PHILOS 6
Introduction to Political Philosophy
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Study of some classical or contemporary works in political philosophy. Questions that may be discussed include What is justice? Why obey the law? Which form of government is best? How much personal freedom should be allowed in society? P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2018 - Philosophy 6 with Dover is one of those classes that you neither love nor hate. 90% of her class consists of reading Plato's The Republic, which definitely takes some getting used to. There is basically no hw, except for a few sporadic assignments here and there. Sparknotes is your best friend in the class. Midterms are both easy, final paper is interesting (create your own utopia). There is no final as well, which is a big plus.
Winter 2018 - Philosophy 6 with Dover is one of those classes that you neither love nor hate. 90% of her class consists of reading Plato's The Republic, which definitely takes some getting used to. There is basically no hw, except for a few sporadic assignments here and there. Sparknotes is your best friend in the class. Midterms are both easy, final paper is interesting (create your own utopia). There is no final as well, which is a big plus.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - Pretty clear, straightforward class. Your grade consists of three papers and participation. The papers aren't too hard, especially if you go to your TA for help (I had Kyle Scott and he always gave me great advice for my essays). Participation does matter, so you do have to talk sometimes during discussions, not just show up. Again, I had Kyle as a TA, so he considered anything from asking questions during section to giving your own take on a philosopher to going to office hours as participation. There are also pass/no pass quizzes that go into participation that were pretty easy. Dr. Gallagher posts all the possible questions on the slides and pretty much all the answers were on the slides too. As long as you pass three out of the four, you should be fine. Dr. Gallagher posts readings that you're technically supposed to read before every lecture. However, she explains everything really clearly during lecture so I personally don't think doing every single reading is necessary, just make sure you do the reading for the prompt you're going to write for your papers. She posts slides that have quotes and page numbers on them and I found that super helpful as a guide for writing my papers and citing stuff. I honestly found discussion more interesting than lecture, just because we were able to discuss and debate the content. Basically, lecture's to help you understand the content in a concise, straightforward way, discussion's then a place for you to give your own interpretation. Overall, I really did like this class, would definitely recommend taking it.
Fall 2019 - Pretty clear, straightforward class. Your grade consists of three papers and participation. The papers aren't too hard, especially if you go to your TA for help (I had Kyle Scott and he always gave me great advice for my essays). Participation does matter, so you do have to talk sometimes during discussions, not just show up. Again, I had Kyle as a TA, so he considered anything from asking questions during section to giving your own take on a philosopher to going to office hours as participation. There are also pass/no pass quizzes that go into participation that were pretty easy. Dr. Gallagher posts all the possible questions on the slides and pretty much all the answers were on the slides too. As long as you pass three out of the four, you should be fine. Dr. Gallagher posts readings that you're technically supposed to read before every lecture. However, she explains everything really clearly during lecture so I personally don't think doing every single reading is necessary, just make sure you do the reading for the prompt you're going to write for your papers. She posts slides that have quotes and page numbers on them and I found that super helpful as a guide for writing my papers and citing stuff. I honestly found discussion more interesting than lecture, just because we were able to discuss and debate the content. Basically, lecture's to help you understand the content in a concise, straightforward way, discussion's then a place for you to give your own interpretation. Overall, I really did like this class, would definitely recommend taking it.
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Lecture is disorganized, unexciting, and really quite useless. The class is redeemed by great TAs, great readings, and fair, interesting assignments. Just go to discussion, and do the readings, and this is a great class. As for the grading, it's pretty easy but beware of great discrepancies in difficulty among TAs.
Lecture is disorganized, unexciting, and really quite useless. The class is redeemed by great TAs, great readings, and fair, interesting assignments. Just go to discussion, and do the readings, and this is a great class. As for the grading, it's pretty easy but beware of great discrepancies in difficulty among TAs.
Most Helpful Review
Winter 2016 - I loved political philosophy. We studied philosophers all the way from Aristotle to Rousseau and Locke. I found the content really easy, and very engaging. The lectures were boring, but you can just podcast all of them. Started considering Philosophy as a second major after taking class. Selling all books. Text at 4155280065
Winter 2016 - I loved political philosophy. We studied philosophers all the way from Aristotle to Rousseau and Locke. I found the content really easy, and very engaging. The lectures were boring, but you can just podcast all of them. Started considering Philosophy as a second major after taking class. Selling all books. Text at 4155280065
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Most Helpful Review
8 a.m. class. That alone should have scared me away from this class, but I thought I could handle it. I was wrong. This class sucked, for me. It's nothing what I expected it to be. I love philosophy, but this is not you're conventional philosophy. You just taking a crazy sentence and trying to make it into a symbol. Doesn't make sense, I know. Here is an example. If it is not the case that If Richard won't Terry will, Kit won't. This magically means, (~(~R->T)->~X). SEE! Stupid! It turns out to be basically math. I will say that I was a bad student though, and fell behind. I missed a few lectures, and that screwed me. Since it is a lot like math, you can't afford to fall behind, and I fell behind. As a final warning, do not think I am stupid! I got a 4.0 last quarter, but if you suck at math, and are not a morning person, do not take this class. I just realized I evaluated the class, and not the professor, Levy is real cool. Funny too. But I had to drop the class, so this is sort of a conflicting statement.
