GALEN WATTS
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TEACHING

Teaching Expertise
  • Cultural Sociology
  • Theory and Method in Religious Studies
  • Social Theory
  • Political Philosophy

Teaching Experience
Teaching Fellow: PHIL 204 ('Life, Death & Meaning') Philosophy Department, Queen's University, Kingston, ON
Fall 2019
  • Course Description: Many people wish to live a meaningful life. But what exactly does this mean? Is it even coherent to speak of a life as being full (or void) of meaning? And if it is, does meaning rest in the eye of the beholder or is it open to objective evaluation? Furthermore, are there necessary conditions (e.g. social, cultural or economic) to give a life meaning? And how might the fact of human mortality shape our thinking on the subject? In this course we will consider a variety of philosophical texts, ancient and contemporary, to help us think through these and other relevant questions. We will also, when useful, borrow insights offered by the social sciences. Our aim will be to grapple with the question of meaning in life, both in the abstract and as it relates to our everyday experience. (For the course syllabus see here).

Teaching Assistant: PHIL 296 (‘Animals and Society’) Philosophy Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Winter 2018
  • This course introduced students to historical and contemporary debates regarding the treatment of nonhuman animals within Western societies, and explored our ethical responsibilities toward them.

Teaching Assistant: PHIL 347 (‘Moral Responsibility’) Philosophy Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Fall 2017
  • This course focused on contemporary work on the nature of moral responsibility. Questions considered included responsibility for attitudes, the nature of blame, the relevance of personal history to a person’s blameworthiness, the difference between being and holding responsible, and whether moral ignorance is at least a partial excuse for morally wrong conduct.
 
Teaching Assistant: PHIL 259 (‘Critical Thinking’) Philosophy Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Fall 2017
  • This online course aimed to help students to think critically. Students learned how to evaluate arguments, claims, beliefs, as well as how to make solid arguments of their own.

Co-Taught: RELS 401 (‘Spiritual but not Religious – Honours Seminar’) School of Religion, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Winter 2017
  • This was a fourth-year honours seminar with a focus on critically engaging with contemporary ‘Spiritual but not Religious’ (SBNR) discourses.

Teaching Assistant: PHIL 275 (‘Thinking Gender, Sex and Love’) Philosophy Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Fall 2016
  • This course sought to examine what is at stake in how we think about gender, sex, and love. Using classical and contemporary philosophical texts we examined presuppositions and alternative possibilities. 

Teaching Assistant: RELS 161 (‘Problems in Religion and Culture’), Religious Studies Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Fall/Winter 2016-2017
  • This course explored religious issues in culture, literature, politics and social ethics.

Teaching Assistant: PHIL 201 (‘Philosophy and Medicine’), Philosophy Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Winter 2016
  • This course was about evidence, diseases and the practice of medicine. Working closely with empirical examples, we looked at some big questions concerning medicine.

Co-Taught: RELS 401 (‘Spiritual But Not Religious – Honours Seminar’), School of Religion, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Winter 2015
  • This was a fourth-year honours seminar with a focus on critically engaging with contemporary ‘Spiritual but not Religious’ (SBNR) discourses.

Teaching Assistant: PHIL 115 (‘New Eyes on Ancient Problems’), Philosophy Department, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON
Fall/Winter 2014-2015
  • This course offered an introduction to some of the fundamental problems, concepts and arguments of philosophy. It sought to explore issues including the scope of, human knowledge, the nature of mind, personal identity, free will, the nature of morality, and political theory.
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Guest Lecturer: RELS 161, School of Religion, Queen’s University, Kingston
Date(s): February 24, 2015; February 22, 2016; February 15, 2017
  • Gave a lecture on the history, and social and political implications, of the category ‘Spiritual but not Religious’ in the contemporary West.
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