It is easy to get bogged down by climate change and its accompanying symptoms: fires, drought, record temperatures, and flooding across the world. What can we do to address such complicated and entrenched problems? How can we handle the feelings of despair? As philosophy teachers and members of the profession, our approach is to take action and encourage others to do the same. Taking action creates change and nurtures hopeful dispositions for ourselves, our colleagues and our students, as well as the discipline of philosophy.
To reach our aims, together with Susan Hawthorne, we created the website www.EngagedPhilosophy.com with the help of a grant from the American Philosophical Association (which helped us hire a programmer and designer). Otherwise, the site is entirely run by volunteers. None of us are compensated by our universities or anyone else for this work; it’s something we work on because we’re passionate about its mission.
Our website has 3 main purposes:
1. To showcase change-making projects that our students have completed.
2. To help share resources for other professors interested in using these change-making projects in their classes.
3. To highlight the work of other philosophers who are actively working through their teaching or research to create positive change in the world.
In what follows, we will say a little bit more about each of these aspects in more detail.
1. First, we hope to help move the dial on sustainability work through teaching. When we think about teaching, we don’t think just about what must be covered in a single semester. Instead, we imagine bumping into our students 5 or 10 years from now. What would we want those students to say that they got out of our class? When thinking seriously about the answer to this question, we realized that we want them to see the connection between their lives and the philosophical materials they learn about in class. We want our students to recognize their ability to make changes for sustainability and other topics. We want them to be change agents.
We designed a Civic Engagement (CE) project to create deliberate scaffolding for students to exercise their moral imaginations. We have been using CE projects like this for close to 14 years in over 60 classes among the two of us. In addition, we have used CE projects in many formats: seated classes, online classes, synchronous classes, and hybrid classes at liberal arts colleges, community colleges, and technical colleges. This CE project, called “Experiments in Ethics,” consists of small scale, interrelated assignments or “experiments” that spread the work throughout the semester. The first experiments are easier to complete and involve us providing more direction for students. For example, we may require students to contact one of their political representatives about an issue they care about. Or we may ask them to write a letter to someone asking them to make a change. As students develop skills and attitudes, we provide less direction and require more agency on behalf of the students. The last experiment asks students to “Organize an Activity” in which they design their own change-making activity.
The Experiments in Ethics should be conceived of like an “a la carte” menu. Different instructors can use different experiments depending on their teaching context (for the type of institution at which they teach and their class sizes), the content they cover in a given semester, their pedagogical goals, or a desire to cultivate or hone a particular skill in their students. See Table 1 for a list of the experiments.
Table 1
The CE Project “Experiments in Ethics”. This table describes individual experiments and their rationale. The Organize an Activity experiment is the central element of the CE project. The other experiments are options for instructors to include as ways to provide scaffolding for the Organize an Activity experiment.
| Experiment | Task | Student examples | Rationale for Scaffolding |
| Email and call political representatives | Email and call one’s political representatives about issues the student cares about | Student calls their senator about a bill impacting LGBTQ people Student emails their representatives asking them to support Trump’s impeachment | The student identifies issues they care about Get used to taking a stance on something and present a short argument |
| Change Making Letter | Identify an ethical issue that personally affects the student Identify a specific person who can do something about that issue Write a letter making an argument for the change that needs to be made | Student emails the head of the campus cafeteria asking for more vegan options Student writes to elders at her place of worship asking for dancing policy changes Student writes to her parent’s doctor asking to stop prescribing painkillers for the parent | Develops skills for philosophical argumentation Connects philosophical arguments to student’s life Invites examination about actions that may lead to changes |
| Changing a Habit or Developing a Virtue | Identify a virtue or habit to cultivate or change For 7 days, work to make this change Provide documentation of actions and write a reflection connecting actions to course materials | Students try planning vegan meals for a week Students limit their use of phones Student tries to learn Hawaiian (their grandparents’ language) using Duolingo every day | Creates space for specific reflection on self as an ethical agent Allows students to think about philosophy as both public and private |
