PHIL 1410

Cargile is a really good guy. He genuinely wants people to "get it", but that usually means just agreeing with him. He wrote the text, so it's pretty hard to dispute his rulings on things. You'll get a decent grade as long as you at least TRY to nail down the answer that he's looking for. All in all, the class is really low pressure: no homework, just reading and in-class group discussions. Midterms are take-home and open-book, which is super helpful. I can't say I learned very much, but I enjoyed the class nonetheless!

TAKE THIS CLASS!! Professor Cargile is truly amazing and passionate about this subject! It's cool because he's been at the university since the 60's. He comes off as strict but is actually very understanding. There are ample office hours and he really just wants you to understand this material. Basically, if you respect him he will respect you. You get as much out of the class as you put into it. There are 3 take-home tests and one in class final. The homework is not graded, but you end up discussing the problems in class in small groups. All groupwork is done in class. You can kind of get by without reading. But again, you get what you put in. Readings are short and will only help you understand the material better. While taking this class, I feel like I'm getting a real university education. Cargile is experienced and knows what he's talking about.

Before taking this class I considered myself fairly able at logic and deducing fallacies. Sometimes, the class is what I had in mind as far as critical thinking and fun is concerned, but most of the material is dry and unnecessary. Working through problems in groups during class, it often becomes apparent that there may be more than one answer to a question. However, on tests Cargile just wants to see whatever he thinks the answer is. He is the only source of information on what he teaches (aside from the extremely unhelpful course packet that he wrote himself): by the second test I was unable to find about 80% of the material we were learning online from other sources. If you can't stand Cargile's boring lectures then you're basically screwed since he's the only one who knows the material, apparently in the whole world.

As far as grades are concerned, the smartest kids in my class got B-'s after the first test. The tests are two day open book take-homes, but don't think that that makes them easy. Even if the whole class had colluded in taking it, I doubt we would have gotten over an A- since the questions are so ridiculous. The final is a three hour closed book exam which will sink you faster than a U-Boat in 1942.

If you really have an interest in pre-law or logic (as I thought I did) take this class, but take it pass-fail. Maybe if this class hadn't sunk my GPA I would've enjoyed it.

DON'T TAKE THIS CLASS FOR A GRADE, IT WILL SLAUGHTER YOUR GPA. This is coming from a student with almost exclusively As on his/her transcript, you'll be lucky to get out of this class with a B.

I'll begin with the good parts. Professor Cargile is a very nice man and he truly cares about each individual student in the class, which is of course made easier by its small size, another pleasant aspect of the class. I also generally found lectures helpful and interesting and more often than not time seemed to fly by.

Then there are the parts that aren't so good. The biggest problem I had was that on the three tests that make up half your grade, the questions are incredibly hard and he doesn't give partial credit. These tests are take-home and open book, but they'll often take 6 hours plus to complete and are written in a way to make sure that open books and notes do very little for you. The problem with the tests is primarily that the questions on there are significantly harder than anything you go over in class or that you find in the practice problem section. Don't believe me? Over half the students failed the second test. You do get to take a retest, but the highest grade for that is a C, so if you're looking at competitive grad programs or the Comm school etc. that doesn't really do all that much for you.

Another problem with his tests is that you get no partial credit, which may seem fair, but one tiny mistake which does not alter the problem in any significant way, results in no credit whatsoever, significantly harming grades.

However, I personally found the final exam much easier than I found the tests, perhaps because you only get one or two problems from each chapter and thus they cannot be overly complicated and if you don't understand one concept, it won't fatally harm your grade. Anyway, I personally found the final relatively easy.

You do learn a lot about logic and you can apply it to discussions outside the classroom in ways that I found unexpected, so the class is helpful. However, I can't emphasize this enough, DO NOT TAKE IT FOR A GRADE.

Homework is non-existent and reading usually isn't too bad, I'd say it was rarely more than 1 hour per week, but those take-home tests have the potential to destroy an entire week, so they make up for that.

Professor Cargile is one of the best humans in existence. He's such a nice/funny/caring guy, so great that I've been looking for more classes to take with him even though it is by far and away my hardest class. The course is basically three take homes and a final, but the take homes take me between 10-15 hours and you get two days to do them (really hard). That being said, he has the most office hours of any professor I have heard of, and he still takes appointments outside of them. He does want you to do well, the course is just really hard. I did learn a lot, though, and I definitely would take it again.

Overall this course is hard, but as time goes by I found some ways to study. So here are some advice I could give.
1) Don't struggle at the reading when you read it the first time. Just scan it and get a general idea beforehand of classes and you are good. After the class you could review the reading and it would definitely make more sense.
2) Ask Professor Cargile if any content doesn't seem to make sense to you. He would be very, very patient about your questions and overall a very good person to talk to.
3) Don't give up even if you screwed up in your first test. I got a B in my first test, A/B for my second, and A/A- for my third. So things do get better.
4) If you want a Aor A- in this class, find the right way to study before the first test, since he seems to take the average of scores. My advice would be just ask everything you don't seem to understand, and review the sample questions and questions on the textbook.
Good luck!

Professor Cargile is an AMAZING professor and just overall genial guy that everyone should take a class with before leaving UVA. While the course doesn't demand much from students outside the classroom besides a little memorization, the 3 take home tests take a considerable amount of time to complete due to the rigor of the material. As the ratings show, the course is one of the most difficult courses I have ever encountered, but Cargile offers one thousand opportunities to meet with him for help. He geniunely cares about his students and is incredibly patient when answering the myriads of questions students have. This is a really interesting course--highly recommend!!

Professor Cargile is one of the best professors I've had the privilege of taking a course with. He has over 60 years of experience teaching philosophy at UVA and is one of the most cordial, respectful, and thought provoking people I've met. He knows the material exceptionally well and is able to apply it using many examples that make it easy to comprehend the different forms of logic. There is little to no work outside of class, only an explanation of new concepts as an introduction to the chapter. Most or all of the work in a given class is used to complete example problems in order to get used to the forms and explore how to draw information from arguments. The take home tests, while all open note, are rigorous and demand a knowledge of the material. The final is closed note and take approximately 2.5 out of the 3 hours given to complete. While this class is challenging, it's a fantastic course to learn about common fallacies and arguments that people make and is extremely applicable to life outside the classroom. I would definitely recommend taking a class with Professor Cargile at some point during your time at UVA as he is one of the best.