Instructor of Record
Why do some people believe in Bigfoot, crystal healing, or dowsing? What distinguishes science from pseudoscience? This course begins with classic cases of pseudoscientific belief, from homeopathy to conspiracy theories, and moves on to more consequential issues like climate change denial, vaccine misinformation, and public skepticism toward mainstream medicine.
But our goal isn’t to laugh at bad ideas. We’ll ask why science should be trusted. Does science face a crisis? What does the so-called replication crisis reveal? How do corporate interests (like those of Big Pharma or fossil fuel companies) influence what gets published, funded, or believed? To better address global challenges involving science and disinformation, we need to look critically not only at those who spread disinformation and prey on vulnerable people, but also at the problems within science as an enterprise.
In the final part of the course, we will apply these questions to mindfulness science. Meditation is now studied in psychology, neuroscience, and medicine. But it comes from religious traditions that carry their own values and goals. What happens when a practice becomes an object of scientific study? What can science capture, or leave out?
We’ll learn to use philosophical tools to evaluate evidence, identify biases, and distinguish reliable authority from manufactured doubt. You’ll learn that we face not a binary ‘science or not-science’ choice, but a question of how we ought to apportion our rational confidence along a spectrum of more or less trustworthy claims. The goal of the course is to help you in this lifelong project by identifying some common pitfalls and helpful techniques. Studying pseudoscience is a great way to understand the generation of trustworthy scientific knowledge.
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I am a volunteer instructor for Corrupt the Youth, a philosophy outreach program. Topics I've taught include:
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The Problem(s) of Consciousness
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Abortion
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AI Ethics
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I taught a summer course on Philosophy of Physics: Spacetime for three consecutive years — 2019 (Xi’an), 2020 (Nanjing), and 2021 (Shanghai)— at Veritas Academy, a non-profit liberal-arts-education outreach organization based in China.
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Spacetime is my favorite subject to teach because it was also what led me to switch from an economics major to researching philosophy of physics. I used John Norton’s Einstein for Everyone as the main course material, which I recommend for anyone new to the subject.
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Two of my former students (then high schoolers) were later admitted to Oxford’s philosophy and physics program. One has since graduated and begun a Ph.D. in physics, working for LIGO. She told me that this very course set her on this wonderful journey. It was the most rewarding teaching experience I’ve had.
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Teaching Assistant
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I have diverse teaching experience across multiple departments, including Philosophy (UCSD), Data Science (UCSD), Physics (Columbia), and the Culture, Art, and Technology at Sixth College (UCSD). Below are the courses I served as a TA for:
Department of Philosophy, UCSD
PHIL 24: Science and Pseudoscience (Craig Callender) Winter’25
PHIL 55: Living in a Digital World (David Danks) Fall’24
PHIL 27: Ethics and Society (Reuven Brandt) Spring’24
PHIL 12: Scientific Reasoning (Karen Kovaka) Fall’23
Department of Data Science, UCSD
DSC 215: Statistical Thinking and Experimental Design (Yoav Freund) Winter’24
Culture, Art, and Technology, Sixth College Writing program, UCSD
CAT 3: AI Narratives (Romain Delaville) Spring’23
CAT 2: Asian Diasporas in Film and Media (Nguyen Tan Hoang) Winter’23
CAT 1: Un/Natural Environments (Phoebe Bronstein) Fall’22
CAT 3: Our Future Climate (Adam Burgasser) Spring’22
CAT 2: The Process of Music (Joe Bigham) Winter’22
CAT 1: Origins (Guillermo Algaze) Fall’21
Department of Physics, Columbia University
PHYS1111: Origins and Meaning (Brian Greene) Fall’19
Veritas Academy, Nanjing, China, 2020, PC: Guanhua Sun