Course Expectations

Read the Textbooks. The textbooks are, in my opinion, well written and quite helpful. While I do not assign a lot of reading, what I do assign is often dense and full of many insights. This means that you may not fully understand what you read the first time you read it. Do not despair; this is common. Ethics is a branch of philosophy, and philosophical writings in general are best understood upon multiple readings. You should develop the habit of reading the assigned pages a few times, including both before and after our class discussion of the relevant material.

Attend Class. While the books are informative, sometimes the assigned reading is only a launching point, and the key skills or concepts we’re learning during a given section go beyond the books. If you cannot attend class on a certain day, that’s fine (and outside excused absences, you need not tell me why—frankly, I don’t care why you’re not there). But you should not make a habit of missing classes.

Participate in Class. I like to describe our classroom as a judgment-free zone. I’m not concerned with students looking perfect or seeming smart in class. In fact, effective learning involves discussing precisely the things we don’t fully understand yet. Learning is a process that involves a lot of failing: getting things wrong, figuring out where we went wrong, and trying again. A lot of class time will involve this type of (helpful) failing. This may go against how many of your classes are run. Good. I think many of the assumptions underlying our current education institution aren’t conducive to effective learning.

Class is one of the most important times to engage in helpful discussions. If something confuses you, let me know! Chances are, it confuses a lot of students. Sometimes, I think I’ve understood something I read, only to discover upon discussing it that I haven’t really understood it. Getting feedback from a group of smart people who’ve read the same thing as you is invaluable to learning. I understand that some students are shy (I was quite shy myself in college), but try not to be timid simply out of fear of looking silly or stupid.

Practice. In addition to guided discussions, class time will involve a lot of informal group work. There will also be lots of optional extra credit assignments. These are chances to practice. We are mostly developing skills in this class, skills that cannot be picked up in five minutes. Skills take prolonged training and effort, like learning to play the piano or hitting a 90-mph fastball. Again, be OK with failing! Just try to fail better each time you practice.

Because of this, I try to measure students based on the progress they make throughout the course. A student who struggles early in the semester is not doomed to a low grade. Early struggles are merely a warning sign that more or a different kind of effort is required. On the other end of the spectrum, for a small percentage of students, getting a good grade in this class will be relatively easy. For such students, I encourage you to challenge yourself. Don’t settle for merely learning the most basic skills and coneptswe’re studying. Try to develop the more advanced skills touched on throughout the course. Read the articles linked to on the course blog! Talk to me outside class! Commit yourself to taking full advantage of this class.

Care About Learning. This should be your primary goal of taking this class—not getting a good grade, or socializing, or impressing me, or whatever. While I understand that these other things are important (I care a lot about the social value of college, for instance), these should not supersede your devotion to learning.