Peirce, Plato, Philology, Perennialism. Peripatetic piscator. Professor of Philosophy, Classics, Environment. I study fish and forests. 2024 Bush Fellow.
Sioux Falls, SD
Joined August 2008
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An early morning hike with my class in the Maya Biosphere Reserve. Beautiful, dense vegetation, and the songs of howler monkeys in the trees above. @AugiePhilosophy @AugustanaSD #environmentalphilosophy #teachoutdoors
Amen
In which I come out swinging against Canvas. Canvas is why students prefer AI to their professors, and I don't blame them one bit. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.subst…
These books don’t need to be rented, don’t need software updates, don’t depend on distant database maintenance, won’t run out of batteries. But they can be held, adorned with marginalia, annotated, bookmarked, shelved according to the memory palace of the owner.
Adding this to my list of reasons why I think Canvas is unhealthy for our students. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…
Dave O'Hara retweeted
“Every thing throws light upon everything.”
theatlantic.com/books/2026/1…
A day late but here’s a bit on All Saints Day, from the perspective of a teacher in an age when it is easy to cheat. Let’s focus on the students, and their growth. davoh.org/2026/08/26/my-stud…
A few quick photos of my process, and a link to more of them, and why I chose to sketch and paint this fawn with and for my philosophy students: davoh.org/2026/10/28/fawn.ht…
A new medium, a new attempt to learn. And at the blog post, a celebration of the mason as more than a bricklayer, and a celebration of the local in architecture.
davoh.org/2026/11/01/the-car…
This is one of my recent follows, and posts like this are why. This image shows not just the figure but the artist’s process of observation. Each new post is a new lesson for me.
Dave O'Hara retweeted
It's so funny to me when folks realize that students love this sort of "great books" course. The academy will go on all day about student demand and then promise you students will not enjoy this thing they are craving. Let us ask ourselves why this is the case!
And there are places like my classrooms where I teach almost exclusively great books. Students love the texts, but most people advising students when they go off to college urge them to study what they imagine to be practical.
Here’s hoping that somewhere out there we’ll find the occasional Ϝ or Ϙ or maybe even a ϡ.
‘Sigma’ Is Only the Tip of an Inane Male-Hierarchy Iceberg nytimes.com/2026/10/29/magaz… via @NYTimes
Dave O'Hara retweeted
This is simply what we’ve all gotta do.
Important detail in the WSJ piece on Harvard great books course: "It’s also a lot of work. The professors all attend every lecture and must lead seminars on books they may not have previously read, and from other disciplines. Essentially, they are students too." @second_sailing
Dave O'Hara retweeted
🚨 Breaking News: noble souls enjoy rising to challenges 🚨
“It’s the only class I took at Harvard where people would call each other out for not having done the reading.”
Harvard students are lining up to take Hum 10:
“Applications (essays required) shot up 40% this fall with 180 incoming freshmen vying for 90 spots.”
“The class is definitely not for padding the GPA. Students read a hefty book a week and write regular essays. There is no pass/fail option. Digital devices are verboten, and attendance is taken in every lecture (pink slips for those who arrive late).”
“In their applications and in interviews, students expressed the urge to be forced to tackle classics they otherwise wouldn’t read, the need to combat frayed attention spans and the desire for an antidote to The Machine. Several mentioned with disdain that people who aren’t in the class wondered why they didn’t ‘just Chat the books,’ i.e., use AI.”
An art lesson for my Environmental Philosophy students, in ten sketches. davoh.org/2026/10/28/fawn.ht…
Here’s one way to prep for an AI economy: practice loving your neighbor as yourself. It ain’t easy, but it’s also really hard for anyone to take away the wealth of accumulated love and friendship. apple.news/AVO8S5lirRVOlS8LB…
Dave O'Hara retweeted
A WORD TO THE WISE: @stjohnscollege requires students to turn up and to read hefty books. Not just one class -- all of it!
This @Harvard class is characterized as “brutal” because students are required “to read a hefty book a week.”
That was what literally all my English classes at @Columbia required 25 years ago.
Oh, and students are required to show up.
Where have standards gone?
wsj.com/lifestyle/harvard-cl…
Dave O'Hara retweeted
I see no point in gloating, but I *do* want to point out that some of us have been saying this for an awful long time
It’s an ungodly amount of reading and no easy A. So why are freshmen lining up to get into Humanities 10? on.wsj.com/4iIxhOF
