Teaching Overview:

My overarching goal as an educator is to inspire students to become more reflective, empathetic, and cogent in their thinking. In a sense, I very much embrace the idea articulated memorably by Pierre Hadot that philosophy can be “a way of life.” That is, I want to encourage and challenge students to develop their own ethical values and lines of thinking as they study philosophical texts or consider the beliefs, values, and practices of others. 

This pedagogical goal also aims to provide students with skills that will aid them in better navigating through complex pluralistic social contexts. I have worked with students from a wide variety of cultural, linguistic, and educational backgrounds, and I strive to create a welcoming space in the classroom, where participation in class discussion is facilitated by means of reflection time, asynchronous online fora, and small group conversation. Encouraging students, talking with them about course material and study skills, and facilitating students’ discoveries of their own questions are central to my commitment as an educator.

My two primary objectives in teaching are to inculcate in students a better sense of how to question, construct, and communicate their own views and to help students to see how these same academic skills can be put to use to better understand people who may think or live differently than them. 

From conducting interviews with fellow students on ethical case studies, to stepping into a museum and effectively becoming a member of the “artworld” by philosophically analyzing a painting, to observing and analyzing material culture and liturgical performance at a Buddhist temple or Christian church, students in my courses are challenged to develop skills that will aid them in better knowing themselves and their world.

I generally emphasize two types of knowledge acquisition in my teaching: (1) theoretical knowledge about philosophy, the diversity of religions in the world, and/or contemporary issues in ethics, and (2) practical knowledge about how to critically read challenging texts and present interpretations in oral presentations or written essays. I believe students benefit immensely from learning and applying the skills of abstract and practical reasoning in their interpretations of philosophical and religious texts or analyses of ethically confusing situations. 

Learning how to interpret worldviews—a student’s own as well as the worldviews of others’—and to respond incisively and constructively to ethically challenging situations are skills that are critically relevant for students today.

Courses:

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen)

AI Ethics

Students will learn about ethical challenges related to AI development and use and be introduced to theories in moral philosophy that will be helpful in understanding and addressing those problems. Issues to be explored in the course include data privacy, human worker displacement, various forms of algorithmic bias, truth and reliability in connection with AI, the use of LLMs in medical or therapeutic settings, the use of LLMs in education, environmental sustainability and powering AI, and existential threats potentially brought on by emerging and anticipated new forms of AI.

In Dialogue with Humanity

This course introduces students to a wide variety of core texts across cultures, including Plato's Symposium, the Bhagavad-Gita, the Analects, Zhuangzi, the Heart Sutra, the Bible, the Qur’an, Smith's The Wealth of Nations, Mill's On Liberty, and Marx's Economic and the Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844.  Emphasis is placed on developing students' capacities to respond critically to the texts in oral presentations, class discussions, and short papers.

In Dialogue with Nature

This course introduces students to the history and philosophy of science through reading various core texts, ranging from Plato, Aristotle, and Euclid to Darwin, Watson, and Poincaré.  This discussion-oriented course places emphasis on developing students’ capacities to respond critically to these texts in class conversations, oral presentations, and papers.

Philosophy and Cross-Cultural Communication

This course explores some of the philosophical issues involved in cross-cultural communication and miscommunication, including topics such as prejudice, “common sense,” contrasting background assumptions, truth, trust, cultural identity, and dialogue. Culminating projects will involve experiential application of philosophical theories.

Philosophy of Religion  

This course introduces students to critical and reflective study of interactions between philosophical and religious traditions in various locations around the world. Topics in the course include theistic arguments, the nature of the self, definitions of "religion" in a global-critical context, different forms of atheism, and problems relating to religion and secularism.

Technology and Ethics

This course will familiarize students with philosophical debates surrounding the nature of technology itself and the ethical consequences of technological developments. Topics to be explored in the course include historical and contemporary debates over how to philosophically understand technology (Heidegger, Ellul, Winner) as well as ethical issues relating to human enhancement, species recreation, computing, technological inequalities, artificial intelligence, and other emerging technologies.

World Religions

This course will acquaint students with the scholarly methods used in studying religions, including critical study of the concept of "religion" itself. Students will also learn about some of the ritual, philosophical, experiential, and ethical dimensions of particular traditions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Yoruba. Lastly, drawing on what they have learned about theories and methods in the study of religions, students will visit a local religious site and analyze it, and present their analyses in an essay.

Older Teaching

Shanghai Jiao Tong University-University of Michigan Joint Institute

Global Engineering Ethics

Shanghai Xing Wei College

Aesthetics 

Applied Ethics 

First Year Writing Seminar

Logic

Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of Science

Virtue Ethics

World Religions

Mount Ida College

Aesthetics

Ethics

Introduction to Philosophy

Boston University

Existentialism

Philosophy of Religion

Religion and Culture

Religious Ethics

Technology and Ethics