Teaching with Moral Moments

The accessible style of the essays in Moral Moments, by Joel Marks, makes them suitable for a number of teaching uses in introductory courses on ethics and philosophy. They can serve as:

1) Explanatory supplements to difficult source texts, such as John Stuart Mill's Utilitarianism and Immanuel Kant's Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals.

2) Bases for Classroom Discussions of topical and personal issues (in the light of ethical theories and philosophical methods).

3) Models for Students' Own Writing of a similar nature.

4) Topics for students' own Critical Essays.

For some examples, click on the highlighted key words above.


Two published articles by Marks also discuss the pedagogic advantages and uses of this form of essay. You can read them by clicking on the titles below:

"Stories for and by Students: Personalizing the Teaching of Philosophy" (Summer 1999) in Philosophy in the Contemporary World (Vol. 6., No. 2, pp. 5-8).

"A Method from My Mentors to Encourage Writing and Review in Introductory Philosophy Courses" (Fall 1999) in American Association of Philosophy Teachers News (Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 4-5).

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