Seminar Requirements
Philosophy 383—From Neurons to Selves
Michael Taber
Spring 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 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.

Students can expect the Engaged Learning element of this course to focus on engagement with the readings by addressing instructor-composed handouts and questions while doing the readings, and to share their insights with the class.

Work due on a given class day is due at the start of class, unless otherwise noted. Missing a tutorial costs one full grade, even if the paper is turned in on time. Late (even barely late) work loses the point equivalent of one full grade (=10%), and a further grade for each additional twenty-four hours of lateness. 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

Discussion leading

Each of you, in pairs, will lead a 75-minutes class session about one of the readings (your choice) for that day (again, your choice). This is not a lecture, for your time should instigate and incorporate discussion among the other students—even if you have to spend three minutes giving a mini-lecture about this, or five 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!), 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 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? (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)

Final Paper

Your final paper will be a research paper of at least 8 pages on some topic relevant to the material of this course. The way in which it relates is up to you, in consultation with the instructor, but should utilize (in a meaningful way—merely quoting from is not a meaningful way) at least four sources, whether books or articles, as follows:

·       At least two should be a peer-reviewed source from outside our course.

·       At least one should be a reading that we have done in this course.

 

Tip 1: Google Scholar screens out lots of internet noise, and will yield only academic sources. (Though not all these sources are peer-reviewed, so you’d still have to check that. It’s fine to use such sources; they just don’t count towards the two peer-reviewed sources you need.)

 

Tip 2: The Philosopher’s Index is a good database to use specifically for philosophical, peer-reviewed articles, and our library subscribes to it. Click on the “Databases” button on our library’s home page, then go to the letter “P.”

 

Think of your research paper as your answer to a question. Which question you select is up to you, though it should be neither so general that your paper would consist of platitudes, nor so specific that you would have trouble finding sources. (In our experience as instructors, the former is a more common mistake than the latter.)

Send me mail:  mstaber at smcm dot edu

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