PHLB02H3: Environmental Ethics, Winter 2025
Environmentally speaking, we live in increasingly desperate times. Yet, at the same time, our mitigation attempts are hampered by climate change denial, inaction, and thoughtlessness. Given this state of affairs, it is perhaps only natural to feel hopeless about the future. But we ought not feel hopeless, nor allow ourselves to fall into inaction due to despair. Instead, what we need is a radical reconsideration of the problem. In this course, we will undertake precisely this reconsideration, prioritizing Indigenous, feminist, and other radical voices as we develop a hopeful, active, and collaborative approach to the most pressing environmental issues of our time.
PHLC06H3: Topics in Ethical Theory (Partiality), Winter 2025
Most ethical theories posit a fundamental relationship between morality and impartiality. In other words, most ethical theories claim that we ought, morally speaking, to treat everyone the same. Practically speaking, however, each of us is partial to some persons over others—for example, to our friends, family members, or romantic partners. But are we really permitted to treat some people differently than others? We will examine this tension as it arises in specific ethical theories; in particular, in deontology and utilitarianism. In the course of doing so, we will consider how proponents of these theories have historically responded in order to evaluate the efficacy of the various strategies available.
PHLB04H3: Philosophy and Literature, Fall 2024
What is the relationship between literature and philosophy? Are the two complementary, or is the one antithetical to the other? Given this relationship, what is the role of the ‘philosophical novel’? To answer these questions, we will engage in a close reading of French existential philosopher Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays alongside Czech novelist Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. In the course of doing so, we will compare the ways that each introduces and analyzes such essential philosophical and literary themes as absurdity, freedom, nihilism, hope, the good life, and death.
PHLB05H3: Social Issues, Fall 2024
Human beings are social beings. As such, relationships are necessary for our flourishing. Of these many relationships, loving relationships—that is, the relationships we have with our romantic partners, family, and friends—contribute particular meaning to our lives. We might wonder, however, what it means to be a “good” romantic partner or friend: How should we treat those we love? Do different relationships require different things of us? This course investigates these and other pressing questions about the ethics of loving relationships.
PHLB30H3 F Existentialism, Summer 2024
Existentialism has been called “perhaps the most misunderstood of modern philosophical positions” (Kaufmann, 1975). Narrowly construed, it defends the metaphysical position that, for humankind, ‘existence precedes essence.’ What this means—and what it means for us—will be the primary subjects of this course. Along the way, we will explore themes of absurdity, authenticity, freedom, and responsibility. Authors discussed include Dostoevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Kafka, Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Fanon, and Camus.
PHL275H1 S Introduction to Ethics, Summer 2023
What is morality, and why should we care? Doesn’t our disagreement about ethical claims suggest that morality is all just relative, anyway? This course explores these questions and more while introducing students to key ethical theories such as deontology, virtue ethics, consequentialism, and ethics of care as plausible responses to “the challenge of relativism”. The course also introduces students to the activities of philosophical writing and analysis, with a particular focus on argument reconstruction and evaluation.
PHL388H1 F Literature and Philosophy, Summer 2022*
This upper-year course pairs two of existential philosopher Albert Camus’ most influential works: his essay, The Myth of Sisyphus and his novel, The Plague. Read together, these texts advance Camus’ view that ‘philosophical revolt’ (living passionately in spite of life’s inherent meaninglessness) is the solution to the ‘problem of suicide’ (the problem of whether life is worth living, given its meaninglessness). As such, the course is a philosophical and literary journey from nihilism into optimism; from anxiety and grief into hope. Themes analyzed include freedom, absurdity, the good life, and death.
“Articulating an Uncompromising Preemptive Forgiveness,” Socrates Project, Year 2024-2025
CSC001H1Y Embedded Ethics Project, Spring 2024
CSC001H1Y Embedded Ethics Project, Fall 2023
CSC001H1Y Embedded Ethics Project, Summer 2023
PHL100Y1 Y Introduction to Philosophy, Fall 2022
PHL101Y1 Y Introduction to Philosophy, Year 2019 - 2020
PHL103H5 S Introduction to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality, Spring 2019
PHL383H1 S Ethics and Mental Health, Spring 2024
PHL367H5 F Issues in Philosophy and Feminism, Fall 2023
PHL375H1F Ethics, Summer 2023
PHL367H5 F Issues in Philosophy and Feminism,* Fall 2021
PHLB99H3 F Philosophical Writing and Methodology,* Fall 2021
PHL243H1 S Philosophy of Human Sexuality,* Spring 2021
PHL388H1 F Literature and Philosophy,* Summer 2020
PHL242H5 F Philosophy and Science Fiction, Fall 2018
PHL S-4 Introduction to Philosophy, Summer 2017
PHL 106b Mathematical Logic, Spring 2018
PHL 113b Aesthetics: Painting Photography and Film, Spring 2018
PHL 6a Introduction to Symbolic Logic, Fall 2017
PHL1a Introduction to Philosophy, Spring 2017
PHL1a Introduction to Philosophy, Fall 2016
PHIL 22000 Logic & Philosophy, Spring 2015
Philosophy Essay Clinic (St. George Campus), Spring 2022
Faculty of Arts & Science Superior Graduate Student Course Instructor Teaching Award, University of Toronto, 2023
Martha Lile Love Teaching Award, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto, 2022
TA Teaching Excellence Award Nominee, University of Toronto, 2020
Teaching Fundamentals, Teaching Assistants' Training Program (TATP), University of Toronto, 2020
LivingWorks START, Health and Wellness, University of Toronto, 2020
Identify, Assist, Refer, Health and Wellness, University of Toronto, 2020