PHIL 1000

Terrible class. Extremely boring. Not organized at all. Not worthwhile.

Boring lectures but not much work. Lots of people don't go to lecture. You probably don't need to read the text book. I had a good TA who relayed information well enough that I knew material before his one question 20 minute quizzes every other week. If you don't mind writing two 7-ish page papers, it can be a workless B or A if you put a little effort forth.

Great class! Professor Secada is a brilliant lecturer with great command of the subject matter. He makes the wide depth of material in this class relatively accessible to students. There are several quizzes and two papers throughout the term. Quizzes are doable as long as you do the reading, and papers are great for delving deeper into particular topics. Derek Lam is also a great TA, so make sure to sign up for his discussion section if you can.
Would highly recommend this class!

Professor Secada was a pretty boring/disorganized lecturer. He would try to follow a general outline, but I found that he tended to bounce back and forth between topics a lot which made the class really confusing. My TA helped me a lot with the material and gave useful hints as to what the quiz would be able. I think that setting the standard at a 98% for an A in this class is ridiculous, especially considering that it's an intro class. It was a pretty interesting class, but I would recommend taking it with another professor if you have the chance.

This course cemented my interest in philosophy, and now I'm a philosophy major. The ideas were thoroughly fascinating—the course was themed around self-knowledge, so we read Plato, Descartes, and Green among others. It felt like a great survey of philosophical history. The quizzes/tests were 30 or 60 minute response questions, and they weren't very hard as long as you have a decent grasp of what was taught. The 9-page term paper didn't have very much guidance at all, so it was a bit stressful for my first college philosophy paper, but when I finished it I felt satisfied. People have said they don't quite like Professor Secada, but I didn't think he was bad because his lectures were interesting even if enigmatic at times. Overall, not a hard course, but a great introduction to the subject that I highly recommend. Nathan Frank was a nice TA, but he could have been a little more organized. #tCFfall2021