Week 12 Seminar: The limits of restraint

The closing seminar --- pitching final-project arguments to the room and pressure-testing them against the semester's own counter-examples

12 May 2027

Before the seminar#

Bring a one-paragraph pitch of your final project’s argument and, most importantly, a one-sentence statement of the single thing it depends on not saying.

In the seminar#

Everyone pitches in two minutes, and the room’s only job is to try to break the pitch by asking what the argument looks like if the unstated thing gets said anyway. A pitch that survives its own omission being spoken aloud is usually stronger for having been tested; one that collapses has found its real problem three weeks before the deadline rather than after.

Afterwards#

Both teachers hold open office hours through the following two weeks specifically for final-project questions — this is the last seminar of the semester, but not the last chance to talk about the work.