Whenever I teach an introductory-level philosophy course, I spend some time working through different reading strategies with my students, who are largely unfamiliar with how to approach philosophical texts. Though as instructors we may sometimes forget our early, frustrating encounters with reading philosophy, the type of reading demanded by works of philosophy is one most students are unaccustomed to. There are a number of excellent resources to help introduce strategies for approaching such works, but the one I find most helpful is the following clip from mid-90s Top Gear.

I use this clip, sometimes paired with Todd McLellan’s photography, to introduce philosophical reading. Reading philosophy is, I insist, very much like what these people who write Haynes Manuals do with cars. We begin with a machine that we did not produce. We must identify the key components, carefully and actively mark out where each component goes and what it does as we dismantle that machine, and then reconstruct it to show how it works. We have to “completely take it apart, and put it together again,” as John Haynes—who claims to be “hopeless” as a mechanic—states. This presentation of reading techniques by analogy with the production of an aftermarket car manual makes those tasks look a little less abstract. Students have sometimes affirmed this to me directly.

Having shared one way I use a lighthearted video in my philosophy pedagogy, I’m excited to announce the reintroduction of the Teaching and Learning Video Series to introduce myself as series editor, and to announce a minor reorientation of the series’ scope.

The series was founded in 2019 to focus on how philosophy instructors incorporate humorous videos into their pedagogy. I am strongly indebted to the work of the former series editor, William Parkhurst, and I am excited to continue that work. The series archive is a gold mine not only of videos, but also of the creative pedagogy that accompanies each of these curated videos. For example, Parkhurst’s post on Monty Python’s witch trial provides a stellar lesson outline for analyzing soundness and validity through this clip, and Isadora Hefner’s post on Abbott Elementary and utilitarianism elaborates some ideas for dispelling difficulties and misunderstandings students tend to have in their confrontation with utilitarianism.

The series was—and will continue to be—intended to function as a database for instructors to share their use of videos that showcase, demonstrate, or exemplify philosophical points. In its original imagination, the series narrowly focused on humorous videos. This focus on humor makes sense: as the above-linked post lays out, “humor, when used appropriately, has empirically been shown to correlate with higher retention rates.” And it is fun!

While reviewing the archive, I encountered two excellent posts that do not involve humorous clips at all. The first uses a clip from “The Measure of Man,” an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which “dramatizes several ethical arguments” in an extraordinarily effective fashion. The second, which employs Lyndon Johnson’s famous “Daisy Ad” from his 1964 presidential campaign, forwards a creative way of considering the fallacies often encountered in political rhetoric. These posts, in combination with my reflection on how I tend to use videos in my own pedagogy, lead me to slightly broaden the scope of this series’ call beyond only humorous videos—but, please, continue submitting proposals that involve humor!

Videos can aid our pedagogy in various ways. Humor can catch students’ attention and aid in their retention of certain material. But video resources can also dramatize an argument, exemplify a case, concretize a topic, and much more. This series will continue to create a space where instructors can share how they integrate video resources into their courses and to provide an archive where instructors may find videos and related pedagogical suggestions for their courses. It’s a place to grab some nuts and bolts for our teaching.

Below, you will find:

1. The call for posts and relevant style parameters for submissions.
2. Two indexes of series posts. The first is organized by topic, the second by philosopher. These will be updated as we continue to publish your excellent contributions.

Gregory Convertito, series editor

Do you use video resources when teaching philosophy? Please consider submitting a post!

Topics: open.

Each post requires: (1) a few sentences introducing the video, (2) a link to the video, and (3) a longer description of how you incorporate the video into your philosophy course. The format of previous series posts is a good model.

See the Style Guide for further guidance.

All submissions and questions are to be emailed to the Series Editor, Gregory Convertito, at gconvertito.ph@gmail.com.

Index of Series Posts

Below are two indexes of previously published posts. The first is by topic and the second is by last name of the philosopher being taught. These will be updated as new posts are published and will replace the original series index.

Topic Index

Argumentation (General. See also “Fallacies”)

• Thank You for Arguing
• The Argument Clinic and Introduction to Philosophy
• The Argument Clinic
• Of Validity, Soundness, and Sarah Palin as a Russian Spy: A Critical Thinking Lesson.

Bioethics

• Irony and Analogy: Uncovering Implicit Biases – Wanda Sykes on the Opioid Health Crisis
• John Oliver on Vaccines and Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
• Should Robots Have Rights? Lt. Commander Data v. The United Federation of Planets

Ethics

• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the Is/Ought Problem
• Abbott Elementary and Utilitarianism
• Did You Get the Memo? Marx, Alienation, and Office Space
• The Divine Mechanism: A Thought Experiment on Faith and Obedience
• Irony and Analogy: Uncovering Implicit Biases – Wanda Sykes on the Opioid Health Crisis
• Is it Better to Be Socrates Dissatisfied or Homer Simpson Satisfied? Higher and Lower Pleasures and The Simpsons
• Moral Luck and Amber Alerts
• Positive Propaganda: Dave Chappelle and his White Buddy “Chip”
• Seinfeld, Friends, and the Moral Permissibility of Lying
• Should Robots Have Rights? Lt. Commander Data v. The United Federation of Planets
• Thought Experiments, “Reverse-Racism,” and Comedy

