Course Requirements
Philosophy 120—Intro to Ethics
Michael Taber
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA
Fall 2026
The evaluation for the course will be based on these items, out of a
semester total of 200 points:
Work due on a given day is due at the beginning
of class, unless otherwise noted. Late (even barely late) work loses the
point equivalent of one full grade (10%), and a
further grade (10%) for each additional twenty-four hours of lateness. (Except
for the assignment due during finals week, for which no late submission is
allowed.) Keep in mind this cost when deliberating about taking more time in
which to complete a paper.
Final
letter grades for the course will correspond to the following percentages:
A- 90–92 A 93–100 A+ **
B- 80–82 B 83–86 B+
87–89
C- 70–72 C 73–76 C+ 77–79
D- ** D 60–66 D+ 67–69
F 0–59 ** =
doesn’t exist at SMCM
Engaged Learning
Students can expect the
Engaged Learning element of this course (i) to consist of paired tutorials
scheduled with the instructor and (ii) to focus on collaborative skills by
using the Perusall platform outside of class to
comment on the texts and on other students’ annotations.
Discussion leading
Each of you will lead a 50-minute class session. This
is not a lecture, for the 50 minutes should instigate and incorporate
discussion among the other students—even if you have to
spend five minutes giving a mini-lecture about this, or ten minutes about that.
We will all have read the
piece you have selected, so your job is not to provide us with a review of the
reading. You might, however, make explicit for us what the problem is that the
author is trying to solve, what the author’s proposed solution is, what some
objections are (whether addressed by the author, or not) to that proposed
solution, what some tie-ins are to readings we have done or to other
discussions we will have had, etc.
In planning the arc of your discussion, you are free to use an excerpt from
the article, a video, a podcast excerpt, a poem, a
PowerPoint, a song, group work, etc.
Your
leading should not consist of simply reading notes, reading off PowerPoint
slides (shudder!), or something similarly disheartening. You also should not
view your role as one of asking a question, and then laying back until the
discussion peters out, only to ask the next question on your list. Nor is this
an oral book report. That’s what middle school was for. You have
to remain true to the material, while at the same time respecting your
audience (which requires, at the very least, keeping them awake!).
The
sessions that are available for paired leading are marked with asterisks on the
course schedule. See the key at the top of the course schedule section below.
Evaluation of the discussion
leading is based on:
· evidence of preparation—e.g.,
does your leading seem well organized? Does the timing
and sequencing indicate practice? (4 points)
· command of the material—e.g.,
do you correctly understand the author’s points? Does that come through? (8
points)
· quality of the manner of your leading—e.g.,
is your leading clear? Did you exert the leadership needed to avoid becoming a
mere traffic cop (“Next!”)? If there were available tie-ins (internal tie-in:
to a comment someone made 20 minutes ago; external tie-in: to a reading from
last week), did you avail yourself of them? (8 points)
Send me mail: mstaber
at smcm dot edu
Go to the home
page for this course.
Go to Michael
Taber's home page.
Go to the SMCM home page.