Taking an oral-concentration philosophy class to avoid Public Speaking is like enrolling in Astrophysics to bypass Algebra. Yet misguided students do exactly that every semester.
Back in the 2000s, they’d land in my Contemporary Moral Issues and Professional Responsibility classrooms at the University of Tennessee. And from Spring 2018 through Spring 2022, I had the pleasure of teaching a small cohort of Psych majors transferring from an extension campus in Sevierville (Dolly Parton’s hometown) to East Tennessee State University proper. The official title was “Philosophy as Conversation.” But given the reading selections and asynchronous online format, “Philosophy Intro with YouTube Presentations” would have been more fitting.
From my experience, introducing philosophy while simultaneously building competent, confident speakers isn’t easy. But it’s oh-so satisfying and fun. If you’re offered such an opportunity, whether live and on-site or via the web, here are some tips.
Embrace your role as an expert and teacher. Watch the best speaking instructional videos. Read the best speaking books (practical how-tos, not textbooks). Decide up front that whatever your current comfort and ability, you will become a superb speaking coach—you will help your students reach their speaking potential. We philosophers are famous for qualified, half-committed timidity, usually for good reason. As Bertrand Russell allegedly put it, “The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt.” I’m not pushing hubris. But when you’re teaching something as scary as public speaking, mentees need reassurance they’re learning from a credible authority. Let go of our ingrained tendency to pre-apologize, hem and haw. Adopt the physical posture, mental assurance, and work ethic of a legit speaking coach, because a legit speaking coach is what your students deserve. If you’re not one already, fine—neither was I. But I figured it out. So can you.
Provide simple, clear speaking advice. Just as philosophy departments are pressured to overcomplicate Plato, communications departments are pressured to overcomplicate public speaking. This is usually an unspoken truth, but making a discipline too accessible undermines the need for graduate programs, course offerings, and faculty positions. However, if word got out that philosophers made public speaking easy and fun, this would actually increase our enrollment (maybe the students taking our o-c courses aren’t so misguided after all…). My approach: Know Thy Material, Be Thyself, and Practice. These Three Commandments of Public Speaking are the central message of my public speaking book and the core of my speaking coaching. We of course also cover message development (opening preview, supporting points, summarizing close), physical delivery (dress, gestures, lecterns), technology (webcams, remote clickers, mics), the power of storytelling, and emotionally-potent examples. But as you study the experts, condense. Use your analytical skill to carve out a memorable, easy-to-apply method. Resist ten-stage outline requirements, twelve-category grading rubrics, and fifteen-part oral delivery breakdowns. Can you hear them? Check. Did their silent message convey topic comfort and suit the occasion? Check. Did they speak from a brief outline rather than a script? Check. Leave the bewildering laundry list of unnecessaries to the comms profs. So long as they’re authentic and clear, that’s more than good enough.
Slay the stage fright dragon early. Remember your college Public Speaking class? I do. Cringe. Do you know what would have helped? A killer icebreaker. I used to begin my in-person oral-concentration phil classes by asking students to repel an imaginary bad guy by pumping their hands and yelling, “Get back—Get BACK!” The “Urban Honey Badger” assertiveness drill is so out of place in the college classroom that if you can convince students to do it, summarizing and critiquing the Ontological Argument is cake. Often the underlying cause of stage fright isn’t a fear of rejection, but confrontation—an instinctual perception of the audience as physical threat. Empowering students to take up for themselves, if only by yelling, “Get BACK!” helps them shift away from a withdrawn, victim mindset, and affirms their importance. However, I study martial arts for fun, and so teaching the UHB comes naturally. If you’d find it too awkward, lead a line dance. Do yoga. Hula hoop. Pick something consistent with your teaching style and use it to establish an atmosphere of relaxed self-expression. Exercises that include a verbal component (singing, counting to ten in German) are preferred.
Select readings with care. For better or worse, abortion has become my area of specialization. I wrote a book about it, abortion is the focus of my Ethics Intro class, and I really, really wanted my Phil as Conversation students to get practice discussing it in the calm, highbrow, all-things-considered way only philosophers can facilitate. However, it was just too much. We still covered classic theological arguments, the death penalty, and even Libertarianism vs. Marx. But pressuring students to present on Jarvis Thomson’s violinist argument, Callahan’s feminist pro-life argument, or Singer and Well’s take on artificial wombs made them unnecessarily tense and defensive. Once they saw those readings on the schedule, it cast a cloud over the whole semester. As you select readings for your own oral-concentration philosophy courses, think about how well they’ll resonate, and whether they’ll amplify or impede your students’ appreciation for philosophy and speaking growth.
For a few speaking how-to vids, scroll down to the “Public Speaking” section on my YouTube channel. My public speaking book audiobook is also free here. And if I can help with your own class, use the contact form at MattDeaton.com or shoot me an email at matt (at) mattdeaton.com. I’m always happy to gift fellow educators desk copies of my books, and I’ll even share PDFs for your students—just ask. Cheers, Matt
The Syllabus Showcase of the APA Blog is designed to share insights into the syllabi of philosophy educators. We include syllabi in their original, unedited format that showcase a wide variety of philosophy classes. We would love for you to be a part of this project. Please contact Series Editors, Dr. Brynn Welch via bwelch@uab.edu and Dr. Amanda George via drambergeorge@gmail.com, or Editor of the Teaching Beat, Dr. Sabrina D. MisirHiralall via sabrinamisirhiralall@apaonline.org with potential submissions.
Matt Deaton
Matt Deaton is an adjunct professor who's taught exclusively online since 2013. An Air Force veteran and AYSO soccer coach, he's authored five books including Ethics in a Nutshell: The Philosopher’s Approach to Morality in 100 Pages and The Best Public Speaking Book. Editor of the APA Blog's Syllabus Showcase series, find him blogging elsewhere online at EthicsBowl.org.
