Increasing polarization means that students come to us ill equipped to have hard conversations across difference, making it difficult to create inclusive, flourishing communities within and beyond the classroom. In this seminar, Megan Zwart, Ph.D., will discuss how the best way to improve our skills for productive dialogue is to build ourselves into the kind of people that are attentive, empathetic, curious, humble, and intellectually responsible. She will share her experiences teaching Dialogue and Civil Discourse (PHIL 291) to Saint Mary’s students from across the political spectrum, providing concrete suggestions for how to help ourselves and our students grow in the virtues that promote productive classroom engagement and inclusive communities.
About the speaker
The March research seminar will feature Megan Zwart, associate professor and chair of the Philosophy Department at Saint Mary's College. Zwart teaches courses in medical ethics, philosophy of social justice, philosophy of language and interpretation as well as the history of philosophy. In her teaching, she is particularly interested in investigating philosophy as a way of life, both in the historical texts of thinkers who saw philosophy as a mode of living aimed at formation, as well as in contemporary applied issues of bioethics and social and political philosophy.
How to attend
This research seminar, sponsored by the Center for Social Concerns, will be held virtually. Please join using the Zoom link on our website.