Ray Martin Named Distinguished Scholar-Teacher

Geoffrey Firman
 

Prof. Raymond Martin

Merely wandering the halls of the Philosophy department, one's interest can be piqued by mentions of the name Ray Martin. Undergraduates regularly speak of him as the best teacher they have ever had, and one graduate student has been known to call him "a saint." Remarkable praise indeed from an analytic philosopher! Now Professor Martin has been given the official recognition of a University of Maryland Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award, given each year to only five or six out of the 1200 University of Maryland faculty.

It was no surprise to anyone in the Philosophy Department to hear that Professor Martin has received this award. Apart from the glowing reviews of his students, in the past three years he has published four books (in addition to several articles) in various areas, whose titles speak for the breadth of his interests and knowledge:
 

• Naturalization of the Soul: Self and Personal Identity in the Eighteenth Century (London: Routledge, 2000, co-authored with John Baressi)
• The Elusive Messiah: A Philosophical Overview of the Quest for the Historical Jesus (Boulder: Westview Press, 1999)
• Self-Concern: An Experiential Approach to What Matters in Survival (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998)
• Wisdom Without Answers: A Brief Introduction to Philosophy. 4th edition. (Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1999, co-authored with University of Maryland Ph.D.  Daniel Kolak)

Martin says that there are plenty of faculty members in his own department -- which he is efficiently chairing this year, making him a distinguished scholar-teacher-administrator -- and in the university at large, who are at least as worthy of the recognition this award confers on him. (Indeed, last year Philosophy's Fred Suppe, now Professor Emeritus, won a Distinguished Scholar-Teacher Award.) Martin points out that teaching is a very individualised skill, for which each person must find his or her own voice. Getting a good student response depends on finding and using that voice, and a little luck in getting capable, interested students.

His preparation for teaching is doubtless part of what makes his classes so fascinating. He does not use lecture notes; he simply reads what is assigned for that day's class the night before -- often he is re-reading, of course, but not always -- and then he lets his lecture emerge from the discussion. So, in a way, he is putting himself in the students' shoes.

Perhaps telling of Martin's special abilities with students is that he finds it is his advising of students, rather than preparation or teaching, that takes the most time. He says that as students get to know him, they come to him not only for advice on such matters as switching majors or applying to grad school, but also more general career advising, and more personal discussions, about, say, their religious doubts.

One might think that Professor Martin, who obviously takes his role as a teacher very seriously, would be a supporter of the view that teaching is not accorded as much value as it should in academia. Some graduate students enter the profession desiring a career teaching philosophy, yet most of the emphasis in hiring new faculty members is put on their records of research. But Martin thinks the current situation is about right for institutions with graduate programs. While every faculty member ought to be required to be a good teacher, he points out that it is a little easier to connect with students, and make classes exciting, when you are fresh out of graduate school, closer in age and experiences to your students, and have not been teaching so long. But as time goes on, you lose those advantages, and only if you are personally engaged in the discipline, by doing cutting-edge research, will you be able to convey a passion for the subject that will bridge those gaps.

Martin and his brother were the first generation of his family to go to university. His parents were very encouraging and proud, but he sometimes wishes he had had a little more guidance -- particularly to continue with a hard science, since the kind of rigorous thinking that requires is a useful foil to the dangers of diffusion that philosophy holds. Thus he advises students to take philosophy as a double major or degree. These days a lot of philosophy is directed at other areas -- for instance, our department has a very strong philosophy of science contingent -- and any philosopher of anything had better know pretty well the content of his or her object discipline. On the other hand, Martin thinks all university courses should be philosophy courses -- at least to the extent that students should be taught to ask philosophical questions about their disciplines.

However, at least Martin was well-placed when his own son headed off to university. Now he had the experience to offer some good advice: if you do philosophy, stick with a hard science as well. Like father, like son; his son ignored the advice. But then, part of being a great teacher, like being a great parent, is knowing when to let someone go their own way.