Daniel Kynaston

My approach to philosophy and teaching is a student centered approach that engages the students in higher level critical thinking through lecture, discussion, and writing. My fundamental belief is that philosophy is not a subject to be learned but an activity or task to be undertaken. We strive to do philosophy in my classes through both studying the great matters of philosophy that have come down to us through history, and critically evaluating them in terms of our own situation. Though the philosophical positions of the past are important to learn, it matters less the answers we have received through history than does addressing those very same questions, reflecting upon them, and relating them to our own current situation. It is this dual trajectory of learning from the past the skills necessary to address the present, whether it is asking the same—usually called grand—questions of human existence, or being able to reflect upon contemporary life in a critical, informed manner that constitutes philosophy and education as such.