Epistemology

• The Divine Mechanism: A Thought Experiment on Faith and Obedience
• Henchpersons and the Problem of Induction
• Michael Scott and Standpoint Epistemology
• Saturday Night Live and Paradigm Shifts

Fallacies

• Ad Hominem Fallacy
  • The Interview from Hell and the Ad Hominem Fallacy
• Appeal to Emotion
  • Reality Shows and Appeal to Emotion
• Appeal to Fear
  • The Daisy Ad and an Appeal to Fear
• Begging the Question/ Circular Reasoning
  • The Brawndo Fallacy or Circular Reasoning
• False Analogy
  • The Fallacy of False Analogy and Mercedes Benz
• Hasty Generalization
  • John Oliver and the Fallacy of Hasty Generalization
• Naturalistic Fallacy
  • A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the Is/Ought Problem
• Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
  • John Oliver on Vaccines and Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
• Slippery Slope Fallacy
  • Direct TV and the Slippery Slope Fallacy
• Undistributed Middle Fallacy
  • Monty Python Witch Trial: Validity, Soundness, and the Fallacy of the Undistributed Middle
• Special Pleading Fallacy
  • Special Pleading in Fox and Friends’ Lingerie Football Romp: A Critical Thinking Lesson

Feminism

• He is the Park Ranger, she is the Other: gender in Parks and Recreation
• Beauvoir and Colbert on Neutrality and Otherness

Moral Luck

• Moral Luck and Amber Alerts

Philosophy of AI/Robotics

• Should Robots Have Rights? Lt. Commander Data v. The United Federation of Planets

Philosophy of Biology

• Philosophy of Perception and Biology

Philosophy of Education

• A Boring Class and Philosophy of Education

Philosophy of Language

• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Philosophy of Language

Philosophy of Perception

• Philosophy of Perception and Biology

Philosophy of Race (or related)

• Positive Propaganda: Dave Chappelle and his White Buddy “Chip”
• Thought Experiments, “Reverse-Racism,” and Comedy
• Irony and Analogy: Uncovering Implicit Biases – Wanda Sykes on the Opioid Health Crisis

Philosophy of Religion

• The Divine Mechanism: A Thought Experiment on Faith and Obedience
• George Carlin and the Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of Science

• Saturday Night Live and Paradigm Shifts
• Philosophy of Perception and Biology
• Henchpersons and the Problem of Induction

Problem of Induction

• Henchpersons and the Problem of Induction

Problem of Other Minds

• Philosophy of Perception and Biology

Propaganda

• Positive Propaganda: Dave Chappelle and his White Buddy “Chip”
• Irony and Analogy: Uncovering Implicit Biases – Wanda Sykes on the Opioid Health Crisis

Standpoint Epistemology

• Michael Scott and Standpoint Epistemology

Name Index

Beauvoir, Simone de

• He is the Park Ranger, she is the Other: gender in Parks and Recreation
• Beauvoir and Colbert on Neutrality and Otherness

Bentham, Jeremy

• Abbott Elementary and Utilitarianism
• Is it Better to Be Socrates Dissatisfied or Homer Simpson Satisfied? Higher and Lower Pleasures and The Simpsons

Berkeley, George

• Philosophy of Perception and Biology

Derrida, Jacques

• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Philosophy of Language

Du Bois, W. E. B.

• Positive Propaganda: Dave Chappelle and his White Buddy “Chip”

Freire, Paulo

• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Philosophy of Language

Heidegger, Martin

• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Philosophy of Language

Hume, David

• The Divine Mechanism: A Thought Experiment on Faith and Obedience
• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the Is/Ought Problem
• Philosophy of Perception and Biology
• Henchpersons and the Problem of Induction

Kant, Immanuel

• Moral Luck and Amber Alerts

Kuhn, Thomas

• Saturday Night Live and Paradigm Shifts

Marx, Karl

• Did You Get the Memo? Marx, Alienation, and Office Space

Mill, John Stuart

• Abbott Elementary and Utilitarianism
• Is it Better to Be Socrates Dissatisfied or Homer Simpson Satisfied? Higher and Lower Pleasures and The Simpsons

Moore, G. E.

• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and the Is/Ought Problem

Nagel, Thomas

• Philosophy of Perception and Biology

Nussbaum, Martha

• Positive Propaganda: Dave Chappelle and his White Buddy “Chip”

Plato

• The Divine Mechanism: A Thought Experiment on Faith and Obedience
• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Philosophy of Language

Wittgenstein, Ludwig

• A Bit of Fry & Laurie and Philosophy of Language

The Teaching and Learning Video Series is designed to share pedagogical approaches to using video clips for teaching philosophy. If you are interested in contributing to this series, please email the Series Editor, Gregory Convertito, at gconvertito.ph@gmail.com.

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