My educational goals are(1) to help students to think independently, boldly, and creatively; (2) to accommodate each student’s needs, strengths, and learning styles; and (3) to provide each student with the opportunity and comprehensive support to develop a research project based on their learning, one that they can confidently claim as their own. To know more about me as a teacher, please click here for my teaching statement!

PHIL 103S: Introduction to Philosophy (as sole instructor, Spring 2021)

In this course, we read and discuss classics in the western and non-western philosophical traditions, covering philosophy’s history and present: from Plato, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Descartes and Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, to Gettier, Zagzebski, and Haslanger. You can find some student reviews for it on the right.

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PHIL 201: History of Modern Philosophy (co-taught with Katherine Brading, Fall 2020)

This is a survey course of early modern philosophy, which introduced students to the philosophical thinking of canonical and non-canonical figures alike (Descartes, Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia, Locke, Newton, Leibniz, Du Châtelet, and Hume). We designed the reading around four main topics: knowledge, nature of reality, scientific method, and causation.

Please also find below some of my sample syllabi:

200-Level Undergraduate Courses: Chinese Philosophy, Philosophy of Science.

500-Level Graduate Seminars: Du Châtelet, Chinese Islamic Philosophy.

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Sample student evaluations

“Qiu Lin is a fantastic professor. You can see that she cares deeply about her students, and she always brings this excited energy to class and you can tell she really loves teaching philosophy. She also has a knack for breaking down complex philosophical topics into terms that students can understand. I have learned so much from her and will miss having such an outstanding professor who goes the extra mile to make sure her students have a great experience in the class.”

“The class discussions were really engaging and rewarding. I appreciated how, even though I’m sure that our ideas and responses to arguments we read were simplistic and have all been discussed at length in the literature, they were taken seriously and debated carefully in class.“

“I think Professor Lin did a great job teaching this class. She gave us opportunities to redo work and really understood that it was our first philosophy class and helped us get introduced to the discipline and appreciate it.“

“I thought the format, workload, instruction, and content were all amazing!“

“Take this class!“

“This has been my favorite class at Duke so far. You will learn so much and argue so many different perspectives.”

“It is a fantastic and accessible intro to Philosophy. Readings cover a wide range of topics and the discussions in class are extremely interesting and engaging.”