“True philosophy entails relearning to see the world anew.”
-Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Phenomenology of Perception
I approach philosophy as the disciplined effort to think about our thinking and to disclose and critically evaluate the basic presuppositions that we take for granted in forming a coherent perspective on the world and on ourselves. I think that as sense-making beings, we are always in the business of articulating a general perspective on the world and our place in it, however tentative and inchoate this perspective may be at the start. Accordingly, in my teaching, I try to show students that we are always already implicitly involved with the practice of philosophy even in our most specialized, practical, and humdrum pursuits. Ultimately, in my view, the goal of a philosophical education is to take our implicit, all-too-human concern with foundational notions that lie at the basis of all our sense-making – notions such as being, value, knowledge, and self – and to make that concern explicit and self-conscious, so that we can responsibly take charge of our own sense-making.
In my experience, a key barrier to entry for students when it comes to philosophy is the difficulty many have in seeing how the abstract and general subject matter of philosophy could be relevant to their most immediate concerns. In my teaching, I try to show students that the unresolved foundational problems of philosophy – like the problem of knowledge, or of explaining what we are – lie at the basis of the perspective on reality that they currently take to be “just obvious.” In my teaching, I approach philosophy as a practice of defamiliarizing and problematizing “the obvious.” Through this defamiliarization, I think that a philosophical education can reveal the most obvious, familiar and taken-for-granted things as sources of inexhaustible wonder. My hope is that by creating a community of practice in my classroom aimed at “relearning to see”, I can help students return to their most intimate concerns with fresh eyes.
Overall, I take my inspiration from Merleau-Ponty, who suggested that to be a philosopher is to approach life as “a perpetual beginner.” I try to show students that since we can all be “perpetual beginners”, we can establish through shared philosophical practice a common ground for serious intellectual discourse about what matters that bypasses the intellectual specialization of higher learning that otherwise separates us.
You can find a more detailed account of my teaching philosophy in the document below:
Elena Holmgren’s Teaching Philosophy
Upon request, I am happy to provide complete versions of my teaching dossier and teaching evaluations.
Courses Taught
Since fall 2020, I have taught a variety of courses, both in person and online:
At University of British Columbia:
Introduction to Epistemology – Winter Term 1 2024, Online-Synchronous.
Through an in-depth study of classical and contemporary texts, this course explored fundamental questions in epistemology (the study of knowledge) such as: What is knowledge and what are its limits? How can we respond to skeptical arguments that deny that we have much, if any, knowledge at all? How do reason, sense perception and the testimony of others function as sources of knowledge? Can the norms we use to determine what counts as knowledge only be specified relative to social and cultural contexts (as epistemic relativism claims)? Can we understand knowledge – a norm-governed rational activity – as a natural process akin to digestion and crystallization (as naturalized epistemology tries to do)? To what extent can we cleanly distinguish between epistemic rationality (which is concerned with what we ought to believe) and practical rationality (which is concerned with how we ought to act in the world)?
After discussing knowledge as an individual achievement, the course explored knowledge as a social phenomenon. It did so by addressing questions such as: How do social practices and institutions (e.g. democratic institutions, internet communities) help and hinder the production of knowledge? How can we assess the epistemic merits of technologies such as AI that are increasingly restructuring our collective epistemic environment (e.g. through the proliferation of disinformation)? Does our increasing dependence on such technologies help or hinder the cultivation of our capacities as knowers? Finally, to what extent can groups be knowers in their own right? By studying knowledge as a social phenomenon, the course explored how we can apply epistemology to real-world issues.
Minds and Machines – Summer 2023, In Person.
A survey of dominant theories of the conscious mind, ranging from substance dualism, logical behaviourism, brain reductionism, computational functionalism, property dualism, epiphenomenalism, eliminative materialism, 4E (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive) cognitive science, and phenomenological philosophy of mind. The course brought into dialogue phenomenological approaches to formulating and addressing the problem of consciousness (centered around Husserl’s so-called “paradox of subjectivity”) with those found in the Analytic tradition (centered around Chalmers’ hard problem of consciousness). Moreover, it assessed how adopting each of the above theories influences how we think about the possibility of artificial consciousness and how we assess the prospects of a scientific explanation of conscious experience.
At Camosun College:
Introduction to Philosophy, Classics (x2) – Fall 2024, In Person and Online-Asynchronous sections.
Different philosophers’ views on the nature of wisdom and reason, the problem of universals, the nature and possibility of knowledge, rationalism and empiricism as responses to skepticism, the nature of the mind and its relation to matter, value realism and value relativism, arguments for the existence of God. These topics were explored through an in-depth study of key passages from Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume (among others). The course was also designed to introduce the basics of argumentative essay writing.
Introduction to Philosophy, Classics (x3) – Fall and Winter 2022, In Person.
Philosophy of Mind – Winter 2022, In Person.
A survey of key theories concerning the nature of the conscious mind ranging from Cartesian dualism, behaviourism, brain reductionism, functionalism, eliminative materialism, illusionism, enactivism and embodied extended cognition, property dualism, epiphenomenalism, idealism, and phenomenological approaches. These topics were explored through an in-depth study of seminal papers arguing for these views.
Introduction to Philosophy, Classics (x2) – Fall 2021, In Person.
Introduction to Philosophy, Classics – Summer 2021, Online-Asynchronous.
Introduction to Philosophy, Classics (x2) – Winter 2021, Online-Asynchronous.
Philosophy of Mind – Fall 2020, Online-Asynchronous.
I also have experience as a teaching assistant for a variety of courses. See my CV for additional details.
Sample Teaching Materials
Introduction to Epistemology Syllabus (University of British Columbia, Fall 2024):
Introduction to Epistemology Syllabus
Minds and Machines Syllabus (University of British Columbia, Summer 2023):
Introduction to Philosophy, Classics Syllabus (Camosun, Fall 2022):
Introduction to Philosophy Syllabus
Guide to writing a philosophy paper for my classes:
General Guide to Philosophical Writing
Professional Development in Teaching
In Spring 2023, I completed “Foundations of Pedagogy,” an eight week course on evidence-based effective pedagogical practices offered by CIRTL (Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning) at the University of British Columbia. Upon completion, I obtained a CIRTL Associate certificate.
Teaching Award
I am the recipient of the 2024 Don Brown Award for Graduate Teaching Excellence awarded by the University of British Columbia Philosophy department.