Overview
I have been teaching philosophy at universities in the United States for most than 15 years. I currently teach a wide range of ethics courses at the University of Arizona. Some of them are large-lecture courses with high enrollments, and others are smaller seminars for students in the W.A. Franke Honors College. I have previously taught at The Ohio State University, the University of South Florida, and the University of Tennessee. My courses rarely require that students have prior exposure to philosophy, so I try to make philosophy as accessible to newcomers as possible in my courses. For an overview of how I approach teaching undergraduates, please read my Statement of Teaching Philosophy.
This page contains links to course syllabi and/or schedules (both recent and old) several syllabus prototypes, a list of student resources, and some recommendations for instructors who are looking to incorporate my research into their courses. The syllabus prototypes are descriptions of courses that I am prepared to teach but have been unable to offer thus far in my teaching career. The student resources are designed to give students further insight into how to read and write philosophy. Fellow philosophy instructors should feel free to use any of these resources in their own courses.
For those interested in student course survey results, I have aggregated them into a shared folder that you can access here. These evaluations span courses taught from 2013-2025.
Past Syllabi & Schedules
- Contemporary Moral Problems
Spring 2017 Syllabus | Spring 2017 Schedule - Drugs, Enhancement, and the Mastery of Nature
Spring 2022 Syllabus & Schedule - Environmental Ethics
Fall 2024 Syllabus & Schedule | Spring 2018 Syllabus | Spring 2018 Schedule - Environmental Ethics & Emerging Technologies
Fall 2025 Syllabus & Schedule - Ethical Leadership
Fall 2024 Syllabus & Schedule - Ethics of Artificial Intelligence
Spring 2026 Syllabus & Schedule - Introduction to Ethics
Fall 2018 Syllabus | Fall 2018 Schedule - Medical Ethics
Fall 2023 Syllabus & Schedule | Fall 2017 Syllabus | Fall 2017 Schedule - Neuroethics
Spring 2024 Syllabus & Schedule - Pharmacoethics: Dilemmas and Decision-Making
Spring 2022 Syllabus & Schedule | Fall 2020 Syllabus & Schedule (Online) - Personal Finance
Spring 2026 Syllabus & Schedule - Personal Morality
Fall 2022 Syllabus & Schedule - Philosophy of Religion
Spring 2019 Syllabus | Spring 2019 Schedule - Professional Responsibility
Fall 2015 Syllabus | Fall 2015 Schedule - The Good Life: An Introduction to Philosophy
Spring 2016 Syllabus | Spring 2016 Schedule - Thinking Critically About New Media
Spring 2023 Syllabus & Schedule - Work, Meaning, and Well-Being
Spring 2025 Syllabus & Schedule
Syllabus Prototypes
Student Resources
Advice on Academics in General
- Cal Newport has written the most helpful books about undergraduate academics that I have encountered. Both of them are well worth your money if you are an undergraduate student trying to maintain good grades and still have a fun and worthwhile college experience.
- How to Become a Straight A Student (Three Rivers Press, 2006)
- How to Win at College (Three Rivers Press, 2005)
- 20 Tips for Becoming a Better Undergraduate Student | Supplemental 1-Page Handout
- How to Pull All-Nighters
Guides to Reading and Writing Philosophy
- A Brief Guide to Writing the Philosophy Paper, written by Simon Rippon and hosted by Harvard University's Writing Center
- A Guide to Writing, written by Michael Huemer
- Finding, Clarifying, and Evaluating Arguments written by EJ Coffman
- Guidelines on Reading Philosophy, written by Jim Pryor
- How to Write a Good, or Really Bad, Philosophical Essay, written by Bryan Frances
- Philosophical Terms and Methods, written by Jim Pryor
- Writing Philosophical Essays, written by Michael Tooley
Handouts on Reading and Writing Philosophy
- Paragraph Structure in Philosophy Papers | Alternate Version with Additional Comments
- Some Basic Notions of Reasoning, written by Bryan Frances
- Standard Formula for an Applied Ethics Article
Recommendations for Those Who Want to Teach My Work
In this short section, I have highlighted some of my work that I believe would be most suitable to assign in undergraduate courses. These writings are freely available (i.e., no library access required) and relatively accessible to a general audience. I would also encourage interested instructors to visit the Media page to see if there are any video or audio clips that would be worth incroporating into your presentation of the material.
-
Children are expensive – not just for the parents but the environment – so how many is too many?
This short piece is provides an overview of moral issues at the intersection of climate ethics and the ethics of procreation. It does not contain a rigorous defense of my own position and is instead more of an introduction to a range of positions in this area of scholarship. - The Moral Imperative to Reduce Population
This is a relatively short journal article that presents some of the central arguments in favor of trying to reduce global population. - Policies that Promote Smaller Families
This open-access chapter from The Environmental Impact of Overpopulation surveys an array of different policies that could be employed to reduce global population during the remainder of the 21st century and discusses their advantages and disadvantages.
