Professor takes students on ‘Philosophy Walk’
Professor Brian Walker takes his political theory class on walks around campus and Westwood Village to discuss class readings in a nontraditional setting.
By Gordon Murray
Nov. 16, 2010 2:35 a.m.
Not all classes at UCLA are taught indoors.
Every week, the students in Professor Brian Walker’s “Introduction to Political Theory” honors section, dubbed “Philosophy Walk,” trek on average a mile and a half around either the campus or Westwood Village while discussing the core values of the humanist tradition.
The walking serves as a way to sum up the core of Western political thought in a way people will remember it, Walker said.
“It’s about giving them something that they can remember,” Walker said. “I sometimes get letters from my students who say, “˜My God, I’m still thinking about your class.’ That’s my goal.”
Walker has developed the curriculum for the philosophy walk over the past nine years. Two philosophers influenced Walker in deciding to hold the class outside. Greek philosopher Aristotle famously wandered around while teaching his students, while transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau spent a lot of time outdoors and believed walking to be a fundamental part of the human mode.
Walker said he wanted to create a small intellectual community to resemble his experience at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
“Part of the idea is that at UCLA you’re in this little world, very abstract, cut off from everything, so part of the class is walking to be realistic about where we are,” Walker said.
Walker reinforces the core concepts of the humanist tradition by using the environment to provide images students memorize and associate with a concept. He structures his curriculum in such a way that makes students memorize images in specific circumstances that pertain to the cores of humanist thinking, he said.
“I think the environment that we study has a surprising influence on us,” Walker said.
Elizabeth Pickrel, a second-year communication studies student, offered an example from earlier this quarter, when students went to the Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden and memorized each sculpture and associated an image with it. The activity was all part of driving the concepts deep into memory.
“Every class lecture, we take the main class points and attach them to a sculpture or image, so by the end of the quarter, we can make a mental trip through the curriculum of the class using the images as a guide,” Pickrel said.
Although the class teaches Western humanist thinking, Walker also integrates ancient Chinese philosophy into the course. According to the professor, this makes it one of the few courses that touches upon non-Western political philosophy. Walker said this is especially relevant for a university on the Pacific rim.
“Thoreau had a surprising amount of references to Confucius,” Walker said. “Transcendentalists are strange to U.S. history but have a lot in common to Chinese reform movements.”
Another advantage of walking is that it is easier to have students get to know and talk with each other, Walker said, although cars occasionally hinder the discourse.
“It’s sometimes hard to have a good discussion because of the traffic, but it’s nice to do something new,” Pickrel said.
Joel Alcaraz, a first-year undeclared student, said that while he’s outside, he talks to the professor and students more than he would in a classroom setting.
“I guess I do run my classes a little different than other people,” Walker said.
