Teaching Statement
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Courses taught
As Instructor of Record
Language and Thought, Tulane University
Fall 2026
The aim of this course is to investigate the connections between language, thought, and world. Though our primary focus will be philosophical approaches to this topic, we will also consider work from the fields of linguistics and cognitive science. Our initial guiding question into this topic will be: What are the limits of language? However, over the course of the semester, we’ll read authors that seek to delegitimize this very question. That is, we’ll read authors who worry that in asking about the limits of language we already commit ourselves to a particular picture of language, thought, and world.
After some initial problematizing of the connections between language, thought, and world, we’ll turn to Charles Taylor’s distinction between designative and constitutive views of language—a distinction that we’ll use throughout the course to compare and contrast various approaches to our topic. The first half of the semester will focus on the designative view, tracing it from early Modern thought to 20th century analytic philosophy, linguistics, and cognitive science. After midterm, we’ll turn to critics of the designative view, primarily Ludwig Wittgenstein and Martin Heidegger. We’ll end the semester by reading Stanley Cavell’s developments of Wittgenstein and Heidegger, specifically his arguments connecting the question of the limits of language with philosophical skepticism.
[Syllabus]
Buddhist Philosophy and Philosophy of Language, Tulane University
Fall 2024 & Spring 2025
This course has two aims: (1) to provide an introduction to Buddhist philosophy and (2) explore some of the ways that Buddhist philosophy engages with traditional questions in the philosophy of language. In pursuit of the first aim—and after some initial familiarizing with the concepts of religion and philosophy—we’ll work through both primary and secondary texts to survey some of the core concerns in Buddhist metaphysics and ethics. For the second aim, we’ll adopt a comparative approach, exploring how specific topics in the philosophy of language have been treated both in the Buddhist and the Western philosophical traditions. Some of the topics that we’ll consider will include truth and meaning, language and metaphysical commitments, translation of religious and philosophical texts, and the status of ethical and mystical language.
[Syllabus]
Religions of the World, Tulane University
Fall 2023—two sections
When we speak of particular religions, we might be referring to a specific group of people, a collection of practices or rituals, certain beliefs held by that specific group of people, or even celebrated physical structures. However, we also refer to certain foundational texts that (among other things) unite adherents under a set of shared beliefs and practices, provide grounds for justifying or condemning certain practices, and serve as a site of interpretive engagement. But how do these texts come about? How are we (as religious adherents or students) supposed to engage with them? How do they differ from other sorts of texts? And as forms of life change, how does the role that these texts play evolve?
In this course, we will closely study some of the primary religious texts (understood in the broadest sense) from Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Our study will be guided by the question: What is the role of the text in the study, practice, and evolution of world religions? Our exploration will be conducted at two levels. First, we will approach the texts themselves as rich and sophisticated works. Second, we will step back and engage with authors that (like we will attempt to do) have closely studied and critically engaged with these foundational religious texts. Through conducting our own interpretations of these texts as well as studying the interpretations of others, we will move beyond getting a basic grasp on these different traditions and be confronted with several more general yet very difficult questions concerning (a) the functions and methods of interpretation, (b) the limits of language, (c) the connection between religion and political founding, and (d) the often difficult distinction between criticism and heresy.
[Syllabus]
Introduction to Philosophy—Environmental Ethics Focus, Tulane University
Spring 2023
What is philosophy? In what sorts of human situations does it arise? What is philosophy intended to do, if anything? In this course, students will engage with major philosophical themes and questions as represented in the works of certain canonical authors of the Western philosophical tradition. Students will gain a basic facility with philosophical argument identification and evaluation as well as how these philosophical issues remain relevant to our contemporary lives. But most importantly, this course will provide students an opportunity to do philosophy—to engage in the practice of philosophy with fellow students and the instructor.
The guiding question for our course will be the fundamental ethical question: How is one to live? We shall use this question to explore various ethical systems (along with their metaphysical commitments and political consequences), meta-ethical concerns in psychology and language, and the various methods for doing philosophy.
[Syllabus]
Introduction to Philosophy, Tulane University
Fall 2022
What is philosophy? In what sorts of human situations does it arise? What is philosophy intended to do, if anything? In this course, students will engage with major philosophical themes and questions as represented in the works of certain canonical authors of the Western philosophical tradition. Students will gain a basic facility with philosophical argument identification and evaluation as well as how these philosophical issues remain relevant to our contemporary lives. But most importantly, this course will provide students an opportunity to do philosophy—to engage in the practice of philosophy with fellow students and the instructor.
The guiding question for our course will be the fundamental ethical question: How is one to live? We shall use this question to explore various ethical systems (along with their metaphysical commitments and political consequences), meta-ethical concerns in psychology and language, and the various methods for doing philosophy. Readings will range from Ancient Greek philosophers (Plato and Aristotle) to contemporary authors in the analytic tradition.
[Syllabus]
As Teaching Assistant
Buddhism, Tulane University
Fall 2021 – Spring 2022, TA; Spring 2023 – Spring 2024, grader
Instructor: Karl Schmid
Marcuse’s Eros & Civilization, Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
Spring 2021
Instructor: Jeffrey Escoffier
Sexual Revolution, Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
Spring 2019
Instructor: Jeffrey Escoffier