Marc’s performance was as if Socrates was reincarnated with Robin Williams. It is hard to get a class engaged right off the bat, but he did.

Anonymous student, Dean of Arts Teaching Award nomination

I have an old school view of school: I think that in order to learn, you must actually learn. Hence, in most of my courses, I aim to impart AI-free skills and knowledge. I did my post-doc—and have published quite a bit—on diagrammatic reasoning (see here, here, here, here, here, and here), so naturally I use a lot of visuals when I teach. Content-wise, I believe reasoners must be left free to experiment playfully with concepts and arguments, without the burden of commitment or the fear of reprimand. So, while the general outline of our class time is always prepared in advance, I purposely let the collective exercise unfold in an unscripted manner that leaves room for spontaneity, productive mistakes, and discoveries.

No matter the philosophical subject matter, I take a FRM approach that gets students involved in a genuine deliberative process. “You feel strongly about an idea or cause?,” I ask them. “Great. But, many honest people besides yourself likely champion opposite ideas or causes that they also deem worthy. So, a sense of conviction will not amount to much unless we can get clear on the pros and cons of the various reasons. That requires hard work and proper tools.” When, in the course of learning those tools and putting in that hard work, it (slowly or suddenly) dawns on individual students that respect for reason and evidence holds real promise for the resolution of conflict and uncertainty, I feel I have made a lasting impact.

I thus aspire to be a “tattoo artist” of the mind: I want our classes to hurt a bit while they are happening, yet leave a permanent trace once they are over.

Courses taught: