April 10, 2019, by apyeo1

What Is Teaching Really?

I’ve just had a really interesting philosophy lecture on ‘What is teaching?’ at The University of Nottingham. So, I thought I’d give you all a little taste of what’s to come when studying philosophy!

 

We discussed a paper by Fisher and Tallant who examine old answers to this age-old question and bring forth their new and improved answer. Teaching is judgement-dependant.

Don’t worry! Let me explain.

 

Don’t We Already Know What Teaching Is?

In the past philosophers have come to two answers. Teaching happens when, either something was learnt, OR there was an intention to teach.

The problem with these two ideas is that there are examples that don’t conform to both these conditions. So let’s start investigating!

 

Is LEARNING Necessary?

Imagine an algebra teacher who tries hard to teach her student, Rick, algebra, she talks through theory and demonstrates how to tackle the equations. But Rick doesn’t learn it even though he tried hard to. The teacher did their teaching, but learning didn’t take place.

 

Is INTENTION Necessary?

There are plenty of times where someone is taught something, though it wasn’t intentional.

For example, Sally orders a cocktail at a bar and watches the bartender make it, whilst watching him she learns all the ingredients needed and how much. Sally learns how to make that cocktail even though the bartender’s intention wasn’t to teach her. So, intention is not necessary to learn something.

 

How About YOU Decide?

The new idea is that teaching is judgment-dependant. Anyone can teach something (EVEN robots!!) as long as the individual judges that they have been taught.

So, YOU have the power to say whether you’ve been taught or not! Unless you’ve been distracted the whole time, then you can’t decide at all.

If you want to learn more, read Fisher and Tallant’s paper.

 

What do you think teaching is? Let me know in the comments below!

 

Join us at The University of Nottingham and learn how to question everything you think you know. #UoN #NottsPhilosophy

 

(All gifs found at: https://giphy.com/)

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn