General Teaching Philosophy: Greetings, young intellectuals! My name is Nathan Dowell. I am extremely curious and love to learn almost anything. I am also incredibly passionate about going as deep as I can into any subject to see how that subject connects with the rest of human thought and life. How can we examine the human experience from all angles so as to live our lives to the fullest, to live well? This has attracted me to the discipline of philosophy. As one philosopher put it, philosophy is just thinking really hard about something. My desire is to see students grow in thinking hard about what they read, hear and believe. This definitely helps them to excel no matter what degree or career they pursue, and it especially benefits them personally too!

Degrees and Teaching Background: I have been on my intellectual journey for some time and love guiding young minds as they begin it! I hold two M.A.'s in philosophy, one from Yale University, and I am currently pursuing a PhD in philosophy at The Ohio State University. I have taught philosophy and research skills in a university setting for 5yrs. and I have been teaching ESL online to younger children for the past 3yrs.

Courses I teach: Many of my courses will be in philosophy and exploring the philosophical assumptions of various academic areas and even things like literature, poetry, culture and politics. Flourishing in our lives also means thinking critically and using right reasoning (logic) to analyze ideas that others present to us. So my courses will also cover critical thinking and logic. In addition, I love reflecting on and reading about how to (1) be more productive and get the most out of your day (personally and professionally), (2) be more creative, (3) form lasting habits and (4) read poetry. Expect to see classes offered on these as well!

Something fun: I am rarely serious in my daily life. I like to laugh and make others laugh. As a result, I regularly bring humor into my classes. (As an aside here, I have recently been reading through P.G. Wodehouse's 'Jeeves and Wooster' series. If you have not, give one a try! They are hilarious!)