Teaching
Epistemology Working Group
My advanced students and I meet regularly to workshop each other's research. The group, which started in 2020, is called the Epistemology Working Group (EWG). Description here.
Course Guides
Graduate Seminars
Ignorance, Distraction, and Confusion Graduate Super Seminar
Featured in the APA's Syllabus Showcase
Featured in the department newsletter (Description)
Social Epistemology Graduate Seminar
Undergraduate Classes
Epistemology Upper Level Undergraduate
Auxiliary Guide Example (Link coming soon)
Why Two Course Guides?
I split my course guides into two: The Course Guide and the Auxiliary Course Guide. (See above for examples.)
This is because I believe the various conflicting functions of a course guide cannot be easily met with one cohesive document. That is, when we think about what a Course Guide does (that is, its functions), it is a mistake to assume we must meet these conflicting needs in one document.
Here is what I do instead:
1.) Main Course Guide. Quick Overview. Nuts and Bolts. Need-to-know information, presented at a glance. As short as possible. Easy to navigate when time-crunched and stressed. Students don't get lost in it. It's a quick reference for students who need to check the course structure (required readings, assignments, deadlines, contact info, etc).
2.) Auxiliary Course Guide. This supplements the main document. It includes expectations, resources, advice about how to do well, and further information about the assignments, course, department, and university. It articulates what I am looking for in each assignment. Accordingly, this second document is very long and thorough.
My view: If information from Document Two is weaved into Document One, it renders Document One harder to use. And the main course guide must be easy to use, otherwise it cannot perform its key function of helping to reorient stressed-out, time-crunched students. Students need information from both documents, but not in the same document.
Long Course Guides cannot perform their job well, no matter how well-formatted they are.
Teaching Activities
Here are some ideas for teachers. Click on the titles for links.
Facilitated conversation about Nozick's thought experiment.
Adaptable to other philosophy topics.
Use the images and ideas in tarot decks to explore values.
You will need tarot decks.
See also my Philosophical Tarot page.
Inventing Hermeneutical Resources Using Art
We visited an art exhibition that combined thought-provoking words & images.
To adapt this worksheet, one might scatter interesting words & images across classroom tables.
Valence-Switch Pitch Competition
Explanation coming soon
These pedagogy ideas are relatively topic-specific. They are mostly about values and how to think creatively, especially beyond the barriers of current conventional thought.
If you are seeking a repository of topic-independent classroom activities that work well in a philosophy classroom, click here.
Photo
The first photo is a screenshot from a student's hilarious and beautiful commemoration video for an Introduction to Philosophy course, autumn 2020. (Photo credit: Nathanael Parsons.) The second photo is the multi-award-winning Delia McDevitt's EURēCA poster presentation on the epistemology of sexual assault trials.
Student News
Recent news about student projects I advise and collaborations with students. Details on request.
Brant Entrekin has accepted a position as the international organiser for Minorities and Philosophy international (MAP). Congrats, Brant! August 2024.
Linh Mac has received a Society for Applied Philosophy Grant to present her research in Lisbon. Congrats, Linh! August 2024.
I have joined Kaleena Stoddard's PhD committee at Tulane. Stoddard's thesis is on phenomenal conservatism, July 2024.
I am moving to Tulane University. A huge thank you to all my students -- undergrad and graduate -- at the University of Tennessee. I am especially grateful to the many EWG (Epistemology Working Group) members. I loved our meetings so much, and they improved my research and thinking in so many ways. I will miss you so much. July 2024.
Update: Carson O'Leary is heading to George Washington University for an MA in forensic psychology, and plans to focus on sexual violence. Congrats, Carson! And thanks for all your extraordinary research assistance! July 2024.
Carson O'Leary is having a great grad school admission season (of course!) And she will soon decide. Stay tuned. June 2024.
Michael Ebling has defended his excellent doctoral dissertation, Presentations of Value: Evaluative Outlooks and Practical Reason. Congrats Michael! June 2024
Dario Vaccaro and I have received a grant from the Berry Fund of the APA for Philosophy Through Theatre Games (PTTG) community engagement and high school outreach project. Thanks, APA! February 2024
Brant Entrekin has received a Graduate Student Senate Travel Award. Brant will present at Boston University’s graduate conference on research values. Congrats, Brant! February 2024.
