Teaching Philosophy

Volume 22, Issue 3, September 1999

Teaching Nonphilosophy Faculty to Teach Critical Thinking about Ethical Issues

As demand from fields such as nursing and accounting elevate the need for critical thinking courses (especially those with an emphasis on ethics), philosophers are in a unique position to share their skills in teaching such courses with nonphilosophy faculty. This paper discusses the need for critical thinking courses outside of philosophy and why philosophers should be interested in training nonphilosophy faculty (e.g. administrative recognition for interdisciplinary efforts). After basic course design information is offered for nonphilosopher readers, guidelines are offered on how philosophy teachers should structure nonphilosopher training programs. The authors illustrate these points with reference to one such training program they conducted and share administrative and pedagogical advice for running such a program successfully.