Teaching / Service | Liz Jackson

Teaching

Teaching is a passion of mine. As an undergraduate, I fell in love with philosophy, and I instill this same passion for philosophy into my students. My simple, twofold goal for my students is to make philosophy interesting and clear. I simulate student interest by creating interfaces between the philosophical arguments and what students already care about, such as social, political, and pop cultural issues. I promote clarity by emphasizing simple deductive arguments in classroom discussions and assignments. As a teacher of philosophy, I continually self-assess and strive to improve my pedagogical methods.

Current Courses

Knowledge, Truth, and Belief: Ryerson University, Fall 2020 (500-level)
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  Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Belief and truth are parts of knowledge. But what are the other components of knowledge? How much can we know? Could someone know that God exists? How do other people affect what we can (and can’t) know? This class will have four parts. Here are examples of the questions we will cover. (Unit 1: Knowledge) What is knowledge? What is truth? When is a belief justified? Are there other components of knowledge? Should we even analyze knowledge at all? (Unit 2: Skepticism) Can we know anything? If so, what can we know? Is our knowledge non-existent, very limited, or widespread? (Unit 3: Social Epistemology) When should we believe someone else’s testimony? How does social media affect what we can know? Is it ever okay to believe beyond—or even against—the evidence? (Unit 4: Religious Epistemology) Could someone know God exists? Is it possible to know that God exists without having a good argument for God’s existence? What is faith? Can faith be rational?
- Syllabus

Future Courses

Critical Thinking: Ryerson University, Spring 2020 (100-level, 2 sections)
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  In this course, we will discuss what underlies good reasoning, which can help us think more clearly and make better arguments. We will cover (1) Deductive Reasoning: Arguments that establish the truth of their conclusions; (2) Non-Deductive Reasoning: Arguments that raise the probability of their conclusions. (3) Obstacles to Reasoning: Confirmation bias, propaganda, disagreement, implicit bias, etc.

Past Courses

Permissivism and Disagreement: Australian National University, Spring 2020 (Graduate Foundations Seminar)
- Syllabus
Social Philosophy: Notre Dame, Fall 2017 (200-level)
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  Humans are social creatures. Social phenomena, such as gender, race, sports teams, music groups, faith, testimony, charity, refugees, pornography are all around us and are a large part of how we understand the world and each other. Social philosophy is the systematic study of philosophical questions that bear on social phenomena, such as the above. While these social phenomena are a significant part of our lives and the world around us, philosophers have devoted less attention to them than to other domains that describe the world. But we cannot know what the world is like without also diving into questions about what the social world is like. The aim of this class is to help students do just that.
- Syllabus
Introduction to Philosophy: Notre Dame, Fall 2016 (100-level; TA for Jeff Speaks)
- Syllabus

Prospective Courses

Service

Together with other philosophers, I organize the Junior Workshop in Philosophy of Religion. We hosted our second annual meeting in March 2020, after the Central APA. The program is available here.

I am also organizing a workshop on “Ethics, Risk, and Belief.” The workshop will take place on August 3-4, 2020, at Australian National University in Canberra, ACT, Australia. Stay tuned for a list of speakers and schedule. All are welcome!

UPDATE: Unfortunately, the workshop has been postponed due to COVID-19. Please check back later for information about rescheduling.

I wrote a list of some tips for succeeding in grad school in philosophy. You can download it as a PDF here, and see it as a webpage here, and view it on Philosopher’s Cocoon here.