Seminar Requirements
Philosophy
381—Happiness and Meaning
Michael Taber
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA
Fall 2026
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 will be
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. (Except for
the assignment due during finals week, for which no late submission is
allowed.) 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.
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
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 seven minutes about that.
We all will 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!), reading off
Perusall comments, or something similar. 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 leading are marked
with asterisks on the course schedule. See the key at the top of the seminar
schedule page.
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? (5 points)
· command of the material—e.g.,
do you correctly understand the author’s points? Does that come through? (10
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? (10 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.