Big news: Linh Mac has received the (extremely competitive) UT Humanities Center Fellowship. This major award releases Linh from teaching duties for a year! Congrats Linh! February 2024.
I'm on this fellowship this year, so many she'll take over my office next year, and we'll call it the Philosophy Wing of the research centre!
Mergoat Magazine is featuring Brynn Brickell's write-up of the "Philosophy Through Theatre Games" public scholarship event that I organised. Nicely done, Brynn! February 2024.
Brynn Brickell has been collecting up the honours lately: Brynn received the Zack Binkley Memorial Scholarship. She has an internship with Jupiter Entertainment, she is a writer for Land Grant Films, and the communications volunteer for Rooted East. January 2024
Linh Mac has received the College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Fellowship for Outstanding Scholarship. Congrats Linh! January 2024.
Claire Dartez's essay "Comprehension and Competence: The Grasping Condition for Theoretical Understanding" has been accepted at the Australasian Journal of Philosophy . Congrats Claire! October 2023.
I received funding for another undergraduate research assistant for Spring 2024. Awesome sauce projects incoming. October 2023.
Revus will feature a symposium on Linh Mac's translation of Habermas. Congrats Linh! October 2023.
Dario Vaccaro is giving three talks this semester: “Kantian Fallibilism vs Kantian Infallibilism” at the Tennessee Philosophical Association, “G. E. Moore’s Naturalistic Fallacy” at Binghamton University (Binghamton, NY), and “Epistemic Overshooting”, for the Inquiry Network. And Brant Entrekin will present at the Florida State Free Will Conference. They are both in their second year of the doctorate. Nicely done! September 2023
Linh Mac's translation of Habermas's essay "How is Legitimacy Made Possible Via Legality?" is published in Revus! Congrats Linh! September 2023
Brynn Brickell and Carson O'Leary have joined the team as funded Research Assistants. Welcome Brynn and Carson! August 2023.
Linh Mac has received a Summer 2023 Graduate School Fellowship Award. Congrats, Linh! July 2023.
The Center for Applied Epistemology has received its first centre-specific funding. Launching later this year! July 2023.
Brynn Brickell and Georgi Gardiner have created a philosophy of love video. Featured at New Work in Philosophy. July 2023.
Claire Dartez has been appointed Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow at the University of Tennessee. Congrats Claire! July 2023.
Mikaela Mackenzie has advanced to candidacy. Congrats, Mikaela! June 2023.
Congrats to Claire Dartez and Catherine Dartez, who both graduated yesterday, with a doctorate and a BA, respectively. May 2023.
I have joined the Mikaela Mackenzie's (UCLA) doctoral committee as the external member. I look forward to reading more of her work, May 2023.
Linh Mac has advanced to candidacy. Congrats, Linh! April 2023.
Carson O'Leary received a College of Arts and Sciences Achievement Award. Congrats, Carson!
After writing an exceptional Haslam Thesis on the epistemology of juror selection procedures for sex crime trials, earning an 180/180 LSAT score, and collecting university prizes and law school scholarship offers as though they were Pokemon cards, Delia McDevitt is off to Harvard Law School! Congrats, Delia! They are lucky to have you!
Claire Dartez defended an astonishingly good doctoral dissertation, April 2023. Congrats Dr. Dartez!
It's prize season at the Epistemology Working Group (EWG)!! We're collecting prizes in every direction: Michael Ebling received the prestigious Yates Fellowship. Claire Dartez received the departmental essay prize, with Dario Vaccaro receiving the runner up award. Delia McDevitt won a College of Arts and Sciences Achievement Award, a departmental research award and was the runner-up in the undergraduate philosophy essay prize, and I received the Provost's early career research award. All in epistemology, and all in April 2023!
Nathanael Parsons has received the $3000 Herman Scholarship. Congrats Nate! April 2023.
Hannah Fantuzzi's law school application season is blazing. Updates coming soon!
Delia McDevitt is knocking it out of the park with law school applications. Update coming soon.
