Evan Strevell, Teaching Professor at Xavier University, writes: “with more or less two months to go, I was wondering whether it might be worthwhile to attempt some kind of call for the sharing of best practices specifically for teaching ancient philosophy online and / or in a hybrid format. It would be especially beneficial if veterans of teaching ancient philosophy online could share how they set up individual modules, the Student Learning Objectives [SLOs] for those modules, and tools for assessment of those SLOs. Prior to last semester’s panicked switch, I had never taught online. This Fall I have an ancient survey. I am hoping to be able to teach…
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Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy Network Facebook Group
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many events have been cancelled and many of us cam no longer be as active in person. To connect scholars online, I’ve set up an Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy Network Facebook group. It’s a forum for scholars working in any area of ancient philosophy, from Thales of Miletus through to Boethius and Byzantium, in order to create a greater sense of community within a field that features scholars from many different backgrounds, perspectives, and locations. All members are encouraged to share ancient philosophy related events, questions, books and articles (including their own), and teaching materials. Any scholar with an interest in ancient philosophy, whatever…
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Resources for Online Teaching
As more and more philosophy instructors need to move classes online due to COVID-19, many of us are looking for help with teaching virtually. Mary Beth Willard (Weber State University) has shared some great general tips for quickly switching your course to an online format. It also makes sense to use resources that are already out there. I just assigned two podcasts from the History of Philosophy without any gaps to my History of Ancient Philosophy class, as the best way to introduce them to Aristotle, whom we are considering next. You should also check out (and add to) this spreadsheet (created by Liz Jackson (ANU) and Tyron Goldschmidt (Rochester)…
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Jobs with Ancient AOS over Previous Five Years
Aero Data Lab, “a collaboration of scientists, ethicists, and policy-makers interested in improving the quality of the clinical research enterprise,” has published an analysis of trends in the academic philosophy job market over the past six years. The analysis, by Spencer Hey (Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital), tracks changes in the number of academic positions advertised for different areas of specialization in philosophy, based on data from PhilJobs. I thought readers might be interested in the specific numbers for ancient philosophy, which are included on the chart below. The yearly numbers are within a fairly narrow range and there is little evidence of any strong trends either upwards or downward. Of course,…
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PhiLife Site Launches!
The Mellon Philosophy as a Way of Life Network website is now live: philife.nd.edu Our official website for the project features a pump-up video, bios of involved faculty and staff, teaching resources, and lots of information about our project ambitions. Check it out here! We are also looking for help in making the digital side of this project even better. If you have any materials for our Resource page (syllabi, assignments, grading materials, videos, anything!), please pass them on. We are looking for any non-copyright materials that you find useful in teaching or researching philosophy as a way of life. We are also looking for blog posts about Philosophy as…
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Interview with Tushar Irani (Wesleyan) on Exercises for Teaching the Platonic Way of Life
Tushar Irani holds a joint appointment at Wesleyan in the Department of Philosophy and the College of Letters. In his teaching, he has developed a number of exercises helping students to explore what it would be like to live a Platonic, Aristotelian, Stoic, or Epicurean life. The previous post shared the inspiration and history behind his development of these exercises. Here is the most recent version of his exercises inviting students to Live Like a Platonist: The Life of Reason. In this part of the interview, we talk about his experience with using these exercises. What difference do you think actually having your students do mathematics makes, as opposed to just hearing that…
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Interview with Tushar Irani (Wesleyan) on Exercises for Teaching Ancient Schools as Ways of Life
Tushar Irani holds a joint appointment at Wesleyan in the Department of Philosophy and the College of Letters. His recent book, Plato on the Value of Philosophy: The Art of Argument in the Gorgias and Phaedrus (Cambridge University Press, 2017), explores Plato’s views on the role and purpose of argument in civic life. You can read an interview with him about it here. In addition to his work on Plato, he has interests in questions of philosophical method, the history and practice of rhetoric, Ancient Greek and Roman literature, and the history of ethics (especially virtue ethics). He also has a strong interest in philosophy as a way of life. He is co-editing a special issue for Metaphilosophy…
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Deadline Day for Drafts Exchange and Mellon Philosophy as a Way of Life Project Applications
Today is the deadline for letters of intent for the Mellon Philosophy as a Way of Life Project, a new initiative to help scholars effectively teach philosophy as a way of life! If you teach philosophy at a post-secondary institution and are interested at all, please check out philife.nd.edu and consider submitting a letter of intent. Today is also the deadline for the second round of ancient philosophy paper draft exchanges, so take your chance and sign up now.
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Join the Mellon Philosophy as a Way of Life Project! (UPDATED Deadline January 15)
I am very excited to announce the Mellon Philosophy as a Way of Life Project, a new initiative to help scholars effectively teach philosophy as a way of life! I am delighted to be serving as one of the Lead Faculty Advisors. If you teach philosophy at a post-secondary institution and are interested at all, please check out our website: philife.nd.edu and consider submitting a letter of intent. We are less than a week away from the January 15 deadline for applying for the first cohort. We are putting together a network of interested scholars to share resources and to participate in a week-long workshop we will be running at Notre Dame for…
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Ancient Philosophy Syllabi Collection Project
I’m starting a new project to collect and analyze syllabi from surveys of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy. My goals are to get a better sense of how teaching is currently being conducted, share ideas for course designs, highlight neglected but promising texts, and consider new approaches. I think it will be helpful to see what the selection of topics and readings looks like in current teaching. To what degree are surveys of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy still dominated by Plato and Aristotle? Do surveys spend time on early Greek philosophers? Do they include any Hellenistic or late ancient philosophers? I am also interested in topical coverage. Do most surveys…
