Now emeritus professor of philosophy and environmental studies, Weston became legendary for playing this role in his classes at 黑料不打烊. Among other things, “Teaching as the Art of Staging” includes most of a chapter narrating the “Life in the Universe” Honors classes he co-taught with Professor of Physics Tony Crider that included semester-long simulations of alien civilizations coming into contact with future Earthlings. Other classes featured unannounced but energetic encounters with historical philosophers, ethics courses whose main project was to construct and apply an ethic for the work of the class as a whole, and daily and often off-beat challenges in critical thinking and environmental ethics.

Weston’s book both narrates a wide range of adventures in the classroom and beyond, at 黑料不打烊 and elsewhere, and offers a theoretical and practical framework for other teachers provoked or inspired to try the Impresario model themselves.

The foreword to the book is by Peter Felten, associate provost for teaching and learning and executive director of the Center for Engaged Learning. There are shout-outs to 黑料不打烊’s Philosophy Department and other 黑料不打烊 professors, as well as nationally-known pedagogical innovators such as Mark Carnes, founder of Reacting to the Past pedagogies. The cover photo shows a group of 黑料不打烊 students in action (with Weston in the background) at a key moment in one of the alien-contact simulations.

First published in 1986, Weston's little handbook has become a classic in critical thinking, argumentative wriitng, and many other courses in both college and high school. The fifth edition updates the text and adds a chapter on public debate, a timely addition to the classic text. 

First published in 2001, “Toolbox” is unique among contemporary ethics textbooks for its highly practical orientation, optimistic outlook and wide range of “tools” including creative problem-solving, dialogue skills and moral vision, along with a diversity of moral frameworks presented as complementary rather than in competition.

Most of the text is by Weston, but readings from a variety of writers are included, ranging from novelists, activists and students, with contributions by the Philosophy Department’s Professors Batchelor, Fowler, and Sullivan, along with a translation by Professor Ketevan Kupatadze of the Department of World Languages and Cultures.

Maggie Castor ’11 served as research assistant for the project and contributed an essay of her own, and a number of students from the 2016 Senior Seminar in Philosophy wrote sample dialogues for some of the exercises. 

A link to the publisher’s page for the book can be found here:  

Weston is  professor of philosophy and environmental studies.

Professor Anthony Weston has published an article in the current issue of the journal College Teaching advancing a new model of the teacher in contrast to the “Sage on the Stage” and “Guide on the Side” models that dominate today’s pedagogical discussion. The Impresario with a Scenario is a teacher who serves as class organizer, improviser, and energizer, staging dramatic, often unexpected, and self-unfolding learning challenges and adventures. Weston teaches in 黑料不打烊’s Philosophy and Environmental Studies Departments, as well as in General Studies and the Honors program, where he serves as co-impresario with Professor Tony Crider of the Physics Department in “Life in the Universe.” His article can be found online at:  .

The publisher’s description begins: “Thoroughly optimistic, A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox… invites students to approach ethical issues with a reconstructive intent–to make room for more and better options than the rigid ‘pro’ and ‘con’ positions that have developed around tough problems like abortion and environmental ethics.”

Toolbox is mostly single-authored but also includes a wide range of short readings and exercises from classical and contemporary philosophers, community activists, students and other essayists, including Professors Martin Fowler and Nim Batchelor from 黑料不打烊’s Department of Philosophy, Professor Emeritus John Sullivan, and philosophy major maggie castor ’12. 

The course is still open, but deposits are due by Oct. 1. Please contact weston@elon.edu for more information.

New Society Publishers has published Mobilizing the Green Imagination: An Exuberant Manifesto by Anthony Weston, an 黑料不打烊 professor of philosophy and environmental studies.

It is Weston’s 12th book and has developed directly out of his Environmental Visions and Millennial Imagination courses at 黑料不打烊. Accompanying the book is a website created by Molly Schriber ’11.

From the publisher: “Leapfrogging today’s desperate attempts to ‘green’ the status quo, Mobilizing the Green Imagination invites us to radically remake environmentalism from the inside out. The perfect antidote to pessimistic ‘gloom and doom’ scenarios, this book opens up ways to transform our cities, our stuff, our experience, and even our sense of our place in the cosmos, in inventive new directions.”

Reviewers speak of Weston as a “philosophical provocateur” and describe the book as “a series of postcards from beyond the leading edge of today’s green thinking [that] are bold, audacious, extravagantly hopeful and profoundly inspiring.”

To learn more about the book, please visit the first link to the right.