Seminar
Requirements
Philosophy
430--Ethical Theories
Michael Taber
Spring 2018
Because the readings will be the
springboards for our discussions, and because our discussions will be the primary
focus of the seminar, you will be required to keep up with the readings.
Your evaluation for the seminar will be
based on the following, with their point values (out of a semester total of 200):
As this is an upper-division seminar, you are expected to contribute to making this a seminar. This
means more than you being present, more than you speaking only when called
upon, and more than speaking up on your own only once every few weeks. It also
does not mean merely talking often, as if the more sound waves created, the
better.
Late (even barely late) work loses
one full grade (10%), and a further grade for each
additional twenty-four hours of lateness. I understand that there are times
when students think it worthwhile to take the grade penalty in order to spend a
day improving their writing. Missing a scheduled tutorial loses one full grade
on that assignment, even if the work was turned in on
time.
Tutorials
The first and second papers will be run as
paired tutorials. You will be scheduled in pairs to come to my office and read
your paper to me and to the other student. We will talk about your paper,
interrupting you more than once. Then the other student will read her or his
paper in the same way. So that we may follow along as you read, hand in three
copies of your paper (including the original). Realize that it is your paper
that will be graded, not your reading of it or your
answering any questions which I or the other student may bring up. The purpose
of having you read the paper to me is that I can give you
comments directly and suggest ways to improve your future work. This is much
easier for me to do, and much more helpful to you, than having you read my
comments in dried ink on a dead piece of paper.
Writing
Since writing is
central to the course, both in reading others' and in creating your own,
respect for writing will manifest itself even at the level of writing
mechanics. You will be expected to take stylistic and
mechanical concerns most seriously in your three papers. As a motivational aid
to this end, you will be allowed two grammatical, spelling, or punctuation
mistakes per page (partial pages counting as full), after which you will lose
one point for each pair of mistakes. For example, if you have a 44-point paper
of five pages, and you have made seventeen mechanical errors, then you will
receive a 41 for the paper. One more mechanical error
would have given you a grade of 40. N.B.: the same mistake (not just similar) repeated
will count as one mistake. You will be allowed to submit a revised version with
the mechanical errors corrected, and in these cases
you will be assigned the average of your original and revised grade.
You might consider spending a bit of time
at my writing site.
Few
would fail to benefit.
Student presentations
Each seminar participant will lead a 30-minute
portion on one of our seminars on some piece from one of our books that we are
not already scheduled to have read. Other students are not to
read the piece you have selected (although you may require them to look at a
given page in advance of the seminar), so you are to guide us through the
problem the author is trying to solve, what the author’s proposed solution is,
what some objections are to that proposed solution, what some tie-ins are to
readings we have done or to other presentations we will have had, etc.
Your presentation should not
consist of simply reading notes or (shudder!) PowerPoint or something similar.
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!). This further
means, especially because the other students will not have read the piece, that
you need to be able to answer our questions, time for which should
be built into your plans.
Evaluation of the presentation is based on
evidence of preparation (3 points—e.g.,
does your presentation seem well organized? Does the timing indicate
practice?), on command of the material (4 points—e.g., do you correctly understand the author’s points?), and on
quality of the manner of your presenting (4 points—e.g., is your presentation clear? If there are available tie-ins,
did you avail yourself of them?).
Personal
electronics
This
seminar requires a free-flowing exchange of ideas, between you and the authors,
as well as among us. Laptops create a literal vertical barrier among us, and
even the use of flat-laying devices (like tablets, e-readers, or phones) create
distracting barriers to giving one’s full attention to our class. Therefore,
the use of electronics is not allowed in class, except by those with documented
needs of which I’ve been notified by the Office of Academic
Services.
Cell phones should be stowed away, and not simply on the table, even if turned
completely off. “Why,” you ask? Well, recent studies indicate the distracting
effect of even a cell phone not
one’s own, laying on a nearby table.
In fact, of even a
drawing or a thought of a cell
phone. So I
hereby prohibit you during class even to think
of a cell phone!
As for note-taking, consult this
study, which found superior recall in
students who took notes by hand compared to those who took them by typing, and this
recent article sums up some of the
research findings.
Those
unable to abide by these rules need to find themselves another class.
