I teach philosophy in a way that emphasizes analyzing arguments and rhetorical contexts, writing with charity and precision, and thinking imaginatively.
Advanced Seminars
Research Seminar: Mereology East and West. Standard axioms of contemporary formal mereology. Problems of One over Many and of Material Constitution. Contemporary approaches; parallels and alternatives from Buddhist traditions. [Syllabus]
Research Seminar: Reading Aristotle and Newton. Overview of Aristotelian physics. Contrasts with Newtonians physics. Close reading of Newton's Principia, with an emphasis on reconstructing Newton's argument for the law of universal gravitation. [Syllabus]
Interdisciplinary Seminar: Robot Ethics. Potential norms for robot ethics, how to make those norms amenable to computer coding, and how to resolve conflicts among norms. [Syllabus]
Epistemology: Postphenomenology. What it is, how to use its methods to understand technology, how to critique those methods constructively. [Syllabus]
Moral Theory: Care Ethics. Theoretical foundations, prominent criticisms, and sociopolitical applications. [Syllabus]
Independent Studies: Confucius and the Analects; Korean Philosophy; Modal Logic.
Upper-Level Courses
Asian Philosophy. Survey of major philosophical traditions from India and China. Significant topics include Buddhist and Vedic debates on the existence of selves and unities; foundational contrubutions from Ruism (Confucianism) and Daoism; Chinese receptions of Buddhism; Chinese Buddhist debates about the emptiness of reality. [Syllabus]
Ancient European Philosophy. Survey of the classical Greek philosophical tradition from Thales of Miletus through Aristotle. Significant topics include the birth of philosophical inquiry in Europe; ancient theories of cosmology; the nature, sources, and extent of human knowledge; and the possibility of a rational and naturalistic understanding of the world. [Syllabus] [2022 Lectures]
Modern European Philosophy. Survey of the European philosophical tradition from Descartes through Kant. Significant topics include the nature, sources, and extent of human knowledge; the composition of the physical world, the nature of the human mind and its relation to the physical world; the possibility of a rational understanding of God and the self; the nature of persons and human freedom. [Syllabus] [2021 Lectures]
Philosophy of Science. Introduction to some basic philosophical questions about modern science. Significant topics include naturalism; pseudoscience; strategies of inquiry; scientific progress; scientific explanation; chemical kinds; biological individuals. [Syllabus]
Philosophy of Mind. Discussion on the nature of the mind, the nature of mental functions such as perception and inference, the relation between mind and body, and methodology for studying the mind. Focus on computational theory of mind, challanges and alternatives, applications to contemporary AI. [Syllabus] [2024 Notes]
Philosophy of Religion. Aquinas and Roman Christianity. Nagarjuna and Indian Buddhism. Hartshorne and process theology. [Syllabus]
Symbolic Logic. Survey of propositional and first-order quantificational logic. Brief introduction to modal logic. [Syllabus]
Lower-Level Courses
Introduction to Philosophy. Collaborative discussion of issues relating to the self, knowledge and inquiry, political ethics and culture, grounded in readings from China, India, Europe, and South Africa. [Syllabus]
Introduction to Ethics. Cross-cultural survey of major ethical positions in classical and modern thought. Some are religious (Buddhism, Christianity). Others are secular (feminism, liberalism). Some are abstract (theories of right action). Others are more practical (patriotism, generosity, profit-making). [Syllabus] [2019 Lectures/Outdated]
Introduction to Logic. Introduction to formal logic, with emphasis on applications for intelligence analysis and argument analysis. [Syllabus] [Primer on Analysis of Competing Hypotheses]
Technology, Science, and Human Values. Skill-focused introduction to strategies for understanding the ways in which technology embodies human values. Special focus on conceptual foundations of value sensitive design and similar strategies from engineering disciplines. [Syllabus] [2025 Lectures] [2019 Lectures]
Critical Thinking for Intelligence Analysis. Critical reasoning strategies designed to correct cognitive biases and improve tradecraft skill in the context of intelligence analysis. [Syllabus] [2016 Lectures/Partial] (Since its initial offering, this course has been revised as "Analytic Writing for Intelligence Analysis.")