Hi all,

As a current graduate student and part of the team that has worked to set up the Public Philosophy Network, I'm very sympathetic to Marilyn's suggestion of preparing graduate students to be better teachers within the classroom and in wider publics, but I think the problems at hand reflect deeper issues that can't be addressed simply by teaching more philosophy. Here's part of a longer response that I wrote, which I had intended to post on the list-serv:

"If philosophers really want to start teaching in new ways and engaging the public in new ways, then we should probably put more effort into making sure that we are the sort of people with whom others (students included) want to and feel like they can have meaningful, enriching conversations. In other words, I agree with Marilyn that professional philosophers should give more attention to teaching graduate students how to teach. But it has to start with cultivating a sensibility for how to communicate, how to listen, how to openly engage with others, and how to encourage people who aren't familiar with philosophy to think philosophically. These are skills that you simply can't learn from reading the work of your favorite thinker in the history of philosophy or from mulling over one specific philosophical problem for years on end. Being the sort of people who can actually do the kind of philosophy that we are all hoping for and talking about through list-servs and higher-ed articles requires a different kind of work. A different kind of cultivation of character that, frankly, most philosophers lack."

I also think that there are major shifts that need to happen internally regarding how those with tenure support and defend different approaches to philosophy. Sure there are risks involved with doing philosophy in ways that openly engage relevant ethical and political issues, but tenured faculty members are in the position to help transform the discipline from within by supporting junior faculty and graduate students in their work if it goes against the grain, as well as by challenging standard criteria that are considered in the hiring or tenure processes. Knowing that there is internal support is hugely helpful, and this is how I ended my longer reflection:

"We can make these changes much more easily if we know that we are not alone and that we have support from others in the field, even if they aren't in our departments. If we can trust that others are going to be constructive, helpful, and cooperative, rather than just trying to tear us down or prove us wrong, then we can let our guards down, be less defensive, and actually work with a kind of honest curiosity, interest, passion, and sincerity that seems to be so hard to find and maintain.

After writing all of this, I want to thank you again for having these conversations. When I was faced with a challenging question at my prospectus defense this week that basically asked, "So you mean to suggest that you will go into a room of people who are interviewing you for a job and tell them that what they do is boring and irrelevant?" I responded, "Yes, because it's a pretty safe bet that what I am doing is not what they are doing. Philosophy can do more than it has typically been given credit. And I know that it's a risky position to hold if one's on the job market, but I also know that I am not alone. There was an article in the Chronicle this week that raises this precise issue, and some of the top names in feminist philosophy have been discussing it on the FEAST list-serv for the past couple of days." Your support and encouragement on these issues are appreciated, even by those (like myself) who you may not know are reading along and following your leadership."

The rest of my response is on my blog, and if you are interested in reading more you can find it here: http://littlebirdpoettree.blogspot.com/2011/12/faith-in-and-frustration-with.html

Cori

On Fri, Dec 16, 2011 at 5:48 PM, Marilyn <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Linda,

Thanks for writing this.  I know that many of us, bringing feminist and anti-racist thinking into classrooms over the years in various locales, have many times risked our jobs, sometimes risked physical assault. Some have suffered grave and dangerous harassment.  Always the risk of nasty and scary confrontations in the classroom. Some among us have suffered serious harms, and kept on teaching. The Socrates story is not just a cute story.  I think philosophy cannot be full-bodied and be done/lived with integrity without taking serious risks.  Of course, many of us have dependents, so job-loss is a lot more than just a hardship for the job-less individual. I'm not promoting a universal imperative about what risks everyone is required to take.  Just saying that Philosopher cannot be all that safe an occupation. Nor, in fact, can any occupation in the public sphere that commits one to truth/insight, methodological integrity, logical coherence, etc. (cf. your biology colleague).

I was talking with a colleague yesterday about how we educate our graduate students as teachers, and it occurred to me that philosophers should probably be preparing to be not only effective classroom teachers, but teachers for wider publics...  sometimes by connecting philosophy with other disciplines and various practical and political issues (which is being done very effectively by quite a few philosophers nowadays), but sometimes just teaching philosophy (the course content, topics and skills we teach in philosophy classrooms). Taking the show on the road.  Can't say I can quite see how to do that, but it seems like a project worth thinking about. Other folks on this list probably have ideas and experience to share, about how to do something like that.  

Marilyn

Marilyn Frye

University Distinguished Professor Emerita

Department of Philosophy

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI 48824

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On Dec 15, 2011, at 8:26 PM, Linda A Bell wrote:

Joan, Chris,

I can't help but think the writer is pretty much on target.  I've often thought that if my early philosophy courses had been taught with the emphasis so many of my colleagues seem to have these days, my career in philosophy would have ended long before it began.

Unfortunately, courage is an attribute lacking in many academicians, and it does take courage to introduce into a classroom discussion many of the important issues of the day, showing how logic, ethical principles, etc., can be applied to them--which one can, of course, do without "proselytizing."  I remember the hostility I encountered, when I first began teaching, whenever I would bring currently-encountered claims and arguments about blacks, women, civil rights, etc., into the discussions of fallacies, ethics, etc.  Though I would know full well that many would express that hostility when they were asked to evaluate me at the end of the course, I persevered; but I've encountered others who were just too fearful of losing their jobs (including a biology professor who acknowledged hesitation in bringing up evolution in classes!).

Linda A. Bell
Emerita Professor of Philosophy and Director of Women's Studies Georgia State University [log in to unmask]

-----Original Message-----
From: Feminist ethics and social theory [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Christine Cuomo
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 3:52 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: On Philosophy -- From the US Chronicle of Higher Ed.

Hi Joan,
Thanks for posting, lots to discuss in this! I skimmed this morning and don't think I agree with much as far as the analysis goes (personally, I'd "blame" American culture and university administrators more than people in philosophy departments), but I appreciate that he's highlighting a terrible trend. I for one would love to know what other folks on the FEAST list think...

Chris
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--
Cori Wong
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Philosophy and Women's Studies
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802

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