Andrew V. Jeffery
Career Adjunct in Philosophy
Embedded Files
I fell in love with philosophy when I was a freshman in college, and never looked back or had a “Plan B.” I just couldn’t defer gratification long enough to do anything else! I received a doctorate in the field from the University of Washington in 1994 and have spent the last 29 years as a career adjunct, teaching nearly two dozen course titles at over a dozen different institutions;
My favorite quote is from Plutarch, “A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.” To elaborate on that metaphor, my job is not to fill heads with information, but to start some fires! That is, to share my passion for the field, because I really do believe philosophy is a guide on the path to living one's best life. To use another fire metaphor, I have carried a torch for philosophy for over 40 years, and I will relay that torch to you if you’re ready to receive and run with it.
Curriculum Vitae
Curriculum Vitae
ANDREW V. JEFFERY
340 N.E. McKnight Road
Belfair, WA 98528
(206) 930-9703
res.blogitans@gmail.com
https://sites.google.com/view/andrewjefferyswebpage/home
EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Philosophy. University of Washington, Winter, 1994.
M.A. in Philosophy. University of Washington, 1989.
B.A. in Philosophy and Religion, Seattle Pacific University, 1984.
Dissertation Title: Some Issues Concerning the Epistemic Value of Religious Experience
Dissertation Committee: Robert C. Coburn (Chair), Laurence BonJour, Charles Marks, William Talbott
Areas of Doctoral Specialization: Philosophy of Religion, Epistemology
Areas of Competence: Metaphysics, Ethics, Logic
Certificates:
“Engagement with Diversity (Full Course)” MCCKC, November 10, 2022
“Teaching Online with QM,” MCCKC, October 10, 2021
“Effective Teaching of Hybrid Courses,” UMGC May 2017
“New Faculty Academic Orientation” UMGC, April 2017
“Applying the Quality Matters Rubric,” Pierce, June 2015
“Transitioning to Teaching Totally Online,” Pierce College, Winter 2014
Academic Employment History:
For all employers of record, my reason for leaving is always the same, viz., my contracts were always temporary
Asterisks (*) indicate some intermittent appointments.
1. University of Maryland Global Campus June 19, 2017-Autumn, 2024*
2. Olympic College, Bremerton Winter-Autumn, 2024
3. Pierce College, Puyallup Autumn, 2008-Autumn 2024*,
4. Green River College Spring, 1995-Autumn. 2024*
5. Metropolitan Community College Kansas City Autumn 2021-Spring, 2023
6. Tacoma Community College Spring, 2019
7. Shoreline Community College Winter 1998, Summer 2007
8. Highline Community College Summer, 2007
9. Bellevue College Winter, 2003- Autumn, 2006*
10. University of Washington, Tacoma Autumn, 2005 – Summer, 2006
11. Seattle Pacific University Autumn, 1994 to; Winter, 2004*
12. Bloomsburg University Spring, 1996
13. Seattle Central Community College Spring, 1994
14. Western Washington University Winter, 1994
15. University of Puget Sound Autumn, 1991
16. North Seattle Community College Autumn, 1991
17. University of Washington, Seattle Summer, 1991-Summer 1994*
Courses taught (upper division):
Technology and Culture, online for University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC)[1]
Ideas Shaping the 21st Century, online UMGC
The Beautiful and the Good: Philosophy’s Quest for Value, University of Washington, Tacoma (UWT)
The Contemporary Search for Meaning, UWT
Ethics and Society, UWT
“The End of the Modern World,” UWT
History of Philosophy: Modern to Contemporary, UWT
History of Philosophy: Medieval to Modern, UWT
Ways of Knowing, UWT
The Greek Mind and Imagination, UWT
Contemporary Ethical Theory, at Seattle Pacific University
Philosophy of Religion, at the University of Washington and Bloomsburg University
Courses taught (lower division):
Existentialism, Green River College
Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Rights, Green River College, hybrid version;
Pierce College, Puyallup, online version,
Advanced Topics in Formal Logic, at Green River College.
Introduction to Eastern Philosophy at Green River College
Introduction to Philosophy of Religion at the University of Washington, Green River College, Pierce College Puyallup
Comparative Religion at Green River Community College
Introduction to Ethics at Shoreline Community College, Green River College, Pierce College Puyallup
“Ethics in the Workplace” f-t-f and online, at Green River College
“Knowledge and Reality” at Western Washington University
Contemporary Moral Problems at Bloomsburg University, Green River College, Pierce College Puyallup
Introduction to Logic, American Honors, Pierce College
Introduction to Logic at Pierce, Bellevue, Green River, Shoreline, and Seattle Central Community Colleges
Critical Reasoning at Green River College, Bellevue College and Pierce College.
