May 2, 2019, by apycc8
I’ve got the power. Why teaching is actually dependent on you.
So I have just sat in on a philosophy lecture that asked ‘what does it mean to teach?’. I know what you are thinking… duh, teaching is when learning occurs. Or, even, only when someone has the intention to bring about learning. However, Fisher and Tallant claim that neither learning nor intention are necessary conditions for teaching as there are cases where teaching has occurred without learning or intention.
They instead suggest that teaching is judgement-dependent. Let me explain.
1. What is judgement-dependency?
Think about school. How do you find it? Exciting? Irritating? Overwhelming? Let’s say you find it exciting. Your judgement, in ideal conditions, determines the truth. The same goes if you find school irritating or overwhelming. This is because your judgements determine the truth under those conditions, not because of some independent fact in the world.
2. To help clear things up…
A triangle is an example of a judgement-independent concept. Something isn’t triangular because we judge it so under ideal conditions. Rather it is a triangle if, and only if, it is a plain figure with three sides and three vertices. The truth of triangle judgments are determined by independent facts in the world!
3. Teaching as a judgement-dependent concept.
So, since we can’t determine the truth of teaching judgements through independent facts in the world, teaching ought to be judgement-dependent. So…
X is teaching if, and only if, a putative learner in ideal conditions judges that X is teaching.
Someone is not in ideal conditions if they can’t hear properly or is too drunk…
Please comment below and let me know what you think about Fisher and Tallant’s argument. Until next time cherubs!
Andrew Fisher and Jonathan Fisher, ‘What does it mean to teach?’
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