I feel like this class isn't as easy as most of the reviews make it out to be. The workload is very light but the exams, while they aren't worth a huge chunk of your grade (midterm 10% and final 20%), and while they are short multiple choice exams, definitely aren't the easiest. You HAVE to study. The 4 essays for the class are only 2 pages in length double-spaced which is nice, but you CANNOT go over 2 pages. Therefore, it can be challenging trying to fit as much information possible with only 2 pages to work with. And the essays are graded harshly. Every single detail of your essay matters. Attendance in discussion is 10 percent. In my discussion section, all we did was ask questions about the material. Overall, in my opinion, this class is not bad, but just don't underestimate it. You have to put in effort in order to do well.

I also agree that most of the reviews on here say "this class is an easy GE," WHICH IS THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE. This class is actually really tough not because the material is tough to grasp, but because the multiple choice tests are so tricky and the TAs are really tough graders. I had a friend who wrote a really well-thought out essay that was better than mine, and she got a C because her TA was a narcissist. And for the MC tests, you often have to choose more than one option like AC or BD or ABD, which is annoying. I got a question about a squirrel wrong because I only put one option, and it haunts me to this day. And I only missed maybe 3 questions on the midterm but because the test is out of 27, your grade gets lowered even if you hash out perfect essays. The hierarchy of this course does not serve it, but the Professor is an amazing teacher and very funny. I paid attention during almost all the lectures and took extensive notes in the daily journals she provided because it was engaging and used scenarios I found creative and practical. I learned a lot about theoretical science because of this course, and I found the content fulfilling. If you are willing to learn a lot and expect an imbalance in the grades you receive, then I recommend you take this course. You will learn but it will be tough.

Honestly, this class should've been an easy A. There were four essays on topics we've covered, with outlines online to help you out. The midterm and final were 30 multiple choice questions each., and Elliot was a nice enough teacher although her humor was a bit lacking at times.

But it was just so boring. I'm honestly not sure if the material was too dense or too shallow, because I just keep zoning out. Nothing against the teacher, but it just wasn't my jam.

I guess I just don't like philosophy; too many old white guys arguing over hypotheticals.

If you have done philosophy, this will be very easy. If not, the difficulty will come mostly from learning to think like a philosopher.
You will write four two-paged papers, do some reading, and have a midterm and a final. You also have to participate in section.
This professor is very engaging, a terrific speaker, and very nice. Organized, too. You can't go wrong taking this class with her.

If you are not a philosophy major, philosophy is super weird. There were 4 essays that are unlike any other normal essays you write in college - no intro, no conclusion, just a thesis followed by facts. Two pages MAX, no more no less. The midterm and final were tricky just because the info itself is just hard to wrap your mind around. I got an A because I went to office hours for every paper and asked my TA what I needed to do with my paper to get an A. Papers are majority of your grade so even though my final/midterm average was like an 85, having a 95% paper average let me get an A

Professor Elliott is very engaging when she teaches, despite not using any powerpoint/visuals during class. She writes everything on the board as she lectures.
I attended her office hours a few times and she was incredibly helpful. She is funny and super approachable.

Overall, not a bad class. It's very easy to get an A- or B+, but it's very hard to get a solid A. Your grade is based on four two-page papers that you write, along with the midterm and the final. The class varies in difficulty, depending on who you get as your TA (your TA grades all your papers). My TA was a pretty tough grader, and he was reluctant to give out any high A's. This made it pretty difficult to get a solid A because the class is graded on a straight scale. Plus, the midterm and the final are both only ~30 questions, so missing two questions already puts you at an A-.

But grades aside, I think Professor Elliott is a great professor. She is very engaging and articulate speaker, which helped me stay awake when the material itself wasn't all that interesting.

Since the workload is light, I would recommend Phil 8 to anyone who wants a nice, easy class to balance their other hard courses.

Terrific class, and taught very astutely. She is very good at explaining things clearly and obviously has a tried-and-true plan for her lectures. Expect only multiple choice on the midterm and final (not terribly challenging) and a few two-page papers. If you're good at analytical thinking, paying some attention during lecture (which should be fairly engaging if you care at all about philosophy), and following directions exactly, this is the class for you.

