PHILOS 9
Principles of Critical Reasoning
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Nature of arguments: how to analyze them and assess soundness of reasoning they represent. Common fallacies that often occur in arguments discussed in light of what counts as good deductive or inductive inference. Other topics include use of language in argumentation to arouse emotions as contrasted with conveying thoughts, logic of scientific experiments and hypothesis-testing in general, and some general ideas about probability and its application in making normative decisions (e.g., betting). P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
Most Helpful Review
I took this PHILOSOPHY 7 fall 08, but decided to review it now. Ok, this class I heard was supposed to be easy. But it is not because of this professor. It is all because of the TA’s that sympathize with Almog’s teaching style. Almog lectures on and on and is really hard to understand. He doesn’t teach in an organized manner, has a heavy accent, and is extremely dry that half the class falls asleep. The midterms and finals are all dependent on the review sessions the TA offers, at least he has good TAs. And also in office hours the TA provides. They provide all the answers. That is the only reason why the class is supposed to be “simple.” Going to class, does not help. It’s all about discussions, office hours, and hours of cramming in review session notes the night before. Yes, the review sessions were like the night before the exam sometimes.
I took this PHILOSOPHY 7 fall 08, but decided to review it now. Ok, this class I heard was supposed to be easy. But it is not because of this professor. It is all because of the TA’s that sympathize with Almog’s teaching style. Almog lectures on and on and is really hard to understand. He doesn’t teach in an organized manner, has a heavy accent, and is extremely dry that half the class falls asleep. The midterms and finals are all dependent on the review sessions the TA offers, at least he has good TAs. And also in office hours the TA provides. They provide all the answers. That is the only reason why the class is supposed to be “simple.” Going to class, does not help. It’s all about discussions, office hours, and hours of cramming in review session notes the night before. Yes, the review sessions were like the night before the exam sometimes.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2020 - I would not retake this class because I did not feel like Prof. Johnson respected his students or our time. Nearly every lecture he went well over the designated lecture time and I would always worry that by leaving class to go to my next class I would be missing important material. He is extremely strict on his grading for the quizzes which is the bulk of the grade however I am writing this review in week 8 and he has not graded a single one of our weekly homeworks so we have no way to assess our learning or get questions answered prior to the weekly quizzes that will ultimately determine our grade. He speaks in a rather condescending tone to his students which creates a hostile environment for asking questions.
Spring 2020 - I would not retake this class because I did not feel like Prof. Johnson respected his students or our time. Nearly every lecture he went well over the designated lecture time and I would always worry that by leaving class to go to my next class I would be missing important material. He is extremely strict on his grading for the quizzes which is the bulk of the grade however I am writing this review in week 8 and he has not graded a single one of our weekly homeworks so we have no way to assess our learning or get questions answered prior to the weekly quizzes that will ultimately determine our grade. He speaks in a rather condescending tone to his students which creates a hostile environment for asking questions.