PHIL 1730

A very average class. I stopped reading half way through and it turned out fine because she goes over what you need to know in class. TAs grade everything so go to them for office hours for help on assignments. Jeffrey Carroll is the best TA at UVA.

She is a joke. Completely unprofessional, she shows up 3-10 minutes late to class every time, no exceptions. She will give some stupid excuse, knowing full well you showed up to her job way before she did. She is not a cool person. I had the best TA of all time and the slides were all uploaded to Collab, so I stopped going to lecture altogether after the first exam and still got an A. I thought the class would expose me to various topics and help me figure out what I wanted to do here, but I just learned one thing: Stay away from Stangl.

Very easy class but grading was not the easiest. Not worth taking unless you want a class that you can skip. Professor Stangl got off-topic every class, and the material covered was not presented well. The readings are interesting, but there is no reason to attend lecture.

Interesting class and pretty easy. Prof. Stangl lectures really well and provides a lot of examples to help you understand the ideas that various philosophers present. The first half of the semester is focused on Aristotle, Kant, and Mill, and the latter half is about modern philosophers and contemporary topics. You don't have to do the readings if you attend the lectures or read the powerpoints. There are two papers throughout the course, both of which graded by your TA, so your grade is pretty dependent on if the TA. The midterm & final have a study guide, and the questions are directly from the study guides. Overall, really interesting and easy class!

This was an interesting course and Stangl is very knowledgable. However, your grade completely depends on your TA and Lily wasn't very helpful or clear when it came to what she wanted as far as grading went. The exams have study guides so your main concern is papers. Some of the readings are pretty dense. The powerpoint doesn't really go in depth so attending lecture does help but isn't essential. It also isn't the end of the world if you don't do the readings.

Well I literally didn't go to lecture nor did I read for the entire semester and still got an A-, so there's that. All of the notes are online and don't cover everything you need for the finals or papers, but it's enough to point you in the right direction for night before research and googling.

You get the prompts to the midterm and final 2 weeks prior to the exam, so literally just google around for those and you'll be fine. Only read the work that was assigned for papers and was fine. Lecture is useless by all means. This class is really all about your TA because they are the ones grading everything. I was on great terms with my TA and he helped me a lot with my papers and prepping for the final and midterm - shocker I was fine when it came to grades because of this.

Bottom line: If you need to fill a humanities credit with an A and don't wanna work for it, you're in the right place.

The content was interesting but DID NOT like the professor. She went off on so many tangents and wasted a lot of time in class answering questions. We had very little time for the the material that was actually really interesting.

Professor Stangl's class was a very solid introduction to moral philosophy. WHOEVER IS READING THIS, DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM. It has nearly nothing to do with politics. Alternatively, if you want an application of the works of Mill, Kant, and Aristotle to our daily lives and moral dilemmas, then this class might be for you! If you are a competent writer, you can get away with not reading, which drastically reduces the amount of effort you have to put forth. Overall, I recommend this class to those who want actual philosophical perspectives to be built into their arsenals when debating their drunk relatives at the next family gathering.

Philosophy is NOT an easy class, no matter what you think when you sit through the first couple lectures. The first half of this class, especially, is kind of tough to understand, although Stangl tries her best to give real-life examples to make it easier. The second half is actually pretty interesting, and the midterm and final aren't too bad, especially because the questions that are going to be asked are on a study guide she gives out a week before. Still, this class is pretty dependent on the TA you get, because they do all the grading and it's up to them how critical they want to be of your arguments. Sheung Tak Lam was pretty great, so if you're taking this in spring or fall 14, you should definitely look out for him!

Professor Stangl is great and interesting to listen to most of the time, but the course is almost all about morals and virtues. All grading is done by TA and TAs vary drastically in leniency, mine was pretty tough so it may have skewed my opinion of the class. Overall though, I would probably take a class with Stangl again, but wouldn't recommend this one.

Professor Stangl is a gem. However don't take this class if you want to learn absolutely anything about political philosophy; it is currently two weeks until the semester's end and we have yet to discuss it for even a single class. Spent an incredibly long time on the moral philosophy of happiness, which sounds nice but is really redundant. Things picked up a little once we got to Mill, and applied it was interesting, but you will talk about abortion for so long. TA Derek is really odd in his views but I can skip all week's lectures and still understand everything if I go to discussion. Stangl is funny but gets off-topic sometimes. You don't need to read if you look at the powerpoints and go to discussion. Good class but not what I was expecting at all.

Dr. Stangl is a really engaging lecturer and she is really funny and fun to listen to. The grading is really fair, and if you pay attention or do the readings (you can just do one or the other and still be fine), you will get a good grade for sure. The most important part of the class is discussion, because that is when all the different aspects of the week's lecturing come together and make sense, so also make sure you pay close attention during these. Adam Blincoe is a great TA. Overall, not the most fun class but definitely interesting and worthwhile taking.