I absolutely loved taking this class with Professor Elliott. She has an engaging voice and her lectures are very easy to follow as long as you don't get distracted with Facebook in the middle of lecture. She does not use slides, but she posts lecture outlines on CCLE which are just as good as slides. She also takes pauses during lectures to let students ask questions or give comments about the material in front of the whole class. Sometimes she will finish explaining a philosophical concept and ask the class, "So what do you think? Does this argument sound good? If not, what's wrong with it?" Active participation at this time can lead to interesting and insightful discussions.

The midterm and final are both multiple choice and true/false scantron exams, and you do not need to provide your own scantron. The answer to every question on the midterm and final can be found on the lecture outlines, so what I did to study was reviewed the lecture outlines and created Quizlet sets from them, then did Quizlet-generated multiple choice and true/false practice tests. While the real midterm and final are not exactly like the Quizlet-generated tests (you may be asked to apply a concept to a concrete example) they are nearly that straightforward. By studying Quizlet I was able to get 100% on both the midterm and the final.

The grade is 10% midterm, 20% final, 15% paper 1, 15% paper 2, 15% paper 3, 15% paper 4, and 10% participation. I like this because the grade is very spread out, so there isn't a ton of pressure riding on one paper or exam.

The participation grade is based on your attendance and participation in discussion sections only. Lecture attendance is not a factor in your participation grade. The method of evaluation for your participation is left to the discretion of your TA. My TA asked us to write a question or an answer to a question on a piece of paper and hand it in during discussion, and that was all we had to do to earn participation points.

The papers are also very straightforward. Each paper is a maximum of two pages in length, with double-spaced 12 pt times new roman font and 1- inch margins. You do not need a heading, title, or even your name on the paper. You do not even need any kind of introduction; in philosophical writing, you just start talking. The tone is more casual, and you are allowed to speak in first person in the papers. The papers do not require much if any original thought; the point is to synthesize the material you've learned into a short, clear, explanation. All you have to do for the papers is understand the material and be able to explain it. No hook, no intro, no conclusion, no thesis.

There are assigned readings, but they are 100% not necessary. Yes, they may help you get a better understanding of the lecture material, but at the end of the day its just the lecture material you need to know and the posted lecture outlines have all the information you need. You are not tested on the readings, and you never discuss the readings in lecture nor discussion. I would say don't even bother buying the book.

Overall, I found this class to be very easy and very enjoyable. Perfect GE for just about anybody; I took it as a south campus major to meet philosophical and linguistic analysis, and there were plenty of north campus majors taking it to meet physical science (the extent of science you need to know for this class is the difference between Ptolemaic Astronomy and Copernican Astronomy and that's about it.) There were also plenty of philosophy majors taking this course.

Professor Elliott herself is a really nice person. When there were fires in the area and classes were canceled, she made an effort to hold makeup office hours, which was really kind of her to do. I read the reviews for this class, and thought it was interesting and easy enough for me to take but WOW was I wrong!!! In terms of workload, there are a total of four 2 page papers that you have to write for this class. Other than that, there's no homework except for readings she assigns, which I stopped doing because they didn't help me understand the material anyways. The first day of class, I was soo confused after lecture. Going to discussion really helped, though. I thought this class was really interesting until I got my first paper grade and my midterm grade back. We had no review for the midterm just told that it would be around 30 questions that were multiple choice and true and false. I got a C- on my first paper and a C on the midterm. Thinking that I'd get a C in the class, I changed the grading to pass/no pass. I got solid B's on my second and third paper and I got a B on the final, too. My last paper I got an A-. I think that if I had gotten better grades on the midterm and first paper than I wouldn't have changed the grading for the class, and I would've enjoyed this class more. You should go to class, though because the professor discusses the topics for the paper, which isn't given to you before it is assigned. I think my TA was just a harsh grader because for the last paper I made a one on one appointment with him to go over the draft I had written. Although, he gave me suggestions for what to fix, I still ended up with an A-. I guess it was just my luck, but I know for some people this class was easier, so I guess it just depends on the person. Try it out for the first two weeks, but if I could go back I wouldn't take this class again.