CFP: 2027 Pacific AAPT-APA Teaching Hub: "The Role of Primary Texts in the Age of AI"

Pacific Division Meeting

The American Association of Philosophy Teachers (AAPT) and the APA Committee on the Teaching of Philosophy (CTP) seek presenters for the following sessions at the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub at the 2027 APA Pacific Division meeting, March 24–27, in Portland, Oregon. The AAPT-APA Teaching Hub is a collaborative meeting space hosting a series of interactive workshops and conversations designed specifically for philosophers and created to celebrate teaching within the context of the APA divisional meetings. The Teaching Hub aims to offer a range of high quality and inclusive development opportunities that address the teaching of philosophy at all levels.

SESSION: The Role of Primary Texts in the Age of AI

SESSION GOALS: AI has transformed how many of our students approach assigned reading in the philosophy classroom. Fewer students enter college thinking of themselves as readers and many report that they have never read a whole book. This puts us philosophy teachers in a difficult position, given that philosophy texts have always challenged even the most dedicated of readers. While there exists much literature on how to teach students how to read philosophy properly, we now face a different question concerning the value and purpose of reading a philosophy text when the student can easily rely on an LLM to summarize the reading for them. We invite submissions that address the following or related questions:

• What is the role of primary texts in the age of AI when students can quickly ask an LLM to summarize the reading for them? 
• What (if anything) can a primary text teach us that is not given or found in an LLM summary of it?  What is gained, if anything, by having students read the text instead of an LLM summary?
• Is there value in having students read the primary text even if they get less from it than they would have having read an LLM summary of it?
• Are there teaching contexts in which it makes sense to encourage students to use an LLM to either substitute or supplement their understanding of the primary text? Are there any analog or digital learning techniques that would support, develop, or encourage student engagement with philosophy texts?
• When we teach/cover primary texts, in what capacity should we do so?  As whole texts?  Well-chosen excerpts? How do we teach students how to read difficult primary texts and stick with them when the reading gets tough, given that they can more easily obtain the information from AI?

FORMAT: Rather than a traditional paper presentation, Teaching Hub sessions are expected to be highly interactive. Proposals should indicate how audience members will participate in the session. The primary goal for the Teaching Hub is for attendees to walk away with something concrete to deploy in their own classrooms/teaching context.

What does the Teaching Hub mean by “highly interactive”? This includes (but is not limited to) the following:

• Presenters focusing less time on arguments for teaching some content or teaching a particular way, and more time on what it would actually look like to teach that content or teach in that way.
• Presenters thinking of the audience as their students and themselves as the facilitator/teacher. How could you cover the same content in a way that your audience participates in active learning activities during the session time?
• Presenters offering and demonstrating clear, practical examples of teaching methods, classroom activities, policies, practices, etc.
• Presenters conceptualizing of themselves as a facilitator, not giving traditional philosophical only talk-style presentation. 

DEADLINE for proposals: September 1, 2026

SUBMISSIONS:

• Proposals should be sent to Robert Wallace ([email protected]) by September 1with the subject line “Teaching Hub: The Role of Primary Texts in the Age of AI.”
• In the body of the email, please include your full name, institutional affiliation (if any), position (if any), institutional affiliation (if any), and contact information.
• Attached to the email, please include anonymized submission of 500-750 words (.doc, .docx, or .pdf) detailing the following: (1) describe the focus of your session, (2) an overview of how you plan to use your session time, including how you will make the session highly interactive (3) what you hope the audience will take away from your session, and (4) whether you are requesting a 25- or 50-minute session.
• The AAPT is a community of teacher-scholars dedicated to sharing our lived expertise regarding reflective and responsible student-centered teaching and learning. We value authentic, creative, and insightful approaches to pedagogy that exhibit what philosophy does best: thinking through problems both independently and collaboratively. At present, we judge that the use of generative AI conflicts with these values. Therefore the use of generative AI in preparing proposals and in the content of presentations is prohibited. If you believe an exception should be made for your use of generative AI, please disclose how you have used it and why an exception should be made for your use.
• We aim to ensure representation of a range of voices and expect to select presenters by September 25

Questions about this session should be directed to Robert Wallace at the above email address. For general information about the AAPT-APA Teaching Hub, please visit the Teaching Hub website. For specific information about the Teaching Hub at the 2027 Pacific Division online meeting, please contact the 2027 Pacific Division Teaching Hub Co-Chairs, Cory Davia ([email protected]) and Courtney Morris ( [email protected]).

Important note: To present at the Teaching Hub, participants must both join the APA and register for the conference (both at significantly reduced fees for undergraduates). Unfortunately, neither the APA nor the AAPT can offer funding to Teaching Hub participants for travel or lodging. However, your home institutions may have funding available for undergraduate research, so we invite you to speak with your faculty mentors and academic support offices.