Claire Dartez won the 2023 departmental essay prize, and Dario Vaccaro received runner-up (in his first year here!). UTK Epistemologists taking it home! April 2023.
Amy Flowerree (TTU) has joined Linh Mac's doctoral committee. February 2023.
Dario Vaccaro has been interviewed for the Philosopher's Nest podcast. Great work, Dario! Nov 2022
Donnie Barnett successfully defended his doctoral thesis, Content Externalism and Self-Knowledge. Congrats to Dr. Barnett! Nov 2022.
Delia McDevitt and I have received a Faculty Research Assistants Funding (FRAF) Award to continue our research on sexual harrassment and voir dire selection procedures, September 2022. I look forward to working even more with Delia!
Liz Camp (Rutgers) has joined Claire Dartez's doctoral committee. July 2022.
Michael Ebling received the 2022 Prados Summer Fellowship for his research on moral knowledge. Congrats, Michael! May 2022.
Lots of Milestones this week! Jeffrey Pannekoek defended his doctoral thesis, Dignifying Decisions: The Role of Dignity in Representative Decision-Making. Michael Ebling and Claire Dartez have both advanced to candidacy for the doctorate. Congrats! May 2022.
Paige Greene defended her fantastic undergraduate Haslam Scholars thesis, Gray Area: The Discursive Erasure of BDSM Abuse. April 2022.
Delia McDevitt has received a departmental scholarship. Congratulations, Delia! April 2022.
Michael Ebling received the departmental essay prize for "Apriority and Moral Knowledge". Claire Dartez received runner-up, for "Understanding and the 'Grasping' Condition". Congrats to Michael and Claire! March 2022.
Jeffrey Pannekoek has received the fantastic two-year Cleveland Fellowship in Advanced Bioethics! Congratulations, Jeffrey! January 2022.
Nathanael Parsons and I have received university funding to study the epistemology of trauma, January 2022
Delia McDevitt and I have received a Student Success Research Award to study the epistemology of legal proof and rape; and the ethics of belief, December 2021.
This co-authored essay has been published, October 2021.
Linh Mac has been accepted into both the Cologne Summer School on experts, authority, and epistemic autonomy and the Vienna Summer School on resistance. Congrats Linh! August 2021.
Hannah Fantuzzi has been awarded both the Bacon-Beard Scholarship and the Louise Carr-McClure Scholarship. Congrats! July 2021.
Alex Richardson successfully defended his dissertation, Civility and the Politics of Resistance. Congrats, Alex! June 2021.
Jeffrey Pannekoek has been awarded the Prados Summer Dissertation Fellowship, May 2021.
Jacob Smith joins the philosophy doctoral programme at the University of Virginia, Summer 2021. Congratulations!
Kamyar Asasi joins the HPS doctoral programme at the University of Pittsburg, Summer 2021. Congratulations!
Jacob Smith and I co-authored 'Opacity of Character: Virtue Ethics and the Legal Admissibility of Character Evidence' (forthcoming) Phil Issues.
Research by Jacob Smith and Georgi Gardiner is featured on the Open for Debate blog at Cardiff University, June 2021.
Jacob Smith has been selected for a Student Spotlight at the Office of Research and Engagement, based on his legal epistemology research.
Linh Mac has been awarded a Spring Fellowship for doctoral research, March 2021.
Jacob Smith and I received a Graduate Research Assistance Award for our joint work on the epistemology of character evidence. February 2021.
Paige Greene has been nominated for Undergraduate Researcher of the Year for her work on hermeneutical injustices in BDSM discourse. December 2020.
The course 'Ignorance, Distraction, and Confusion' received funding for a graduate assistant. Michael Ebling has been appointed. December 2020. The course also received "super seminar" funding and will feature seven guest speakers. October 2020.
Spencer Atkins's essay 'Moral Encroachment, Wokeness, and the Epistemology of Holding' is forthcoming in Episteme. October 2020.
Linh Mac received the North American Society for Social Philosophy (NASSP) Graduate Student Award for her essay on the epistemology of #BelieveWomen. July 2020.
Linh Mac received the University of Tennessee's Thomas Fellowship Award for her research on hermeneutical and testimonial injustice concerning rape accusations. May 2020.