Jonathan Fine

For Dr. Jonathan Fine in Philosophy, teaching’s mission is to “develop intellectual habits, to learn to listen, to see the world with complexity and curiosity, and to form a mind of one’s own.” As students are transformed by doing philosophy in this way, Professor Fine is transformed by working with students. Students reflect: “Each session becomes a collectively created product each of us can see our own contributions reflected in, with Jonathan as its ‘editor,’ as it were.” He seems to derive a bottomless source of energy from the demands of teaching, grading, preparing discussions and supplementary material. “I have never seen a professor so happy about watching and helping students learn.” A colleague reflects that: “He turns his classroom into a community of inquiry by structing around his students’ questions, giving room to their perplexities, thereby elevating them to meaningful reactions to ancient texts.” Another says: “As he leads forth of the truth, beauty and wisdom that previously lay dormant in each of his students, Dr. Fine is Socrates come back to life.”