Teaching

I consider teaching essential to my mission as a political theorist working in the Socratic tradition: to inspire others to join me in self-examination. Without citizens who scrutinize their way of life and strive to become better people, no political community can flourish. Accordingly, my primary objective as a teacher is to awaken students from the motions of daily life and prompt them to reflect upon their values, beliefs, and behaviors. As I tell students from the first day, my goal is not to indoctrinate or to give a list of points about each thinker or text that they will be expected to memorize and regurgitate on an exam; rather, I hope they leave each class more perplexed than before, full of wonder about what justice is, how we ought to be governed, and whether they are living their best lives.

To achieve this goal, I assign a variety of readings and encourage students to engage in “sympathetic reading,” which entails approaching each text for what it has to teach us. Class meetings largely consist of asking the students questions designed to help them work out the meaning of the text for themselves, while using popular culture, examples related to college life, and interactive demonstrations to help bring the material to life. Through this process, students learn to give different perspectives due consideration while sharpening their own reasoning.

I am honored to have been the College of Arts and Letters’ nominee for the 2018 FAU Excellence and Innovation in Undergraduate Teaching Award.