In keeping with the ideas of the American educator John Dewey, I believe that philosophy is education. On the one hand, to learn to philosophize is to learn how to learn. On the other hand, to teach philosophy is less about imparting a corpus of knowledge as it is to infuse one's students with a genuine passion for critical thinking and the application of intelligence in its most general forms. But such a passion can never be generated out of mere enthusiasm. To be genuine, it must emerge from a thorough grasp of the tools and techniques of criticism and inquiry. Critical intelligence itself is, of course, far more than just a habit of negativity. It is a comprehensive grasp of the general methods of the reasoned scrutiny of ideas. Such methods include an understanding of the history of thought, an appreciation of the differences between sound and specious arguments, at least a basic command of logic, and an across-the-board awareness of the arts of intellectual inquiry.

By the very nature of such a project, the teacher must adapt to the students. Even in such contexts where the class materials are highly structured, it is still up to the teacher to present those materials to the students in a manner that engages them within the various contexts of their lives and leads them to develop their capacities for intellectual critique. Equipped with such skills, students will then be in a position to apply those capacities in both a general manner as well as in the specific situations that they find and continue to discover within their own lives.

• Introductory classes in Philosophy and Ethics: Traditional 100 level courses in the philosophical discipline.
  
  

• Philosophy of Science: This course is intended to develop an understanding of basic theory as well as an appreciation for ongoing problems in the methods and aims of scientific inquiry.
  
  

• Philosophy of Space and Measurement: An upper-division course exploring advanced topics in the philosophy of science, the nature of space and the logic of nquiry.
  
  

• Introductory Logic and Critical Thinking: An approach to the teaching of logic that emphasizes the methods and uses of symbolic logic as an instrument of both general and scientific inquiry.
  
  

• Technology and Values: A “hybrid” course that uses issues of technology in contemporary life to build an introduction to ethical thinking.
  
  

• Pragmatism: The “canonical” works in the American tradition.
  

• Intermediate Logic: Building upon the tools developed in the introductory section, a focused approach to formal symbolic logic that emphasizes its role in organizing information in inquiry.
  
  

• Philosophy of Mathematics: An advanced introductory course for students with prior classwork in logic. Traditional problems will be examined, but emphasis is placed on contemporary trends that scrutinize mathematics as a form ofhuman endeavor.
  
  

• Philosophy of Technology: The philosophical issues of technology as a “form of life,” focusing principally on the epistemological and metaphysical aspects.
  
  

• American Ethics: An upper division ethics course that focuses on ethical theories within the American tradition, particularly the works of Dewey, Brightman and King.
  
  

• Biomedical and Business Ethics (In development): These courses are built around canonical texts and respected thinking in the pragmatist tradition.
  

Harper College
PH 101, Critical Thinking Fall 2008
PH 105, Intro Philosophy Spring 2009
PH 115, Ethics Fall 2008, Spring 2009

Muskingum College
PH 360, Topics in Philosophy (Space) Fall 2007
PH 353, American Philosophy – Classical Pragmatism Spring 2008
PH 203, Introduction to Ethics Fall 2007 (two sections); Spring 2008 (two sections)
PH 202, Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking Spring 2008
PH 101, Introduction to Philosophy Fall 2007

Merrimack College
PH 305A, Philosophy of science of Science Fall 2006
PH 209A Values in a Technological Culture Spring 2007 (two sections)
PH 112A, Perspectives on Human Nature (Introduction to Philosophy) Spring 2007 (two sections); Fall 2006 (three sections)

Ellis University

PH 230, Technology, Society and Values (Internet based course)
-- Fall 2008 (two sections)
-- Fall 2007
-- Summer 2005

PH 220, Ethics and Social Theory (Internet based course)
-- Spring 2009 (three sections)
-- Fall 2008 (three sections)
-- Summer 2008
-- Spring 2007 (two sections)
-- Fall 2006 (two sections)
-- Spring 2006
-- Fall 2005

PH 110, Problems of Philosophy (Internet based course)
-- Spring 2008 (three sections)
-- Fall 2006 (two sections)
-- Spring 2006 (two sections)
-- Winter 2005