Friendship between professors and students have the potential for hurting those involved and can be hurtful to the larger society in which they occur. This paper examines what sort of boundary lines can be drawn for appropriate faculty-student relationships by considering three arguments against faculty-student friendships. After rejecting these arguments on the grounds that they rely upon a flawed conceptualization of friendship, the paper, drawing on William Rawlins’s theory of friendship, argues that faculty-student relationships are neither desirable nor undesirable per se. However, if such relationships do arise, it is possible that they can be conducted in an ethically responsible and professionally appropriate way.

This paper presents a story that introduces the philosophical problem of personal identity in a way that students find clear and compelling. While the story neither offers a solution to the paradox it raises nor fully explores the relation of personal identity and “what matters” for prudence and responsibility, the story can be used to clear up initial confusions about personal identity and thereby provide a framework for organizing further reading and discussion. Besides presenting this story, the paper provides a discussion of the pedagogical benefit of the use of paradox, offers a schematic account of the argument of the story, and addresses common student responses.

Good teaching requires not only an acute sensitivity to one’s students but also a kind of flexibility enabling one to respond appropriately in concrete situations. This paper analyzes the pedagogical strategy that Socrates employs with Callicles and Theaetetus, arguing that Socrates exhibits the kind of flexibility required of a good teacher. In articulating the pedagogical flexibility that Socrates's exhibits, the paper also provides an overview of the divided line, the mathematical curriculum that Socrates proposes in the “Republic,” and a discussion of how mathematical education relates to philosophy.

In contrast to many hypermediated texts that are poorly designed and are not geared to specific instructional needs, this paper describes the use of “Plato’s Apology: A Hypermediated Learning Environment” (HMLE), an instructional tool capable of meeting the challenge of building an instructionally sound environment for philosophy courses. In addition to providing a description of the interface, the underlying theory-based design principles used to create this HMLE are described, feedback concerning its first two implementations is discussed, and further implications for its use in learning, assessment, and teaching are considered.

Being empathetic (or compassionate) is an important trait that allows for those working in health care professions to successfully analyze cases and provide patients with adequate care. One standard and enormously important way to try and teach empathy involves the use of case studies. The case-study approach, however, has some unique limitations in teaching empathy. This paper describes an activity where students are asked to imagine that they have contracted a specific disease (one that lasts the entire semester) through a process of random (or lottery) assignment. Having contracted a disease, students are then tasked with taking on the persona of that patient. In writing and adopting the perspective of that patient, students are better able to learn the kind of empathy needed to be a successful health care professional.