APA Committee on the
Teaching of Philosophy

Committee Report
1997

The following appears in Volume 71, Number 5 (May, 1998) of the Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association.

Rosalind Ladd, Chair

Regular activities of the Committee this year included a well-attended session at the Eastern meetings on Critical Thinking and a successful panel discussion at the Pacific meetings on the theory of Experiential Learning. At both the Central and Pacific meetings we co-sponsored special Teaching Workshops, with costs shared equally between APA and the American Association of Philosophy Teachers. The response to a Call for Proposals printed in both the Proceedings and the Newsletter have helped broaden the base of participation in the Committee-sponsored sessions. Recognition of APA members who have received Distinguished Teaching Awards from their home institutions was given this year at a reception at the Central meetings.

The Committee members met for a very productive "in person" meeting for a day and a half in October. We reviewed past projects and agreed to continue a strong focus on the following programs: organizing special sessions at the Eastern and Pacific meetings (and supporting the sessions organized at the Central Division by the Central Conference on Teaching), co-sponsoring pre-conference Teaching Workshops with the American Association of Philosophy Teachers, recognizing those in the profession who have earned Teaching Awards from their own institutions, and supporting the newsletter and using it as a bulletin board for announcements and notices, as well as publishing articles on the theory and practice of teaching.

The Committee also decided to initiate a WWW page, to include material of help to teachers of philosophy, and discussed the problem of non-philosophers who are hired to teach philosophy. We reviewed a report from the editor of the newsletter, announcing a publishing agreement for a volume of papers from the newsletter, with royalties to be used by the APA for the improvement of the teaching of philosophy. We also discussed the feasibility of providing an index of articles in past issues of the newsletter.

As a new project, the Committee members enthusiastically agreed to begin work on designing a national program of workshops on teaching Philosophy, to help graduate students prepare for a career in teaching Philosophy to a changing population of undergraduate students, and to help graduate departments strengthen the training they offer to future Philosophy faculty. The Committee is consulting with the national APA Board to try to find funding sources outside of APA to support such an initiative. As beginning steps in brainstorming for a national program of workshops on Teaching Philosophy, committee members have gathered information from other professional organizations and have presented the idea to a meeting of some department Chairs at the Central meeting. The next step will be to gather information on existing programs.

The Committee is anxious to be responsive to the needs and desires of all APA members concerned with teaching, and welcomes ideas, comments, and criticisms to help with its work.

APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy

Committee Report 1997

APA Committee on the
Teaching of Philosophy

Committee Report
1997