Introduction to Bioethics, Pierce College Puyallup
Introduction to Social and Political Philosophy at Green River College
“Foundations of Philosophy” at Bellevue Community College
“Faith and Philosophy” at Seattle Pacific University
Introduction to Philosophy, at MCCKC, Bellevue, Green River, and North Seattle, and Pierce Community Colleges, Bloomsburg University, the University of Puget Sound, and the University of Washington.
Introduction to the Humanities, UMGC.
PUBLICATIONS
Articles
“A Partial Defense of Cafeteria Pluralism,” Northwest Topics: The Proceedings of the 56th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy (Bellevue, WA: BCC, 2007).
“Gale on Reference and Religious Experience,” Faith and Philosophy 13:1 (January, 1996).
Reviews
Walter Goldschmidt, The Bridge to Humanity: How Affect Hunger Trumps the Selfish Gene. Metapsychology 11:17 (April 24, 2007).
Eugene Fontinell, Self, God, and Immortality: A Jamesian Investigation. Ars Disputandi 3 (2003).
Jerome Gellman, Experience of God and the Rationality of Theistic Belief. The Review of Metaphysics 52:1 (September, 1998).
Nicholas Wolterstorff, Divine discourse: Philosophical reflections on the claim that God speaks. Canadian Philosophical Reviews 16:6 (December, 1996).
R. Douglas Geivett, Evil and the Evidence for God: The Challenge of Hick’s Theodicy. Canadian Philosophical Reviews 15:2 (April 1995).
M. A. Corey, God and the New Cosmology: The Anthropic Design Argument. Canadian Philosophical Reviews 14:4 (August 1994).
Presentations
"Propositional Realism and Law as Artifact," at the 75th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Lewis & Clark College, November, 2024.
“Eros and Eternity: An Exploration of Plato’s Symposium,” at the 2nd Annual Greater Seattle Philosophy Symposium, University of Washington, May 10, 2024.
“Virtues and Reasons: Shafer-Landau’s Euthyphro Dilemma for Virtue Ethics” (co-authored with Davis A. Smith), at the 74th Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Lewis & Clark College, November, 2023.
"Simple Quantified Deontic Logic" at the 44th Annual Midsouth Philosophy Conference, Rhodes College, March, 2023.
"Toward an Actualist Quantified Deontic Logic." at the 73rd Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Lewis & Clark College, October, 2022.
“Pedagogy for the Bearers of Bad News,” at the annual conference of the Philosophy & Logic-associated Teachers Organization, Washington (PLATO-WA), Yakima Valley College, April, 2022.
“Famine, Affluence, and Quantification,” at the 71st Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Pacific University, October, 2019
“An Actualist Alternative to Forrester’s New Deontic Logic,” at the 69th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Washington State University, October, 2017.
“Possible Worlds and Actual Obligations: Accessibility in Deontic Logic” at the 68th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Gonzaga University, October, 2016.
“Is Temporal Dense Ordering Analytic?” at the 67th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Northern Idaho College, October, 2015.
“Teaching Advanced Topics in Formal Logic at Community Colleges,” at the second annual conference of the Philosophy & Logic-associated Teachers Organization, Washington (PLATO-WA), Bellevue College, October, 2014.
“After 120&: Non-classical Symbolic Logic for Community College Students,” at the first annual conference of the Philosophy& Logic-associated Teachers Association, Washington (PLATO-WA), Seattle Central Community College, November, 2013.
“Euthyphro, the Argument from Moral Truth, and the Theory of Dicta,’ at the 64th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Oregon State University, November, 2012.
"Blackmore's Ego," at the 63rd Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Lewis and Clark College, November, 2011.
“Does Platonic Love have a Sexual Orientation?” at the 58th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy,” University of Portland, October 2006.
“A Partial Defense of Cafeteria Pluralism,” at the 56th Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy,” Bellevue College, October 2004.
“Modal Ethics and Rational Egoism,” at the Spring Meeting of the Eastern Pennsylvania Philosophical Association, Kutztown, May 1996. Was also presented at the Ninth Annual State System of Higher Education’s Interdisciplinary Conference on Philosophy and Religious Studies, Edinboro, March 1996.
“Cognitivity Verificationism,” at the Sixty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, Los Angeles, April 1994. Was also presented at the Forty-Fifth Annual Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Richmond B. C., November 1993.
“Toward a Defensible Deontology of Epistemic Justification,” at the Ninetieth Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Eastern Division, Atlanta, December 1993.
“Gale on Reference and Religious Experience,” at the Ninety-First Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Chicago, April 1993.*
“Conversion, Religious Diversity, and the Rationality of Belief From the Non-participant’s Viewpoint,” at the Sixty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, San Francisco, March 1993.* An earlier version was read at the Forty-Third Northwest Conference on Philosophy, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, November 1991.
