this topic (which you can read at Blogging in the Classroom, originally posted in September), I’m back to report on my pedagogical experiment with blogging this semester. You can go back and read the earlier post if you want to know my justifications for trying this, so I…

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The M**ket

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Teaching 2 Comments

While just about everyone else is full of yuletide joy, this is a dreaded time of year for philosophers. It’s Job M**ket time. (The very word conveys so much Sturm und Drang that it feels like a profanity.) I imagine that this year is even more ulcer-inducing than years past because of the depressed economy…

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The “Public” Intellectual

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Teaching 4 Comments

Many of you probably read Daniel Drezner’s recent Chronicle of Higher Education article about the decline of public intellectuals (“Public Intellectual 2.0”), in which Drezner wants to contest the presumed Götterdämmerung that many–like Francis Fukuyama, Russell Jacoby and Daniel Bell— believe began in the 1950’s and has yet to abate. Specifically, Drezner takes to task…

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Blogging in the Classroom

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Open Source Pedagogy, Philosophy, Teaching, The Search for Values 3 Comments

I’m trying out a new pedagogical technique in all of my courses this semester. I’ve set up a blog for each course and have required students, as a part of their grade, to contribute regularly to those sites. In one of my courses, blog posts and comments are the only writing students are required to…

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Wake Up!

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Teaching 3 Comments

I’m teaching a course on “Existentialism” this semester, which is not only one of my favorite philosophical movements, but also one of my favorite things to teach. As I’ve said to my colleagues many times before, existentialism is the one philosophy that seems to have been created for 18- to 25-year-olds. The list of existentialist…

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Drinking the “Liberal Arts” Kool-Aid

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Philosophy, Teaching 7 Comments

I know, I know. I should be writing about Sarah Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention. But I just can’t bring myself to do it. I’m still shocked and dismayed that I didn’t see one single non-white face in the Convention audience on television last night. And I’m also still amused that, at one…

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Classroom Governance

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Open Source Pedagogy, Teaching 7 Comments

I had a somewhat odd conversation with a friend and colleague of mine recently about the implications of being considered a “cool” professor by students. Neither one of us were really sure what our students think of us, but we both guessed that if there were a kind of Kinsey Scale for such a thing,…

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