APA Newsletters NEWSLETTER ON TEACHING PHILOSOPHY Volume 07, Number 2 Spring 2008 LETTER FROM THE EDITORS, TZIPORAH KASACHKOFF & EUGENE KELLY ARTICLES MARK NOWACKI AND WILFRIED VER EECKE “Using the Economic Concept of a ‘Merit Good’ to Justify the Teaching of Ethics Across the University Curriculum” LOU MATZ “Real Philosophy, Good Teaching and Academic Freedom” Teaching Philosophy Abroad TZIPORAH KASACHKOFF “Comments on the Differences and Similarities in Teaching Philosophy in Israel and in the United States” EUGENE KELLY “On Teaching Abroad: The Middle East and China” DAVID B. MARTENS “Sketches from a Lecturer’s Notebook, Johannesburg” BOOK REVIEWS Yuval Lurie: Tracking the Meaning of Life: A Philosophical Journey REVIEWED BY EUGENE KELLY © 2008 by The American Philosophical Association Iddo Landau: Is Philosophy Androcentric? REVIEWED BY JOHN KLEINIG Reply by Iddo Landau Iris Parush: Reading Jewish Women: Marginality and Modernization in Nineteenth Century European Jewish Society REVIEWED BY MARK ZELCER BOOKS RECEIVED ADDRESSES OF CONTRIBUTORS APA NEWSLETTER ON Teaching Philosophy Tziporah Kasachkoff and Eugene Kelly, Co-Editors Spring 2008 Volume 07, Number 2 freedom to its “Statements on the Profession: The Teaching of ETTER FROM THE DITORS Philosophy” to guide departments more clearly and to support L E those faculty whose pedagogical views might be at odds with those of their department. Specifically, it is Matz’s view that “unlike the AAUP’s purely procedural standard, the APA should Welcome to the Spring 2008 issue of the APA Newsletter on support some substantive elements in its standard of academic Teaching Philosophy. In this issue you will find five articles, freedom and judge on them.” three book reviews, and a list of books, sent to us by various The question of whether the APA should support appeal publishers, that are relevant to the teaching of philosophy. to substantive rather than merely procedural criteria in the Our first article, by Mark Nowacki and Wilfried Ver Eecke, assessment of whether there has been a violation of academic entitled “Using the Economic Concept of a ‘Merit Good’ to Justify freedom is a question that the editors of this Newsletter believe the Teaching of Ethics across the University Curriculum,” argues to be controversial. We would welcome hearing from readers for using the economic, but normative concept of a “merit good” of Matz’s article their own view regarding his recommendation to bring home to students that ethical issues are not discrete to the APA. matters to be studied apart from, say, business and economics, Our third, fourth, and fifth articles are reports from the two but are, rather, issues whose understanding is necessary for truly editors of this publication, Tziporah Kasachkoff and Eugene Kelly, comprehending economic and business decisions, especially as well as from one of our editorial reviewers, David Martens, in the public sphere. As the authors put it, students (and future about their experiences teaching abroad. Coincidentally, all leaders in economics and business) should be helped to see three have been teaching overseas for the past few years, either that ethical reflection is not an alien intrusion into their subject exclusively, as in the case of David Martens who is teaching but is, rather, intrinsic to the subject they are studying. Defining in South Africa, or in addition to teaching in the U.S., as is the “merit good” as a (sometimes controversial) good that does case with both Kasachkoff and Kelly (who have taught or are not necessarily reflect consumer preferences—indeed, its teaching in, respectively, Israel, Jordan, and China). Since many introduction by government is often a means of fostering a of our readers may be entertaining thoughts about teaching change in consumer preferences—the authors argue that the overseas—the APA’s Jobs for Philosophers often lists positions study of such goods is, and should be shown to students to in philosophy departments located in different countries—we be, the study of basic normative questions about a) what we thought to share with readers of our Newsletter the experiences, as a society should value, and b) what values governments difficulties, and satisfactions we have had teaching philosophy are justified in promoting, even at public expense. Though the in cultures different from our own. Any reader who wishes to study of merit goods and its various normative implications has share his or her own experiences in teaching in other cultures its most obvious home in the study of economics, the authors is invited to do so in our pages. show how the notion of merit goods is germane to the study of many other courses that involve business, public policy issues, We include three book reviews, one of a book on the and questions of the public good. meaning of life, by Yuval Lurie; one on marginality and modernization in connection with the spread of the Jewish The authors of this