TEACHING

HONORS SEMINARS

Recent Syllabi

Sacred Texts	Justice and the Social Order
Evil, Sin, and Suffering	The Oxford Inklings
Virtue and the Moral Life	Knowledge and Religious Belief

Professor Cutsinger's seminars in the USC South Carolina Honors College all follow a similar pattern. Each seminar consists in a close and careful reading of a variety of classic texts, whether in philosophy, religion, literature, history, or politics.

The seminars are not intended as surveys. The goal instead is to plunge deeply into a few seminal masterpieces in order to come to grips with their continuing importance for human life today. In a sense, the books are the real teachers in this class. The primary aim of the instructor is to assist students in the fine art of attentive reading and to promote a disciplined exploration of a few of the world's most enduring ideas.

The seminars are conducted as Socratic discussions. Each class begins with a question about the reading for the day, and it is expected that students will join with the instructor and each other in a shared conversational inquiry. A premium is placed on precision, explanation, and defense. Students are held doubly accountable: for courteously listening to the contributions of others and for patiently justifying their own observations.

For further clarification as to how this all works, see Doing the Asking and The Spin of Plato in His Grave, two provocative and highly pertinent selections from The Underground Grammarian, as well as Rules of Thumb for Socratic Discussion, a succinct description of six key ingredients for a successful seminar, adapted by the instructor from "Notes on Dialogue" by Stringfellow Barr, one of the founding fathers of the great books program at St John's College.

While it is sometimes thought that Socratic conversation is less rigorous than a more didactic and professorial style, its rigor is simply of another kind. In the serious cross-examination of a great work, the course of conversation is often unpredictable; it is certainly less linear than in the "traditional" classroom. But the intellectual commitment required, the daily vigilance, demands a preparation and yields a mental fitness not promoted by other forms of learning. These advantages are pressed to the full in these seminars.

1. Reading. In keeping with Socrates' observation that "it is better to deal thoroughly with a little than unsatisfactorily with a lot" (Theaetetus, 187e), reading assignments are relatively short. Students are expected to study the assigned texts very closely and carefully, however; underlining important words and passages and maintaining a dialogue with the authors through copious marginal comments are essential preparations for class discussion.

2. Attendance, both prompt and regular. Two unexcused absences are permitted, a penalty of one letter grade being imposed for each additional unexcused absence. And attendance means punctuality; tardy arrivals and seminars are a disastrous mix.

3. Constructive participation. For obvious reasons, this course is not for students who prefer an education they can simply ingest as the passive takers of notes. It is for those who enjoy the acts of thinking and reflection and argument. Frequent contributions to class discussion are not merely desirable; they are essential. One third of the final course grade will be based on class participation.

4. Opening questions. The instructor and students take turns posing the opening question, each student being asked to accept this responsibility once during the semester.

5. Essays. Students write three essays of 5-6 pages each. Neither book-reports nor research-papers, these essays should be viewed instead as continuing conversations in which their authors wrestle in writing with the ideas opened up by at least three of the books. (Basing a paper or papers on more than one book is perfectly acceptable.) Grades received on the two best essays will be used in calculating the final course grade (one-third each).

Professor Cutsinger's Breviary of English Usage is used in his grading and commentary. Anyone wondering why he is such a stickler about the fine points of writing would be well advised to meditate on the various examples of grammatical and logical errors described in this handbook, as well as on the essay Why Good Grammar? from The Underground Grammarian.

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