Just in Time: Moments in Teaching Philosophy

Serious philosophy is not an attempt to construct a system of beliefs but the activity of awakening the conversation passionately pursued. Only if professional philosophy reclaims this paradigm and finds ways to embody it will it achieve an active place in the thought and life of our culture. --James Conlon Stanley Cavell and the Predicament of Philosophy. This book is a collection of serious philosophical essays that aim to awaken readers teachers and students to a desire for conversation passionately pursued. The essays in this volume speak about sex movies poetry and politics in short about those things contemporary Americans passionately discuss. These are the subjects that were taught for forty-three years in James Conlons classroom at Mount Mary University a Catholic urban university for women in Milwaukee Wisconsin. This volume celebrates Conlons work while calling to all who continue to teach and learn about philosophy in contemporary times with the message that relevant philosophy deals with life as it is lived in the moment. Dr. Conlon made it his lifes work to bring to consciousness an often unconscious awareness that accepts the way things are as the measure of what is real normative and moral. His commitment to awakening people to the wonder of common experience made a profound contribution to the mission of Mount Mary. The essays in this volume are a testament to the way he engaged students in the process of living a fully human life. --Joan Penzenstadler SSND Mount Mary University True to the spirit of Professor Conlons teaching this collection illustrates how his approach made philosophy a genuine dialogue brought diverse viewpoints and perspectives to bear on any problem and engaged generations of women in the philosophical conversation. --Kathleen Poorman Dougherty Alma College This collection of always thoughtful and often provocative essays by James Conlon his colleagues and students honors Conlons decades-long career at Mount Mary University dedicated to teaching the practice of philosophy. . . Both new and experienced teachers of philosophy will find insights and inspiration in this volume! --Donna Engelmann Alverno College Just in Time celebrates the work of the philosopher James Conlon. It also honors the pedagogy of inquiry that has had a profound impact on the students he taught for over 40 years. Conlons essays are paired with ones from his students and colleagues--testaments to the influence that his teaching has had. Readers will be challenged to pursue passionate conversations and inspire others to engage in thoughtful inquiry about the relevant topics of today. --Eileen Schwalbach Former president Mount Mary University Jennifer Hockenbery Dragseth is Professor of Philosophy at Mount Mary University. She is the author of Thinking Woman: A Philosophical Approach to the Quandary of Gender (2015) and the editor of The Devils Whore: Reason and Philosophy in the Lutheran Tradition (2011). James Conlon is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Mount Mary University where he taught for forty-three years. He is the author of numerous philosophical articles.