| Volunteer Activity | Identify an organization that tackles an ethical issue Volunteer at least 3 hours Provide documentation of actions and write a reflection connecting actions taken to course materials | Students pack food at the local food bank Student helps gather signatures for a petition initiated by a non-profit organization Student helps plant trees with local group | Helps students differentiate volunteering for an organization (charitable action) and organizing an activity (justice-focused action) Helps the student make connections between local events and course materials |
| Organize an Activity | Identify an ethical issue the student cares about Organize an action to make a positive change Provide documentation of actions and write a reflection connecting actions to course materials Turn in all evidence and tips for future students Present to the class | Student organizes a walk to benefit an organization working to end eating disorders Student organizes a campaign to ban bottled water on campus Student organizes shoe collection for a local organization benefiting people experiencing homelessness Students organize an interactive workshop to repurpose ghost nets into functional items, such as grocery tote bags, baskets, and cat scratching posts. | Allows students to draw on lessons learned earlier in the semester (scaffolding) before initiating an activity Provides students with the motivation to engage with others, present arguments, and think of counterarguments Allows students to exercise their own agency as they design an action Allows students’ radical hope to emerge as they complete an action that makes a difference |
| Summative Reflection | Reflect on the Experiments in Ethics objectives Write a reflection, drawing on any relevant class materials | “After taking this course, I have a more positive outlook on volunteering and charity as a whole. I see just how truly accessible change is to an individual, and that gives me hope for the future of the world.” “Unexpectedly, I developed a goal to be as impactful as I could be, within the limits of covid and time, with my civic engagement projects. While they were each somewhat stressful at times, I am walking away from this course really proud of what I was able to do and accomplish.” | Allows students to make connections across course content and unite the experiments as a singular assignment |
In addition, www.EngagedPhilosophy.com provides specific examples from past students to nurture students’ hope that they too can complete a CE project. Students can then access these examples and see for themselves the work others have completed. What was once an unimaginable or daunting project becomes possible.
Just as learning scientific experimentation requires doing experiments, many philosophical skills are best developed through practice. Some of the skills students develop while they work on the various aspects of CE projects are independent and critical thinking skills; the ability to participate in civil dialogue; and attitudes that include respect, empathy, motivated engagement and recognizing one’s own agency as a change-maker. As our students work through the requirements of our CE project, they also develop a set of practical skills for follow-through. For example, students learn more about time management, taking a project from start to finish, and planning (Ilea & Hawthorne, 2011; Hawthorne et al, 2015; Janzen and Ford 2020; Iverson and James 2013). Students begin to feel motivated to make change. The CE projects help some students cultivate passion for social issues. In addition, students see themselves as capable of making changes (Ilea & Hawthorne, 2011; Hawthorne et al, 2015; Janzen and Ford 2020). The addition of a CE project to philosophy courses helps shift students’ attitudes toward reflective civic or interpersonal engagement and toward confidence in their own agency. Our discussions surrounding the CE project create space for moral imagination where students see that their actions matter. The different experiments nurture hopeful dispositions and provide concrete avenues for them to make changes in the world. To see first-hand the change-making projects our students have completed, visit our website.
2. A second goal of www.EngagedPhilosophy.com is to serve as a resource for current faculty who would like to encourage students to work toward sustainability and do other change-making projects. As mentioned above, the website highlights a variety of student projects that are searchable by topic. In addition, we share syllabi, assignment guidelines, grading forms, frequently asked questions, links to related publications, student testimonials, and more. Many other professors have adopted our approach or adapted it to fit their needs.
3. Finally, a further aim of the website is to spotlight the work of philosophers who a) engage in their own academic or activist work promoting civic engagement, justice, or sustainability or b) work with students on activist projects promoting civic engagement, justice, or sustainability. Currently, we have more than fifty interviews. Our most current list of interviews features a series of interviews titled “Philosophers Fight Climate Change.”
We see a common thread running through these three goals. People often believe that the sciences are more helpful than philosophy in addressing climate change, but we disagree. Our interview series highlights the important contributions philosophers are making. Our CE projects help students develop skills they can use for the rest of their lives. Students move from apathy and despair to seeing themselves as capable of making a difference in the world despite the fact that they cannot solve any wicked problem on their own. They develop agency and become more engaged with social issues. Despite the enormity of problems like climate change, our work nurtures students’ hopeful dispositions enabling them to become caring citizens.