“Rethinking James on the Epistemology of Mystical States,” at the Forty-Fourth Northwest Conference on Philosophy, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, November 1992.
“Panpsychism and Substance Dualism,” at the Thirty-Seventh Annual Wheaton College Philosophy Conference, Wheaton College, Wheaton, Illinois, September 1990; and at the National Graduate Student Conference at Washington University, Saint Louis, Missouri, October 1990.
Work in Progress
“Famine, Logic, and Opportunity Costs”
"Law Exists in Both Necessary and Contingent Modalities"
"Was Nozick Woke?"
SKILLS, AWARDS, AND ACTIVITIES
“Teaching Online with QM,” MCCKC, October 10, 2021
“Effective Teaching of Hybrid Courses,” UMUC May 2017.
“New Faculty Academic Orientation” UMUC April 2017.
· Certificate: completed “Applying the Quality Matters Rubric,” June 2015.
Certificate: completed “Transitioning to Teaching Totally Online,” Pierce College, Winter 2014
Familiarity with Canvas, LEO, Blackboard, and Angel distance-learning educational software.
Participated in, contributed to, teleconference on standardizing logic courses in Washington state.
Private editorial consulting for scholarly texts.
Three editorial reviews for Oxford University Press, with honoraria.
Adjunct Representative on the Executive Board of the United Faculty Coalition, Green River College. 2004-2005, 2007-2013.
Grievance Committee. Membership Committee.
Adjunct Faculty Advisory Committee, Green River College
Current Administrator, Philosophy of Religion Group, Facebook
Former Managing Editor, “Didymus,” Ephilosopher (www.ephilosopher.com) (defunct)
Former Forum Moderator, “Didymus,” Philosophy News Service (www.philosophynews.com) (defunct)
DISSERTATION ABSTRACT
This dissertation focuses on the epistemic value of religious experience, with special attention to recent work on this topic by William Alston and Richard Gale. The first three chapters lay the conceptual groundwork for addressing two central questions: (1) What has to be true of an item for it to be a potential object of experience? And (2), what must be true of an experience for it to confer knowledge? Along the way, a number of issues are discussed, including the place of ethical idioms in epistemological discourse, the evidential status of private experience, and whether religious experience plays a central or tangential role in talk about God. After addressing the central questions, the dissertation concludes with a discussion of the epistemological difficulties raised by the phenomenon of widespread religious diversity.
REFERENCES
Supplied on Request
[1] Formerly University of Maryland University College (UMUC)
A Philosophy of Teaching
A Philosophy of Teaching
Andrew Jeffery
Updated March 13, 2023
1. The first mission of the educator is to provoke wonder and engender passion.
Plutarch wrote, A mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled.[1] Once a passion for rigorous philosophical inquiry is ignited, transmission of content is mostly a matter of guiding autodidactic learners.
2. Content is a means, the end is transformation, wisdom, and living one's best life.
Content s a means to an end, a set of prompts, techniques, exemplars, and foils. Fuel for the fire. The primary goal of liberal education is the transformation of the learner into a curious, empathic, critical thinker. The political goal is to produce a wise electorate. The ultimate goal of philosophy is to enable people to live their best life (eudaimonia).
3. One learns the path by walking it.
One learns the way by walking it, not simply hearing/reading about it. Philosophy is primarily a dynamic, dialectical process of discovery, and should be exemplified and taught as such. I invite my students to philosophize with me, to collaborate in setting their own learning objectives encouraging them to take ownership of their own learning.
4. Be the professor they need.
For years I aspired to be the professor I wanted to learn from; to teach the courses I would want to take. This was a mistake. The teacher I was trying to be was not the teacher my students needed. If the subject matter comes too easily to us, we may lack empathy for, and understanding of, students who are struggling with the material..
5. Instruction requires emotional intelligence.
Knowledge can be liberating and empowering, but sometimes it can be devastating. Some students experience philosophical discoveries as existential crises.
• a global problem (example: the climate crisis) is worse than they ever imagined.
• they have grown up ignorantly complicit in on-going systemic injustices.
• they have moral obligations they had not even suspected they had, let alone agreed to.
Such crises present both dangers and opportunities. The path forward lies in validating their feelings. Many of us went through similar transitions, and it is worthwhile step away from analyticity for a moment and share our narratives, how we got through our own crises, what we aspire to and hope for now.
[1]Plutarch, On Listening to Lectures (paraphrased).
What is Philosophy?
What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? The “love of wisdom,” the etymologist or philologist tells us. But what do the great philosophical traditions have in common that makes them all philosophy as distinct from other forms of wisdom literature? For something to count as philosophy it must justify its claims with careful reasoning. The emphasis on reasoning and method is what the philosophical traditions have in common that other forms of wisdom literature, whether myth, poetry, proverbs, or parables, in and of themselves, lack.
