Teaching Western Philosophy in Japan—One Experience

Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy

When I was actively taking classes as an undergraduate, one of my biggest concerns was that project courses typically lacked a fundamentally challenging problem; the challenge was typically in learning the details of tools used to solve some problem with an obvious solution, but not in finding a unique solution to the problem itself. My personal approach attempts to remedy this deficiency, sinc...

Philosophy and The Human Inheritance in a Post-Western World

The dissolution of the Western-dominated Postwar Order, and the Eurocentric myths that sustain it, presents a unique opportunity to ponder an old question posed by every new generation: How can philosophy, which Islamic and ancient Greek learning traditions have long defined as the pursuit of “wisdom,” resume its millennial civilizing role? This paper looks beyond passing political events to re...

Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Cultures are most fully expressed in and made conscious of themselves in their ritual and theatrical performances...A performance is a dialectic of “flow,” that is, spontaneous movement in which action and awareness are one, and “reflexivity,” in which the central meanings, values, and goals of a culture are seen “in action,” as they shape and explain behavior. We will know each other better by...

Teaching Philosophy Statement

The Hindu Vedas place teachers on a high pedestal: “a guru creates and sustains knowledge, and destroys the weeds of ignorance, just like the creator, the sustainer, and the destroyer of this universe”. It is no surprise then that students see teachers as authority figures that teach them the truth. Thus, the teacher has a profound responsibility to guide students by helping them to assimilate ...