Experiential Learning in Philosophy

Julinna Oxley · Ramona Ilea

Aug 2015 · Routledge

About this ebook

In this volume, Julinna Oxley and Ramona Ilea bring together essays that examine and defend the use of experiential learning activities to teach philosophical terms, concepts, arguments, and practices. Experiential learning emphasizes the importance of student engagement outside the traditional classroom structure. Service learning, studying abroad, engaging in large-scale collaborative projects such as creating blogs, websites and videos, and practically applying knowledge in a reflective, creative and rigorous way are all forms of experiential learning. Taken together, the contributions to Experiential Learning in Philosophy argue that teaching philosophy is about doing philosophy with others. The book is divided into two sections: essays that engage in the philosophical debate about defining and implementing experiential learning, and essays that describe how to integrate experiential learning into the teaching of philosophy. Experiential Learning in Philosophy provides a timely reflection on best practices for teaching philosophical ideals and theories, an examination of the evolution of the discipline of philosophy and its adoption (or reclamation) of active modes of learning, and an anticipation of the ways in which pedagogical practices will continue to evolve in the 21st century.

About the author

Julinna Oxley is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at Coastal Carolina University. She authored The Moral Dimensions of Empathy: Limits and Applications in Ethical Theory and Practice (2012) and has also published on topics in ethics and feminist philosophy.

Ramona Ilea is an Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Pacific University. She co-edited Consequentialism and Environmental Ethics and published articles in the Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, Teaching Philosophy, and the Journal of Social Philosophy.