Don't need to read any of the books/etc. Stangl goes over EVERYTHING in lecture, just make sure you attend. Adam Blincoe as a TA is good-- very interesting guy and he knows his stuff about philosophy. 1st paper and midterm are easy, just study and an A/A- is easily feasible. Take the class, good intro to phil class

Can be uninteresting at times, Tirrigan was a fantastic TA. Make sure you go to discussion sections, but lectures can be replaced with slides from online.

The first part of the class was interesting, but halfway through the semester it started to get pretty boring. Jason, the TA, is helpful if you go to him during office hours, but comments on the papers aren't the most helpful. Not the most difficult class, but I'm still not sure if I would take it again.

Professor was not helpful and its not worth going to the lectures, but Mahlan was extremely helpful and you could not go to lectures or read and still understand the material if he was your TA. Papers are somewhat difficult, but the midterm/final are not too bad.

Professor Stangl really makes the class easier and is great at explaining and good with class interaction; however, she can get stuck on a point for a very long time and drag it on and get very behind, and gets really repetitive sometimes. She is still a great professor. I also had John Mahlan as my TA, and he was amazing. He was really good with any questions and really helpful with essays and had review sessions for the midterms (which she gives you 12 possible topics, and you will get 3 on the midterm/final, and you need to pic 2. John went over every single one and what he wanted us to write for the answer to get an A on the midterm).

The powerpoints are basically rehashing the readings, so you can do one or the other. Your TA will make or break the class-- section is basically where you actually learn what happened in lecture that week. More emphasis is placed on the papers than the midterm and final, so learn how to write a good philosophy paper and you're set.

He explains things and seems to be a hit with most people. He will go over papers before they are due and he will help any way he can. He also tries to connect things to your life, which is needed in philosophy.

The readings for the class are normally interesting, and as long as you stay on top of that, it's not too tricky.

Ben Richards is a great TA, Prof. Stangle is a pretty good lecturer. I think this class was interesting and relatively easy because a lot of the issues we talked about were relevant to every day life (i.e. abortion, animal rights, euthanasia, etc.) and even if you didn't have a strong opinion either way, it was nice to be able to hear arguments relevant to real life things in today's world, which you don't always get in philosophy. Overall, highly recommend, especially if you can get Ben as your TA.

Do the reading, attend lecture and GET A GOOD TA, it's essential. Go to their office hours for help on the papers. It's interesting but Stangl is not a good lecturer.

Just get a good TA. This class does not talk about "meaning of life" or that sort, it talks about MORALITY. So beware if you're looking for a class to figure out the meaning of life.

The class itself is not so bad and even interesting at times. Split between the theories and then application of those theories into more specific topics: Abortion, euthanasia, etc. I think your TA matters a lot in how you are graded. I think Jason graded fair among everyone in his sections, but harsher than the other TAs.

I found her lectures interesting but they're not necessary for a good grade. She basically summarizes the readings through a powerpoint, which is posted online. The midterm and final are straight forward too, she chooses a few essay questions from the study guide she gives you ahead of time. The bulk of the grade is from the 3 papers you have to write...just make sure you know how to lay out an argument for a philosophy paper well, and have a solid argument/analysis. My TA helped me alot with that.

Although the professor comes across as stupid, she is pretty smart. The tests and papers are very fair. It is a straight forward, reasonably interesting, good class, lectures are a little boring though. Ben is a great TA.

My TA was horrible but other than that the class wasn't that bad. If you do take this class, do NOT, under any circumstances, take it with Ben Richards. He's a really hard grader but the discussions in and of themselves aren't that bad

The entire course is on the powerpoints that she gives you; lectures consist of her expanding upon these points. Going to class isn't really necessary since you'll also review everything Stangl taught in your discussion section. Basically, be able to write solid philosophy papers and you'll do fine. The tests consist of essay topics that you are given beforehand

Getting an A is definitely attainable, especially if you attend class. I didn't (like, ever), and I still got a B. Stangl is pretty funny and she really explains the arguments well.

This class had a lot of reading and a few papers but as long as you kept up with the reading and went to discussion, it wasn't very difficult to get a good grade. The lecture's are very boring and the teacher basically just reads directly off of a powerpoint but the lectures are also very straight forward. They are basically summaries of the assigned readings. Stangl also gives out study guides for each test so you know exactly what to expect. Overall, this is a good course to take and the material can get pretty interesting.

Extremelyyyyyy boring. Never went to class. Can easily get a B if you go to discussion and read enough to write your papers.

Stangl lays out the entire course in her powerpoints.