Irfan Chowdhury

I aim to make my tutoring sessions as enjoyable and engaging as possible. There is lots of discussion, and I encourage my students to formulate their own arguments, think through them deeply, consider all counter-arguments, and be confident in presenting them. The purpose of my sessions is to foster critical and independent thinking among students. The best way to do this is to engage with the relevant readings, discuss anything from the readings that the student believes to be noteworthy or interesting, and proceed from there to develop the student's broader ideas around the topic at hand.

I also aim to ensure that the student has the appropriate skillset and knowledge to be able to answer essay questions and gain top marks for them. The best way to approach this is to discuss the essay questions and the perspective that the student has on them, and then think carefully about how to plan the essay and how to respond to any challenges that the student's argument would face, while citing the relevant philosophical materials to make the argument as strong as possible. I always encourage my students to read through relevant sections of the primary sources, as this is the best way of fully understanding what the author is saying and developing one's own view and interpretation of it, rather than relying on secondary sources.

This is also the best way of impressing the examiner, as it demonstrates real engagement with the material and interest in the topic, and it will encourage the student to really delve into the intellectual substance of the issues at hand. It is important to remember that the whole purpose of Philosophy is to think about things in an interesting and insightful way; the student is not any less qualified to do this, or worthy of doing it, than any well-known philosopher. Anyone has the capacity to shed light on topics that simply require thinking carefully and presenting an argument.