Dr. Herman E. Stark 

Statement on Teaching

  Aristotle correctly pointed out that a major benefit of a good general education is that the student will learn to be a good judge in general. This simple but penetrating observation reveals much about the role and importance of teaching philosophy. A philosophical education should supplement the student's specialized instruction by instilling in the student an awareness and hopefully an appreciation of the wealth and range of human aspiration. That humans write stunning novels, produce moving plays, compose sublime music, theorize about the nature of the atom and the vastness of the universe, decry injustice, perform brain surgery, and attempt to live meaningfully are truths that need to be presented concretely and explicitly to students. Although students enter philosophy class with varying degrees of appreciation and awareness of this, they rarely if ever are in a context where such matters are the focal point of thought and discussion. In addition, the students are rarely in a position to learn how to discuss and think about such matters. A major task of the teacher of philosophy, therefore, is to evoke in the students an awareness and appreciation for the range of human endeavor and a respect for rational reflection and discussion.

I strive, in teaching philosophy, not only to present the "facts" about these disciplines in a logical and coherent manner, but also to show the students why the facts are important. I do this by teaching in a rigorous but engaging fashion, which is in accordance with my conviction that a primary aim of a teacher of philosophy is to foster in the student the skill of reasoning and a respect for civilized argumentation. In my teaching I illustrate and motivate discussion by drawing on my own fortunately broad education, which allows me to illustrate philosophical and logical points by developing examples from history, literature, electronics and mechanics (from my own vocational school days), science, and foreign languages. My lectures thus inevitably end up having an interdisciplinary flavor, and this helps students relate their own areas of specialization to other areas. But most of all my lectures stress the point that there is a better and worse to say about most matters of human concern, and that with care and precision we can, in virtue of our ability to be thoughtful, learn to separate the rational from the irrational. It is in this sense that I can assert that the calling of a philosophy teacher is to let learn, where letting learn involves making students explicitly aware of their ability to reason about things in general.

Before I taught my first class--and often since then--I reflected back on those teachers of mine who were outstanding. I realized that they shared two important characteristics, which prima facie might seem to some somewhat counter-intuitive. First, none of my outstanding teachers were concerned with entertaining students. Second, they did not shy away from correcting mistakes. They instead treated the subject matter and the students with respect. It was really that simple, and in the long run it is this approach to teaching that students themselves will respect. I do not, of course, think that a teacher ought to bore the students, and I am certain that my own students learn to enjoy the rigor with which I teach. As regards the second point, I do not, of course, think that a teacher ought to embarrass or alienate a student, for constructive criticisms can be made with tact and sensitivity. Instead, one of the most memorable things a student of mine ever said to me was after a class in which I had gently but firmly pointed out and then demonstrated the invalid inferences of some of the students. He said that this was the first time in his collegiate career that an instructor actually had the courage (his words) to expose and explain student errors in reasoning. This student, despite numbering among those "mistaken" students, continued to take other courses from me. I can understand this, because it is those teachers of mine who were devoted to precision, honesty, rationality and truth that I now revere as outstanding teachers.