HIEU 3802

You should not take this course if you don't enjoy reading or philosophy. This is essentially a course in the history of philosophy in Europe, more specifically the collapse of idealism through the 19/20th centuries. This is not a typical history class. It emphasizes reading philosophers and thinkers like Darwin, Nietzsche, Freud, Heidegger, Kant, Lyell, Paley, etc. Megill's style is also not for everybody. He is brilliant, which means he can come off as arrogant or pretentious. The level of ideas dealt with in this course are very complex and nuanced, and Megill will not sugarcoat it when you're wrong.

That being said, I loved this course. Megill knows his stuff, and I found him hilarious (others may not). The course is incredibly interested, and basically made me take philosophy seriously as a discipline. It will challenge a lot of your preconceptions about what certain thinkers said or thought, and give you a great deal of insight into intellectual history. It was difficult to grapple with the material, but incredibly rewarding. For those interested in the material, I would highly recommend as a valuable and fun course.

Assignments consist of readings weekly, then one "think question" per week (he stops assigning them halfway through the semester because he gets lazy). TQs are basically reading questions graded for completion, not a huge burden (easy to get the completion grade even though your answer will almost always be wrong). The paper is 6 pages single spaced on a question that you choose yourself; I thought it was not graded that harshly, as long as you show you've read the material and understood it somewhat. The midterm and final are both essay based, with short and long essay questions. The final had quote IDs. Grade is based on final and the paper; the midterm is graded more harshly but also basically has no effect on your grade.

Overall, take this course. It is unique and will give you a lot.

so this class was lowkey hard. megill says nietzsche is dynamite but hes also lowkey dynamite lol. there was a decent bit of reading, and Megill makes some claims that r outright inconsistent with the typical understanding of the guy's philosophy. erm u have to try keep up with the lectures n the readings, and even tho Megill will be like dont regurgitate everything, ultimately his class is regurgitating everything he says in lectures or his books lmao. Megill himself is a cool guy, abit obnoxious n dismissive in lectures but cool in office hours. bc of all the bs that i had to deal with through this class, most of the readings for my other classes felt quite easy now lol, so take if u wanna improve ur crit-reading skills by like x 5000

So overrated. You'll learn a lot, but probably at the cost of your GPA. Megill is prideful and never willing to admit that he's wrong. Brilliant man but way too harsh of a grader.

This is a philosophy (specifically metaphysics/epistemology) course masquerading as a history course. Tough readings, brilliant professor. Don't listen to the whiners below -- Megill is very helpful and approachable during office hours. You will learn a LOT and will likely change your worldview on the concepts of subjectivity/objectivity, history, progress, rationality, etc.

Okay. enough good general reviews about how great this class and megill are. Lemme just say this, I absolutely love it when Megill sneaks in witty sarcasms and ironies about the authors. You'd see him lean back into his chair--yes, covid times, sitting--and put on that mysterious--sarcastic? Ironic?-- smile, and then calmly roast someone--the most vivid one I remember was his imaginary conversation with Freud. Gosh. Brilliant, entertaining delivery! You'd want to download the mp3 of his lectures to listen for entertainment--well at least I did.

Megill is a genius, there is no denying that. HOWEVER my biggest regret in college is taking this class and I come back a year later to write a review warning others as I think I saw it being offered again next Spring on SIS. He knows everything about everything for sure, but he is disorganized mess. His lectures are fascinating but stressful and his feedback is less than helpful on most occasions (He straight up wrote "bad" on one of my reading responses). To get any real assistance from him you need to go to office hours, which can be intimidating since he is quite intimidating himself. If you are a student that appreciates structure, do NOT take this class. I really struggled to keep up with his lectures as he talks so fast and so excitedly without a powerpoint or notes to orient him. I would have loved this class as an optional lecture series or something like that, but to take this for a grade was not enjoyable and I am lucky I got a B.