PHIL 2640

Professor Barnes is super funny and always smiling, and she taught an awesome course. The work was not bad—there's a weekly reading which takes about 2 hours, some discussion posts, and two 2000-2500 word essays, plus discussion section. The material was fairly technical (which I enjoy, as a philosophy major), but it is about how we make choices in our own lives, so anyone should find it intriguing. My TA James Reed was super intelligent and fair.

This class is great! Dr. Barnes is a phenomenal lecturer. Though she is very politically inclined that doesn't come out much if at all during lecture. Her examples are great, and she is super good about making philosophical concepts make sense. If you like writing and vaguely enjoy philosophy you'll like this class!

In terms of grading it's pretty simple, you have 4 writing assignments of increasing complexity and length. If you have any previous understanding of philosophy, the first 2 are a piece of cake. Succeeding in this class is not difficult at all if you put in a mild amount of work.

In terms of readings, I personally only did the ones I wrote my essays on. If you really care about doing the readings do them after the Tuesday lecture so you walk in with a general understanding of whats going on.

Go to class, but if you're going to miss one miss the Tuesday lecture - it's usually overview, and while its still helpful most of the actual interpretation/argument discussion is on Thursday anyways. She posts slides but they aren't very helpful because they're super vague. Notes are not too important, you'll be fine as long as you pay attention (she has some pretty long winded examples, once you get it you can kind of fade away).

For any given writing assignment at least make sure you go to both of one week's lectures so that you really know whats going on. For the more difficult writing assignments (3 and 4) you can select your topic, so as long as you have one on lock you'll be fine.

ALWAYS GO TO DISCUSSION, the TAs in the philosophy department are awesome and will set you up for success on the essays. They will also help you on your essay if you ask nicely, clearing things up as needed - you'll be walking in blind if you didn't go to the lectures or do the readings, but even then you can get a pretty good understanding of whats going on. Attendance is taken, and it is part of your grade.

If you've taken any philosophy class in the past, you know exactly what the essays look like. They're not too bad, and if you're a good writer I'd say you can get 1 and 2 done in about an hour each. 3 and 4 will take longer, probably about 5-6 hours, but you do have a very long time to get everything done. Considering your grade is almost entirely essay based, putting in the time is worth it, especially considering how lenient she is on lecture attendance / how much you can get away with just not going (because of the way the options you have work).

That's pretty much it, 5/5 class experience, and definitely worth taking it even though it was at 8AM

#tCFS24

This course is probably the best course I have taken in my college education so far. This was my first ever philosophy course and my first ever 8am, and I was genuinely excited about waking up and going to class. Professor Barnes is a phenomenal lecturer, and you get used to the complexity of the readings over time. If you actually show up to lecture and pay attention, the readings are much easier. Still, I would say the best aspect of this class is the real-world application. You are literally learning how to make rational choices, and I have found that when I apply what I am learning in class to my own thought processes, not only did the writing assignments become easier, but I actually felt happier. If that isn't convincing enough it fulfills your second writing requirement. I 1000% recommend this class and will hopefully be taking more of Professor Barnes' classes in the future.

Waste of potential of a class-- rational choice and happiness is such an important concept for college students to dive into and really think philosophically about. However, nothing you read in this class was written before the 21st century. Because of this, the entire class is based on the following definition of rationality: acting according to what one's desires, preferences, and values tell you to do. Though this definition sounds familiar, it is an entirely recent phenomenon. The discussion would have been more productive if the class had introduced this view of rationality with proper context and made it clear that it represents just one way of understanding the world. Instead, it was presented as unquestionable truth, when it actually warranted a more nuanced and critical conversation. Not to mention, when you approach the issues discussed in the class through this framework, you are essentially pushed to accept that sometimes its "good to be irrational," whereas really there is something entirely more compelling going on under the surface. It seems to me that this class would benefit from taking a look at philosophers beginning in ancient times and coming into modern day in order to have a more holistic view of rational choice & happiness. It simply has too narrow of a view of rationality that will be incredibly frustrating and depressing if you are searching for a rigorous, thorough discussion of the intersection of rationality and happiness.