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I Taught Philosophy for 20 Years. Here’s What I Learned.
April 28, 2026
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David Website, Apr 28, 2026 The most important lesson in philosophy I ever taught was not taught in the classroom. I was driving toward the college in Grouard, Alberta, where I gave a mostly Indigenous student cohort a course in critical thinking. I was running late, but it was morning in northern Alberta, and the sun caught the mist over the river just right, and I stopped to take out my camera and enjoy the view.
There I was, knee-deep in brush and weeds, as the school bus came. I arrived in class, late and dirty, and a voice came from the back: gotta stop to smell the roses, right? The whole class changed in that moment; they could see me in a new light. No, it was not the pedantic question of whether students can ponder questions without rushing to resolve them. Whether they can tolerate not knowing, and still keep at it. Whether they notice how their own assumptions shape what they take to be obvious: and are up for that shifting. For me, it's whether people can live while living, whether they can experience what they are experiencing, whether the expectations of everyone else - including philosophy professors - can be set to the side for a time while you watch the ducks on a lonely northern river in the morning mist. Image: the photo I took that day. Web: [Direct Link] [This Post]
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