At CEE, we think a lot about good teaching. This is the fourth episode in our 2021 Teaching Series. And it’s the last episode of our first season!
Jen Kling is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and the director of the Center for Legal Studies at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. She’s also the Executive Director of Concerned Philosophers for Peace, the largest, most active group of philosophers in the US working on the causes of war and the prospects for peace.
In this episode, Jen touches on all the themes of our 2021 teaching series: philosophy as both a skillset and a disposition, finding an entry point for students new to philosophy, and using games to teach social contract theory. Jen has a lot of fun in the classroom. And her students do too! One student, Betty Varland, even adapted an Adele song to Aristotle. You’ll get to hear that in the episode.
Jen says: “So much of what I do is just to make people laugh. I really think it’s genuinely important. I think philosophy is very serious, it can be very important, heavy topics. You have to find your way in to these questions. And for me, humor and movement is the way to do that. And so I try to impart that to my students.”
Produced by Carrie Welsh. Interview recorded at APA Central, February 2020. Music is My Tribe by Ketsa and Cascades by Podington Bear. Special thanks to Betty Varland for permission to use her song.