Jeffrey Helmreich came to doctoral studies in philosophy after exploring other possible careers: as a journalist, he was among the last Americans to interview PLO chairman Yasir Arafat in Tunis, and after law studies at Georgetown University, he was clerk for a federal judge. But the taste of philosophy he got by "crashing" seminars in college continued to draw him, like "an enchanted resort I had dreamed of but could never get close enough to see inside," he says. As a doctoral student, "Suddenly I found myself behind the gate." And after the first year, he started work as a TA with the question: "Could a tourist suddenly become a tour guide?"

The answer, according to faculty, fellow TAs, and undergraduates, is a resounding yes. One of Jeff’s mentors likens him to Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: "Like Smith, Jeff is idealistic, meticulously honest, and a firm believer good faith can change the world." This may sound impractical, he adds, but "when you see Jeff in action, you recall Mr. Smith on the senate floor, spellbinding with his unbending directness… you immediately want to join him, to become a little bit better yourself."

And not just to learn philosophy, but to do philosophy. Describing his approach to the TA role, Jeff says, "First I want to give them what they came for: knowledge of the material, enough to do well in the course. But I also want to share with them something they might not be seeking: the unique experience of working on a philosophical problem for its own sake."

Doing philosophy requires uncovering the reasoning behind an argument and then submitting it to challenge and critique. "The reasoning in an argument is like the invisible line connecting a series of dots," he says. "You can only see the line by mentally drawing it yourself, or at least trying to do so." Jeff’s role is to "fill my discussion sections with dots, hoping to prod the line-drawing with leading questions."

Beyond understanding the argument, doing philosophy means "struggling to understand difficult, fundamental features of the universe or our roles in it," Jeff says, asking questions like, "how does promising create obligation?" To "get" a philosophical problem, students have to experience the pull of it, "to feel what it’s like to reason carefully about an important problem that has no immediate payoff."

His hope is that, during critical times in their lives, students will "relive the pleasure, and even the agony, of doing philosophy," he says, "not because such experiences helped me come back to the field but because of how valuable and important they would be if I had not."

Published in Spring 2011, Graduate Quarterly