Engaged Philosophy is important for another reason: we hope that in sharing our work with others, we will also give other educators hope. As teachers, it can be easy to feel as if our work does not matter. For us, teaching is not just a job where we clock in and out. It is our way to work toward sustainability and social justice. While we respect that our students may care about different issues than we do, we aim to help our students become hopeful and engaged citizens, capable of working together across political differences to creatively imagine solutions to difficult, entrenched problems. When students either show this or show promise of reaching this goal, our work as teachers feels more meaningful and powerful. We are encouraged by this work and we hope to encourage others in turn.
References
Engaged Philosophy. https://www.engagedphilosophy.com/
Hawthorne, Susan, Ilea, Ramona, Janzen, Monica, and Wiener, Chad. 2015. “Cultivating Citizenship: Student-Initiated Civic Engagement Projects in Philosophy Classes.” In Experiential Learning in Philosophy, edited by Julinna Oxley and Ramona Ilea. New York, Routledge Press.
Ilea, Ramona, and Hawthorne, Susan. 2011. “Beyond Service Learning: Civic Engagement in Ethics Classes.” Teaching Philosophy, 34(3), 219-240.
Ilea, Ramona, and Janzen, Monica. “Student Activism” in College Ethics, ed. Bob Fischer, second edition, Oxford University Press, 2020
Iverson, S.V., and James, J.H. 2013. “Self-Authoring a Civic Identity: A Qualitative Study of Change-Oriented Service-Learning.” Journal of Student Affairs Research and Practice, 50(1), 88-105.
Janzen, Monica and Ford, Catherine. 2020. “Scaffolding Civic Engagement Projects: A Study into the Effectiveness of Supported Small Scale, Independent, Student-Designed Projects.” Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal, 13(3), https://journals.kpu.ca/index.php/td/article/view/461.
Ramona Ilea
Ramona Ilea is a Professor of Philosophy at Pacific University Oregon. She co-edited Experiential Learning in Philosophy (with Julinna Oxley) and Consequentialism and Environmental Ethics (with Avram Hiller and Leonard Kahn). She has implemented civic engagement projects in about 20 classes for the last 14 years.
Monica Janzen
Monica Janzen teaches philosophy at Anoka Ramsey Community College. She recently published “Scaffolding civic engagement projects: A study into the effectiveness of supported small scale, independent, student-designed projects” (with Dr. Catherine Ford). She has implemented civic engagement projects in over 40 classes for the last 13 years.
The authors write…
” People often believe that the sciences are more helpful than philosophy in addressing climate change, but we disagree.”
I agree with your disagreement. Clearly the sciences are a necessary part of the solution, but that is more a case of addressing symptoms.
The underlying fundamental cause of climate change, nuclear weapons, and other technology based threats like genetic engineering, AI etc, is our outdated relationship with knowledge.
This is a VERY appropriate topic for philosophers to address. The fate of modern civilization depends on how well we manage our relationship with knowledge, and this seems to be too abstract a topic for most people to engage.
Scientists are at a great disadvantage in addressing our relationship with knowledge, because developing knowledge is their passion, their business, and a fundamental principle of science culture. Scientists will have real difficulty being truly objective about our relationship with knowledge. Scientists are great at developing knowledge, but not at deciding what knowledge should be developed. To the scientist, all new knowledge is good, a 19th century philosophy.
It’s entirely clear to me that focusing on our relationship with knowledge is a very important job for philosophers, and perhaps the most useful service they could provide to our culture.
The degree to which philosophers are willing and able to take on this job is unknown to me. I’ve been repeatedly attempting to raise this subject both here on this blog and elsewhere for years now, and it’s very slow going.
All of us should be activists for good causes we believe in. But if that is all we are to do we don’t really need philosophers. What we need philosophers for is a deep examination of the fundamental issue driving all these threats to our civilization, our outdated relationship with knowledge.
Should a reader wish to see what I’ve written on this topic, click my name, and once on my site search for “knowledge”. This will bring you to an article entitled, you guessed it, “Our Relationship With Knowledge”. Apologies for the bother but this software will not allow me to post a link.
There is so much to learn from such an investigation. As just one example, once we understand how simplistic, outdated and dangerous our “more is better” relationship with knowledge is, and how little this fundamental cause is addressed by the “experts”, our relationship with authority can also experience a revolutionary shift. I would particularly hope today’s young people would experience this shift, because without it, their future may very well be lost.