8 a.m. class. That alone should have scared me away from this class, but I thought I could handle it. I was wrong. This class sucked, for me. It's nothing what I expected it to be. I love philosophy, but this is not you're conventional philosophy. You just taking a crazy sentence and trying to make it into a symbol. Doesn't make sense, I know. Here is an example. If it is not the case that If Richard won't Terry will, Kit won't. This magically means, (~(~R->T)->~X). SEE! Stupid! It turns out to be basically math. I will say that I was a bad student though, and fell behind. I missed a few lectures, and that screwed me. Since it is a lot like math, you can't afford to fall behind, and I fell behind. As a final warning, do not think I am stupid! I got a 4.0 last quarter, but if you suck at math, and are not a morning person, do not take this class. I just realized I evaluated the class, and not the professor, Levy is real cool. Funny too. But I had to drop the class, so this is sort of a conflicting statement.
Most Helpful Review
Lottenbach is a great professor overall. The reading isn't that important, since he explains the material so well (which is funny because english is his second language). If you go to class, take decent notes, and listen well, you should have no problem with the essays. As other people have mentioned, he says "um" just about every 3rd word (I think he said about 10 ums in a row once), but it didn't really detract from his teaching since he keeps things very straightforward generally.
Lottenbach is a great professor overall. The reading isn't that important, since he explains the material so well (which is funny because english is his second language). If you go to class, take decent notes, and listen well, you should have no problem with the essays. As other people have mentioned, he says "um" just about every 3rd word (I think he said about 10 ums in a row once), but it didn't really detract from his teaching since he keeps things very straightforward generally.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2021 - Firstly, professor McHose is amazing. His lectures are superb. They are clear, concise, and super easy to follow. My favorite thing about Professor McHose is that he tells you what he is looking for in the assigned essays. It makes for a relatively straight forward writing process. Philosophy essays are not easy, and most people taking this class have not written one before, so it is difficult to score top marks on the first and second essays which makes it difficult to get an A in the class. In addition to this, there is not much graded work outside of the essays. There are a few small quizzes and some short response questions but other than that, you grade is largely determined by how you do on the essays. This class is not an easy A, but it is certainly doable if you are willing to go to office hours to improve your essay drafts. Basically, you can do pretty well without putting much effort into the class or you can take a little extra time and go above and beyond to finish at the top of the class.
Spring 2021 - Firstly, professor McHose is amazing. His lectures are superb. They are clear, concise, and super easy to follow. My favorite thing about Professor McHose is that he tells you what he is looking for in the assigned essays. It makes for a relatively straight forward writing process. Philosophy essays are not easy, and most people taking this class have not written one before, so it is difficult to score top marks on the first and second essays which makes it difficult to get an A in the class. In addition to this, there is not much graded work outside of the essays. There are a few small quizzes and some short response questions but other than that, you grade is largely determined by how you do on the essays. This class is not an easy A, but it is certainly doable if you are willing to go to office hours to improve your essay drafts. Basically, you can do pretty well without putting much effort into the class or you can take a little extra time and go above and beyond to finish at the top of the class.
Most Helpful Review
This professor is the best. If you ever get a chance, you need to take him. I had him for philosophy 6 and the honors section. He is the nicest, most caring professor i have ever met. The best thing about him is that he is great at teaching, he lectures well, very well organized. (this is a big deal because a lot of the philosophy professors i have had are HORRIBLE lecturers) The class isnt easy, mainly because so much material is covered, but you learn so many interesting things, you actually want to learn and not just work for a grade.
This professor is the best. If you ever get a chance, you need to take him. I had him for philosophy 6 and the honors section. He is the nicest, most caring professor i have ever met. The best thing about him is that he is great at teaching, he lectures well, very well organized. (this is a big deal because a lot of the philosophy professors i have had are HORRIBLE lecturers) The class isnt easy, mainly because so much material is covered, but you learn so many interesting things, you actually want to learn and not just work for a grade.
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