PHIL 1000

I'm just here to say Prof. Gertler is the loveliest person ever in the world!!! She is just super brilliant, warm, and sharp, and she is simply a really great philosopher. I do hope that I can take more of her classes. If she teaches metaphysics I would fall in love with metaphysics, if she teaches logic i would fall in love with logic.

#tCF2020

My TA was Nathan Frank, who was amazing and always helpful in office hours. Prof Gertler's asynchronous lectures were very clear and engaging, I loved them. The final was harder than expected, but not too bad (open note). It was short answer and identification. I got an A in the course. There were 2 essays, and you could revise one of them for a higher grade.

Overall it's not a hard class. The quizzes are graded on completion, and although some of the readings are pretty long and dense, Gertler's lectures do a good job of explaining them so you can honestly get away with just skimming the readings and listening to the lectures. The final is also fairly easy if you use the study guide Gertler provides. The hardest part is probably the essays and you definitely need to participate in the discussion section if you want a good participation grade. It's also annoying that they don't really post grades until the very end of the semester so you never clearly know where you stand grade-wise. Pretty easy to get an A-/B+ but much harder to get an A, especially with Gertler.

I really did not enjoy this class because my brain wasn't built for this but I needed to fulfill a graduation requirement. I'm a little biased since I hate philosophy but Professor Gertler explained concepts relatively well. At the beginning of the semester, I disliked my TA but my discussion group ended up with a new one halfway through the semester (shout out Nikolina) and I found it easier to pay attention and had more interest in the subject. If I could grade Nikolina she'd get an A+++. Quizzes for the readings are easy since they are solely graded on completion. Readings are extensive and time-consuming and further confused me, but after the first few weeks I learned I could just watch the lecture that went with the readings and I was fine. The only thing I would stress over were the essays (one w/ revision and one w/o). The final was relatively easy as long as you took notes during the recorded lectures. My biggest complaint was there was no way to track your grade, so it was mostly a guesstimate.

Because PHIL 1000 was asynchronous online this semester, the only interaction I had with Professor Gertler was essentially through recorded lecture videos, not counting the few times when she popped into our discussion session. PHIL 1000 is intended to be an introductory lecture course, with a discussion required. It mainly focuses on giving students a basic interpretation of philosophy, starting with Socrates, Plato, and Clifford and delving into more complicated works of Rawls, King, Boxhill, James, and Pereboom. In this course, you learn to think like a philosopher and think about things for yourself. If you don't like thinking about abstract concepts, this course IS NOT FOR YOU. Overall, Professor Gertler was great at explaining concepts in lecture, although the recorded lecture videos were sometimes longer than what the class would actually run to if it were in person (she speaks a bit slower). My TA's for discussion section were great; we went through a bit of a transition but shoutout to Nikolina Celtic and Fr. Ambrose Little who were pretty good at facilitating discussion! The work in this class involves reading the assigned pieces before the lecture (which can sometimes take a while because the language used by philosophers were at times difficult to understand).. You're expected to take your own notes on the readings, as well as during the lecture. These will be really helpful for the final exam. The only time I really stressed about this class was writing the papers. You end up writing two short papers in this class and revising one of them. The TA's grade. In general, this was a decent class that heightens your awareness of the application of philosophy in everyday life.

Professor Gertler was a pretty good professor. She made learning the material fun and interesting. I finished the class with a B but that was mainly because I got a B- on the first paper and did not attend discussion regularly. As long as you attend lecture, take notes, read (not that much reading per week), go to discussion, and start your paper early and consult your TA about it you should be able to pull out an A-/B+. The class grade consisted of: a midterm, 2 three-page papers, a final, and discussion participation/attendance.

My only complaint was that it was hard to get a feel for where you stood grade wise. The lectures were good, and the teacher is very accommodating.

He was ok but there are better professors out there

Easy class. Professor does not put powerpoint on collab, so take notes and write/type FAST.

If you enjoy philosophy, you will do well. My TA, Nick Frank, was enjoyable, interested in the subject, and a very fair grader. Most essay averages were B/B+. If you have any interest in the subject at all you will get B+/A- on essays.

Great introduction to major philosophy ideas. If you're taking this class because you are genuinely interested in learning more about this subject, you'll enjoy it. Professor Gertler breaks everything down in a way that is clearly understood by philosophy newbies. Since this is a lecture class, sections are essential to deeper understanding. I had Charles Rathkopf and I highly recommend him - able to draw out conversation from the class, provokes thought, fair grading.

You will probably not get an A in this course. The papers and midterms are graded by TA's who think they know everything. They want to make original arguments in papers, but grade you down when they don't understand. Don't take this with Gertler either. If you plan on fulfilling a requirement for this class, take a different one. Philosophy is interesting, but the grading distribution takes all of the fun out of the course.

SO sad there are so many poor reviews. Note that few of these people have any interest in philosophy, but instead took the course to "fulfill a requirement." This class essentially was the reason I became a philosophy major. Gertler is sometimes dry, but her ppt slides = SO HELPFUL (she GIVES you the argument). While it's tough to do an intro course, she does a nice job of going over the essential issues and packs in a wide range of philosophical thought. Both Gertler and Doug were more than happy to make themselves accessible for questions after class or during office hours. If you like philosophy, you will like this class. If you just need to get a requirement out of the way, then this might require a little too much effort than you're willing to give.

Easy, quick readings. 2 papers, 1 midterm and a final, not too difficult.

Class is boring overall, though it broaches a few thought-provoking topics. Don't really need to do the readings, just go to lecture and she breaks everything down (basically summarizes the readings)

This class is boring and Brie Gertler's powerpoints are pretty useless. She takes up most of the slides with quotes rather than emphasizing important points. You don't have to do the reading but the tests are annoying and so are the lectures.

Worst class I have ever taken at this University. Brie Gertler's class absolutely sucks and the topic is boring. The arguments in the class are really stupid and I had no interest in the subject, when I thought that I would have.

I really did not enjoy this class. I took it to fulfill my humanities requirement and I so regret this! I stopped reading the book because the arguments the writers were presenting completely escaped me. Gertler went over everything during lecture anyway, but the topics get more complicated and boring as the semester goes along. I felt I had a good understanding of all of the topics, but the essays are graded so harshly! The short answer questions on the midterm and final are easy, but its the essays during the semester that hurt my grade. Don't take this is you don't have to.

Lectures were great. She went over the reading point by point, but was not boring when doing so. Not much work involved, and you learn a lot