My overarching goals in teaching philosophy are to help students see why philosophical questions matter for daily life and for society and to help them develop their own well-reasoned views. My courses take their starting points from close reading of historical texts. I aim to help students discover how great minds of the past still speak to contemporary concerns, while developing skills needed to engage thoughtfully with historical philosophers and their peers. Many of my course assignments encourage students to apply philosophical theories to lived experience and important debates in society.
Below are the courses I teach most frequently. A complete list of courses taught can be found on my CV.
The Person and the Good
An introductory philosophy course required of all University of St. Thomas students. The course examines fundamental questions about human life, including: What is the good life? What is morality? Does God exist? Course readings include historical authors such as Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and John Stuart Mill, together with selected contemporary philosophers.
Medieval Philosophy
An upper-level course taken primarily by philosophy majors that focuses on close reading and analysis of primary texts from Augustine to William of Ockham. Students both learn to understand philosophical views and arguments in their historical context and to appreciate their continued relevance for us today.
Disability and Human Dignity
A course that I developed to fulfill the University’s Integrating Humanities and Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice requirements. The course examines philosophical, historical, and social questions concerning disability, including competing models of disability, the relationship between disability and human flourishing, barriers to inclusion, and the implications of different conceptions of human nature and dignity for understanding disabilty.
Teaching Resources
I created this series of whiteboard animation videos to help my students review key ethical theories from the history of philosophy.
Gloria Frost 