PHIL 1750

Take this class if you want to be severely depressed and confused at the same time. There isn't a lot of work (hardly any), but the mid-term is tricky and everything depends on your TA and the paper is graded horribly. I went to office hours and changed my paper for my TA's preferences and did horrible. The subject matter is extremely repetitive as well. Essentially, everything depends on your TA, which I was unfortunate there.

If this is your first philosophy course, your brain might get screwed around a little in the first few weeks. The readings were mostly very easy and manageable; around 35 pages a week. Lectures were dry and professor Ott is a little awkward. Lectures are also repetitive and unnecessary if you can understand the points of the readings. Weekly paragraph responses, two papers, a midterm, and a final. Still easy and can be fun to see how different views of life interact.

Overall, this class shouldn't have been very hard, but it was! Grading is pretty tough on assignments, lectures aren't very engaging, although Ott is a nice and approachable guy. If you take this class do not take it with Garland as a TA, he is a very harsh grader. Instead take it with Boese who was super helpful and goes over exactly how to review for the tests!

This class was pretty interesting overall. Lectures were a bit dry at times, mostly because it was repetitive if you read. I worked my butt off in this class, studied hard, read everything, and spent countless hours on my drafts and papers. I ended up with a B in the class which, considering the time I put into it was pretty disappointing. Needless to say, grading is rough. It's all relative to the rest of the students in the class so as a first year competing with second and third years, not the best for grading. It's an interesting class worth taking as long as you're willing to work very hard and accept a mediocre grade.

The class was fairly interesting but got kind of repetitive as the year went on. It was a nice break from my science-heavy schedule, but wasn't really great or bad otherwise. Ott tried to get everyone to participate in class but with 100+ students, that wasn't necessarily the case. I did most of the readings, save a few really long ones, and found the tests not too hard. The papers were graded pretty harshly but writing them was actually one of the most interesting parts of the class as you really got to explore your own views. Going to office hours for the papers as well as submitting a rough draft was very helpful.

Walter Ott is very nice but unfortunately is a very boring professor and the lectures were so dry and so hard to sit through. I dreaded coming to this class every morning and it was the slowest 50 minutes I have ever sat through. Initially the class was interesting but as it goes on it gets very repetitive and the information gets really hard to keep track of. The exams are pretty tough and there is one paper that is a big part of your grade that is graded VERY harshly. I do not recommend this class because it is extremely tedious but very time consuming and hard to get better than a B+

Professor Otts lectures are incredibly boring. it is my least favorite class this semester and i dread going to it. the readings are required if you plan on doing well on the midterm and final which are graded very strictly by the TA. I took this class because the topic sounded interesting but the class is basically reading very dry essays by philosophers on their take of the meaning of life. Reading 5 pages of text can take upwards of an hour. There is one essay that is worth 30% of your grade and is graded way harder than it should be. Overall i do not recommend this class at all. Do not take if you are just trying to fulfill a requirement.

The lectures are incredibly boring. The readings can be interesting, but the course itself is not. Graded a little too harshly for an introductory level course (see 5% A's).

I didn't actually realize how much I learned in this class until it was over. This was my first Philosophy class and it actually made me step back and look at my view on the meaning of life and religion, interestingly enough. There's one paper and I wrote mine on Sartre, which was definitely a good move because I had a lot to argue against. The paper saved my grade in this class, because I just couldn't bear to go to a discussion at 3 on Friday. WORST DECISION EVER. Class was boring, discussion was a drag, but if you do the readings thoroughly, you should do well.

This course contains very interesting material. Some of the readings are rather dense; however, if you read them they will be cleared up in lecture and discussion. Walter Ott gives pretty good examples to help explain topics and he is an overall good teacher, he just isn't engaging at some points and would put me to sleep. If you do the readings for this course and develop a good relationship with your TA it isn't that difficult of a class. I learned a lot and it is a very good intro philosophy class. Overall, I recommend.