On Relevance in Philosophical Teaching

N ITSELF, the thesis is faultless that the teacher of philosophy should leave his students with sense of the problem, or, as Charles F. S. Virtue puts it, with a tension between illuminative depth and systematic clarity.' There is another phase of the problem of philosophical clarity, however, which calls for re-examination. That is psychological or experiential clarity. In word, we are not teaching philosophy; we are teaching philosophy to students, or better, we are teaching students to philosophize. The problem we must be sure to meet is the problem in its setting in the psychological situation of the late-adolescent. How can philosophy be made breathing, living, relevant, human pursuit for students? In part, at least, by aiming professional teaching at philosophical problems as felt by students. Philosophy misses fire when it is not organized to help the student to understand the meaning of the worth-while life and its implications. Let philosophy be the analysis of meanings, of issues, of the history of ideas, of scientific presuppositions; let it play whatever other role it will

CLARITY · Epistemology · Experiential learning · Higher education · Meaning (existential · Pedagogy · Philosophy education · Philosophy of computer science · Philosophy of education · Presupposition · Relevance (law · Sociology · Virtue · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Education and Critical Thinking Development · Ethics in medical practice · Law · Philosophy · Psychology