While oral wisdom traditions predate writing by thousands of years, philosophy pretty much arrived with the written medium. We can pretty accurately date the great philosophical traditions of Europe, India, and China to a period between 700 and 200 b.c.e. Why then? Let me tell you a story.
Before the era we’re talking about, most of humanity lived in relatively isolated, culturally homogenous communities. Most cultural information was transmitted “vertically,” from the older to the younger generation. If you wanted to understand the meaning of life and your role in it, you asked the elder, the shaman, or priest, and they told you the Story, a mythic framework in which you could locate your own life and understand it. Humans will often believe the first thing they’re told, if there’s nothing to contradict it—we’re just built that way, it’s a heuristic that saves a lot of personal labor and makes living in social groups run more smoothly. You could say most people outsourced their belief-commitments to authority figures in their community. You could say most people still do.
But between 700 and 200 b.c.e. there was a rapid expansion in urbanization, conquest, colonization, and trade. Formerly isolated villages were thrown together into cities and states consolidated power, trade with outsiders accelerated as forms of wealth creation were invented (weights of precious metals became monetized as currency, which in turn allowed lending with interest to become commonplace, etc. And people discovered that their neighbors down the street had been told different Stories from their own. This led to new questions. Which story is The Story, and how do we know? (Often: “how do we know we’re right?”) This in turn led to the search for criteria of reliability, criteria to adjudicate between competing truth-claims. Criteria is the plural of criterion, which comes from the Greek word kryton, or “measure.” The term “critical thinking” means “to think with criteria.” Plato’s dialog “Euthyphro,” written about 380-370 b.c.e., shows us a confrontation between old, mytho-poetic thought-patterns and the new, critical orientation. Socrates asks his friend Euthyphro, “What is piety?” Euthyphro replies:
Piety is doing as I am doing; that is to say, prosecuting any one who is guilty of murder, sacrilege, or of any similar crime-whether he be your father or mother, or whoever he may be-that makes no difference; and not to prosecute them is impiety. And please to consider, Socrates, what a notable proof I will give you of the truth of my words . . . For do not men regard Zeus as the best and most righteous of the gods?-and yet they admit that he bound his father (Cronos) because he wickedly devoured his sons, and that he too had punished his own father (Uranus) for a similar reason, in a nameless manner.
To which Socrates responds:
I did not ask you to give me two or three examples of piety, but to explain the general idea which makes all pious things to be pious. . . Tell me what is the nature of this idea, and then I shall have a standard [kryton] to which I may look, and by which I may measure actions, whether yours or those of any one else, and then I shall be able to say that such and such an action is pious, such another impious. [1]
Philosophy, then, is all about critical thinking. Critical thinking formalized becomes logic, the systematic evaluation of the products of reasoning, which in turn is applied both to recognize bad arguments and create better ones.
It is not always easy for cultures to understand one another, and this can lead to rather hubristic provincial misinterpretations of the foreign, even by philosophers who ought to know better. I have heard colleagues with advanced degrees tell me that Eastern philosophy isn’t philosophy at all, that it is at best poetry. They ought to be embarrassed, for they underestimate the degree to which the Indian and East-Asian traditions engage in reasoned, critical debate. They don’t recognize it when it’s right under their noses, because they lack the cultural background to put passages into their proper context. There is a passage from one well-known logic textbook that, in a section on distinguishing arguments from non-arguments, cites the following passage from Chapter Three of the Dao de Jing as an example of a “non-argument”:
Not to honor men of worth will keep the people from contention;
not to value goods which are hard to come by will keep them from theft;
not to display what is desirable will keep them from being unsettled of mind.
This, according to the textbook, is not an argument but merely a “loosely related collection of proverbs.” The trouble is, this actually is an argument with an unstated thesis. It is a criticism of two rival schools of moral philosophy in classical China: Mohism and Confucianism. Promoting the worthy was the first principle of Mohism, Confucian ritual etiquette often involved display of the valuable. The textbook writer had simply lacked the background information to recognize the argument for what it was!
Beware sweeping generalizations about West and East! It is often suggested there is a monolithic character to Eastern thought. One of the important reasons to study Eastern philosophy in depth is to realize this is also a stereotype. The actual debates in India and China reveal the tremendous diversity of Asian thought: there are monist schools but also atomistic ones there are schools rejecting linear rationality and others refining the same, schools emphasizing tradition, upstarts ready to overthrow tradition in same of the greater good, schools counseling dropping out of society altogether, and schools about ruling society while appearing to drop out! We will look at some historical schools of thought, but it is paramount to realize these received systems are the products of dynamic processes of inquiry and debate, and these processes are what philosophy is really all about.
Andrew Jeffery
[1] Plato, “Euthyphro.” Jowett trans. Downloaded from the Internet Classics Archive
(http: http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/euthyfro.html)
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