Preparedness: Preparedness means that you’ve spent time at home thinking about the core questions of the class and you’ve developed thoughts, opinions, suggestions, and questions about them. A good way to do this is to discuss the course material outside of class with a “study buddy” (or two or three…) outside the class.

Accuracy: Philosophical accuracy (my term) means that you understand the main terms of the debate and that you’re able to correctly draw inferences about the debate. A student who struggles with philosophical accuracy might: raise objections that are not actually problems for the view or claim that a view is committed to something that it is not in fact committed to.

Charity: The principle of charity (common philosophical term) means something like: Give your opponent as much credit as you can. The best way to practice charity is to frame your objections as attempts to solve problems for the target theory or to understand the target theory better.

Responsiveness: A responsive speaker listens to what others say and tailors what she says so that she is in dialogue with her interlocutors. Responsive speakers care about the discussion as a collective enterprise and want to help their interlocutors refine their philosophical thought. They don’t just want to defend their own positions or go on rambling monologues. They don’t always raise objections. Sometimes they ask questions, give elaborations, or help their interlocutors strengthen their positions. 

Flexibility: A flexible speaker is someone who isn’t afraid to modify or change her position in response to criticism. This doesn’t mean that she sometimes doesn’t stand her ground. She stands her ground when she thinks that her interlocutors’ objections or questions are inaccurate or unconvincing. But she doesn’t stand her ground as a matter of principle. She knows that responding to criticism is often the best way to advance and refine her ultimate philosophical view.

Curiosity: A curious speaker is always seeking to refine a view, or understand a view’s consequences, or find the explanatory scope of the view. She really wants to understand the philosophy. She asks others to clarify their terms, to show the work a theory does, etc.