article, helpfully, append a syllabus of Enlightenment in the nineteenth century, by Iris Parush; and one a course that one of them has taught using the notion of merit on the topic of whether philosophy is rightly to be considered goods to bring home various ethical points. as androcentric, by Iddo Landau. The reviewers of these Our second article, “Real Philosophy, Good Teaching and three books are: Eugene Kelly, John Kleinig, and Mark Zelcer. Academic Freedom” by Lou Matz, is not about how to teach (Landau’s book on whether philosophy is, as is sometimes philosophy but about the sort of pedagogical independence claimed, androcentric, was slated to be reviewed jointly by that, Matz argues, ought to be a faculty member’s prerogative John Kleinig and Tziporah Kasachkoff. In the end, however, on pain of otherwise being subject to restriction on one’s we decided to publish Kleinig’s and Kasachkoff’s views on the academic freedom in the classroom. Matz recounts his own book separately, with Kleinig’s review appearing in this issue experience of many years of teaching at Xavier University, and Kasachkoff’s to appear in our next issue.) We include Iddo the negative evaluations by his department that were made Landau’s reply to John Kleinig’s review. of the particular way he chose to teach his courses (though, As always, we encourage our readers to suggest themselves he argues, the topics he taught were in line with the official as reviewers of books and other material that they think may be course descriptions), and his eventual denial of tenure at that especially good for classroom use. The names of books that we institution. Claiming unfairness in the process of evaluation—a have received for review are listed at the end of the Newsletter. process that in Matz’s case was appealed both to a committee However, reviewers are welcome to suggest reviewing material of The American Philosophical Association and to a chapter that they themselves have used in the classroom and found of the American Association of University Professors—Matz useful, even if it does not appear in our Books Received list. recommends that the APA add a section on academic Please remember that our publication is devoted to pedagogy — APA Newsletter, Spring 2008, Volume 07, Number 2 — and not to theoretical discussions of philosophical issues. This should be borne in mind not only when writing articles RTICLES for our publication but also when reviewing material for our A publication. We warmly encourage our readers to write for our publication. We welcome papers that respond to, comment Using the Economic Concept of a “Merit on, or take issue with any of the material that appears within Good” to Justify the Teaching of Ethics across our pages. the University Curriculum1 The following guidelines for submissions should be followed: Mark Nowacki • The author’s name, the title of the paper, and full Singapore Management University mailing address should appear on a separate sheet of paper or, if the paper is sent to the editors electronically, Wilfried Ver Eecke Georgetown University on a note that will not print out within the text of the paper itself. Nothing that identifies the author or his or her institution should appear within the body or within I. Introduction the footnotes/endnotes of the paper. The title of the What follows is an argument that can be used to justify the paper should appear on the top of the paper itself. introduction of philosophical, and specifically ethical, discourse 2 • Unless the paper is sent in electronic form, four into a wide range of university courses. The argument advanced complete copies of the paper should be sent. Authors is, we hope, both sufficiently formal to convince administrators, should adhere to the production guidelines that are and sufficiently broad to convince students, of the practical importance that at least one area of philosophy has for the available from the APA. If you send an article by post 3 rather than electronically, do not send the disk on successful pursuit of even the most praxis-oriented career. which it was composed. The editors will request an In particular, we will argue that the economic concept of electronic form of the paper when the paper is ready to a merit good provides a convenient platform for introducing be published. In writing your paper in electronic form, ethical discourse throughout those areas of the college please do not use your word processor’s footnote or curriculum where economic concepts play a pivotal role. endnote function; all notes should be added manually Moreover, the concept of a merit good can serve as a ready at the end of the paper. vehicle for introducing an ethical dimension into the formation of future leaders in business and politics. We will say more about • All articles submitted to the Newsletter are blind- merit goods and how these objectives might be accomplished in reviewed by the members of the editorial committee.