Students with documented disabilities
“Students are admitted to St. Mary’s College
based on their potential for academic success, irrespective of physical or
learning disabilities. Administrative staff and faculty work
cooperatively to assist students with disabilities in their educational
endeavors and adjustments to the College community. The Office of
Academic Services works to ensure that educational programs are accessible to
all qualified students. Student with physical or learning disabilities
should contact the Office of Academic Services for specific information and
assistance regarding potential special needs.” --SMCM
catalog
If you have a disability documented with
the Office of Academic Services, you must schedule a meeting with me to discuss
how to address any potential modifications mentioned by the Office of Academic
Services. Please note that this meeting must take place during the first two
weeks of classes. The purpose of this meeting is not to justify or
explain the reasons for any potential modifications (that’s
the business of the Office of Academic Services), but to discuss what
reasonable modifications for this course will be and to work out the logistics
of these. For example, if Academic Services indicates that you qualify to
have a certain amount of additional time on tests, we will discuss whether you
will get this time, and if so, then where and when you will get it.
Academic integrity
Academic integrity: The College’s definitions and policies
on this matter are laid out here (click on
“Academic Misconduct”). Ignorance of
such matters is no excuse.
Good samples of acceptable and unacceptable paraphrases can be found at a page put up by Indiana University: http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/plagiarism.shtml
Cornell has a quiz you can take to see how well you
understand what sorts of material needs to be sourced: http://plagiarism.arts.cornell.edu/tutorial/exercises.cfm
(Click on “Introduction” on the left-hand side if you want to see their
discussion leading up to the quiz.)
Grading standards
Adapted from Maxine Rodbury, “A Grading Rubric,” Harvard Writing Project Bulletin, p. 11: https://myusf.usfca.edu/system/files/HWP.responding.pdf [accessed
15 January 2018]
a grade of A
Excellent in every way (this is not
the same as perfect). This is an ambitious, perceptive essay
that grapples with interesting, complex ideas; responds discerningly to
counter-arguments, and explores well-chosen evidence revealingly. The
discussion enhances, rather than underscores, the reader’s
and writer’s knowledge (it doesn’t simply repeat what has been taught). There
is a context for all the ideas; someone outside the class would be enriched,
not confused, by reading the essay. Its beginning opens up, rather than flatly
announces, its thesis. Its end is something more than a summary. The language
is clean, precise, often elegant. The reader feels
surprised, delighted, changed. There’s something new
here for the reader, something only the essay’s writer could have written and
explored in this particular way. The writer’s stake in the material is obvious.
a grade of B
A piece of writing that reaches high
and achieves many of its aims. The ideas are solid and progressively explored,
but some thin patches require more analysis or some stray thoughts don’t fit in. The language is generally clear and precise
but occasionally not. The evidence is relevant, but there may be too little;
the context for the evidence may not be sufficiently explored,
so that the reader has to make some of the connections that the writer should
have made clear for the reader.
OR:
A piece of writing that reaches less high than an A essay but thoroughly
achieves its aims. This is a solid essay the reasoning and
argument of which may nonetheless be
rather routine. (In this case
the limitation is conceptual.)
a grade of C
A piece of writing
that has real problems in one of these areas: conception (there’s at least one
main idea but it’s fuzzy and hard to get to); structure (confusing); use of
evidence (weak or non-existent—the connections among the ideas and the evidence
are not made or are presented without context, or add up to platitudes or
generalizations): language (the sentences are often awkward, dependent on
unexplained abstractions, sometimes contradict each other).
The essay may not move forward but rather may repeat its main points, or
it may touch upon many (and apparently unrelated) ideas without exploring any
of them in sufficient depth.
Punctuation, spelling, grammar, paragraphing, and transitions may be a
problem.
OR: An essay that is largely plot
summary or “interpretive summary” of the text, but is written without major
problems.
OR: An essay that is chiefly a personal
reaction to something. Well-written, but scant intellectual content—mostly
unsupported opinion.
lower grades
These are efforts that are wildly
shorter than they ought to be to grapple seriously with ideas.
OR: Those that are extremely
problematic in many of the areas mentioned above:
aims, structure, use of evidence, language, etc.
OR: Those that do not come close to
addressing the expectations of the assignment.
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.