Philosophy 1.3: Philosophy of Space Camp

Students will learn about several of the branches of popular philosophy, including scientific philosophy, aesthetics, cross-cultural philosophy, and philosophy of language. Students will be able to participate in discussions about the materials and engage with fellow students, hearing other opinions and perspectives, all while learning about our universe. 

I was the Astronomy tutor for Converse College for three years, and assisted in reteaching material for Astronomy sections from August 2018 - May 2021. I also created the Astronomy classes for Connected Camps, and taught those courses for several years before beginning to teach my own Astronomy courses on Outschool in 2020, where I have taught this camp for two summers. I am also a soon-to-be Philosophy MA graduate, and have helped teach several Introduction to Philosophy and Introduction to Ethics courses for undergraduate students at Kent State University.

There will be some individual readings and excerpts assigned for homework, which we will discuss together in class the following session. Understanding of these philosophical readings is not expected or required (as philosophers can be confusing to read, especially as a newcomer to philosophy), and we will be working through them together and answering any questions about the content. These readings will be about a page in length.

3 hours 45 minutes per week in class, and an estimated 0 - 1 hours per week outside of class.

Material from this class is sourced from "Astronomy: A Beginner's Guide to the Universe" (7th Edition), published by Pearson (ISBN: 0321815351). Other video sources are provided by the Crash Course Astronomy, hosted by Phil Plait, found here: https://thecrashcourse.com/topic/astronomy/. 

We will also be reading a 2-page excerpt from a paper called “The Hubble Photographs as Aesthetic Objects” by Flo Leibowitz, which will be provided to students.