Whether teachers should take on the role of an advocate in the undergraduate classroom is a thorny question, which has been answered in a variety of ways in the pedagogical literature. What seems to be lacking, however, is information concerning student perceptions on teacher advocacy. Do students believe it is appropriate for a teacher to present and disclose his or her own views on controversial topics? In this paper, the author describes the results of two separate surveys conducted in an (...) effort to answer the question about student perceptions on this practice. Furthermore, the author provides a number of suggestions, based upon the results of these surveys to help mitigate some of the problems associated with advocacy, for those who practice it in the classroom. (shrink)

In this paper, I describe a variety of psychology experiments that may be used in introductory philosophy courses not only to grab students’ attention, but also to generate philosophical discussion or to make a philosophical point. The experiments attempt to capture students’ interest in two ways: (1) by posing interesting challenges to students, thereby provoking more active thought in class and (2) by doing something different, thereby increasing attention that naturally follows from change. Although the experiments are psychology experiments, they (...) may still be used to emphasize certain philosophical points or to introduce philosophical topics. The philosophical import of each experiment is quite general, so these exercises are most appropriate for students enrolled in introductory courses. (shrink)

Film has not always been kind to farmed animals, maltreatment ranging from horrendous cruelty to anthropomorphization and training under duress. Admittedly, many fine documentaries have been made on maltreatment, but many of these tend to see farmed animals as a mass, with deindividuation leading to a psychic numbing in those watching. In contrast, narrative films on this theme generally have the farmed animal protagonists as human-like in being able to converse in the language of the people around them and generally (...) with happily-ever-after endings, subverting the reality for most farmed animals. Writers on animal rights generally neglect film as a medium and its relationship to farmed animals. This article sets out a farmed animal rights manifesto (FARM) for film, aimed at overcoming these problems in insisting on ethical treatment in all ways. (shrink)

In the central chapters of Leviathan, Hobbes offers a demonstration of the "true doctrine of the laws of nature," which is identified with the "science of virtue andvice" and the "true moral philosophy." In his deduction of the laws of nature, Hobbes attempts to mimic the science of geometry, which he says is the "only science God had hitherto bestowed on mankind. "In this paper, I discuss some of the problems associated with Hobbes's application of the method of geometry to (...) civil philosophy. After locating the root of these problems in Hobbes's in ability to recognize the distinction between formal and applied sciences, I discuss a possible solution. According to this solution, Hobbes's "science of morality" is considered to be a formal science that is applied to the world by an act of human creation. (shrink)

Guilt and forgiveness, with their attendant philosophical and religious ramifications, permeate writing on the Holocaust and can also be related to South Africa’s recent history and present situation. Two controversial and provocative books (both possibly autobiographical) which tackle the question of guilt and forgiveness head on are Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower and Bernhard Schlink’s The Reader, both of which have led to much debate. The central event in both texts is the slaughter of innocents, burned to death in a building (...) during World War II, while the perpetrators (an SS officer who tells his story in The Sunflower and a concentration camp warder who refuses to tell hers in The Reader) either kill those trying to escape or totally ignore the screams of the victims. The reader has to decide whether it is plausible that years later these murderers feel genuine guilt and, if so, whether they should be forgiven – and by whom. The Reader can be seen as the obverse of The Sunflower. The two should be read in conjunction for an intriguing view of the human psyche, the dichotomy in the soul of a person preceding and succeeding his/her horrific deeds, and the questions arising of whether death can be faced by the wicked with a clear conscience, whether the fear of meeting one’s Maker engenders belated remorse, whether one changes if found out, and whether ignorance of mind betokens evil of soul which can be overcome with learning and insight. (shrink)