PHIL 2420

I thought “this can’t be that hard” “it’s good for the lsat” “I’m not average, I’m super smart so I will do well”… I am no different than everyone else. This was quite literally the hardest class I have ever taken at UVA. For a 2000 level course this is crazy. I felt like I really understood but somehow the exams did not reflect this. Only take this is you have to. I took it for fun and I really wish I had not. It’s not worth the damage it will do to your gpa. It’s interesting, but when will you ever use it if you’re not computer science?? Never! DONT DO IT.

Professor Cameron is a really great instructor; he uses modern examples (especially pop-culture and modern American political figures) to make the material more accessible. There are ample practice problems to work on before discussion sections every week that are really effective ways to prepare for tests, and several office hours as well for students who need extra help with certain topics. I do come from a slightly more math-y background than typical philosophy majors, so maybe that's why I adamantly disagree with those who say the class is too hard / must be avoided. But the material is more logic and reasoning than any kind of traditional math, so it really just comes down to memorizing the few rules of how the languages of predicate and quantifier logic work and being able to think logically about certain problems / statements. Overall, this class will probably be easy for you if you're coming from a CS or some other math-y background, but you may struggle a little if you're not used to thinking with specific logical rules.

I signed up for this because I like logic, debates, and proving a case. I figured it would be some sort of pre-law type class. I didn’t do my research. Don’t be fooled by the philosophy title, this is a math class. Extensive, complicated, depressing math. Professor Ross is cool, but that’s about as good as it gets. I would never recommend this class unless you are genuinely passionate for symbolic logic or need this as a pre-req. There isn’t leniency, it’s 3 exams each worth a third of your grade. An 8 am class. I remember a time when classes would have participation, attendance, homework, and extra credit. But all you have are 3 exams, each three hours, equal in weight, with no curve. He will give you credit if you get the answer wrong but the process right, but the process is the difficult part. If you miss a lecture you’re screwed, so if you dare to persist, take advantage of office hours and the TA, and ask questions during discussion. Good luck.

This is the hardest class I've ever taken at UVA, but my biggest weakness is math. The course is basically an intro to discrete math: the first trimester is learning QL and translating english into it; the second trimester is predicate logic and predicate trees (the hardest stuff I've done in my life tbh); and the last trimester is kinda chill with just natural deduction.

Grading is just those three tests equally weighted, and some discretional participation marking from lecture attendance and discussion attendance. Ethan is an awesome TA and professor Ross is brilliant as well - there's just no way to go around how difficult this stuff can be. You are given 90 min for each test and points are racked up for accuracy, he does give partial credit for things that make sense but are wrong.

If you miss a single lecture, you may very well come back feeling like you're drowning. Even if you're good at this stuff, make sure to attend every lecture, discussion, and office hours for **anything** that doesn't make sense to you.

Each week you get problem sets for discussion - these are very important and helped a LOT when studying for each test. Do them. A lot of people drop this class or fail to get a C/C+, I was somehow able to squeak by and get CR during COVID, god bless.

I definitely don't recommend this class, but it's required if you're a Philosophy major. Good luck

Not an enjoyable class for me. I would only recommend taking this if you need it and have no other options. The only grades were the midterm and the final. The midterm is easy and the final is difficult. There is discussion every week that can only hurt your grade if you don't go. The discussion questions are very useful to study for the midterm and final though, so you should make sure you go so you get the right answers. Ross curves the class so make sure you are ahead of the curve. If you like discrete math, then you will like this class. If you do not, do not take this class. I am a cog sci major and I recommend to other cog sci majors not concentrating in philosophy/CS to try and find a different philosophy class to fulfill the requirement because this will cause you a lot of stress, not in the amount of work throughout the year but in the content/final grade. Ross is a nice guy though and helpful in his office hours.

This class isn't really all that difficult. The only qualms I had were that it was pretty slow and boring (took a few lectures to go over truth tables which is just a lot) and the grading. The syllabus outlines the grading as 30% midterm, 60% final, and 10% discussion. But Cameron didn't actually give you 10% for discussion. He took AWAY points if you didn't go to discussion, so it was more of a negative thing than giving you credit if you went. Also, the class doesn't use actual percentages. So you don't really know how well you're doing in the class until you get your final grade. I went to all discussions and got a typical-A (~93) on both the final and midterm and ended up with a B+ in the course because I wasn't in the 90 percentile of my peers. I found this to be extremely unfair grading especially since none of this was ever mentioned before. This class isn't hard but the grading isn't fair and it makes it so even if you think you're doing well, you might not end up with the grade you expect. The material was also kinda dry and Cameron uses a lot of political examples which was just distracting.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS UNLESS YOU HAVE TO. Well, at least that's what I think. Prof. Cameron is really nice but unless you like math this is definitely not the class for you. I only took this because it was a major requirement and struggled with it the whole semester. My TA Adam was fantastic but the material just really didn't click with me. The midterm is fair and worth 30% of your grade, but the final was HARD and worth 60% of your grade. Even though there was a curve the second half of the class is just really hard to grasp (and even I thought the first half was…). This is not going to be a class that helps your GPA unless you are in the top 10% of the class. Prof. Cameron is really nice and I can see how if you are interested in logic it would be great but that's just not me. So if you are on the fence think carefully before you enroll.

This course is probably more similar to a math-proof class than a philosophy class. I liked Professor Cameron as a professor and Andrei as a TA. Both of them were very through in explaining the material. Even when I didn't get it immediately, they were generous with their time and re-explained everything to me during office hours/appointments. I also liked how there was minimum amount of work each week (max three hours for homework, if you choose to do it).

I only have two issues with the class. First, because there was only the midterm and final, how you do on these two exams matter a lot to your grade. I didn't do well on my midterm because I was unprepared, and that made it very difficult for me to do well in the class. Second, the grading distribution is also pretty brutal, considering the following metrics:
95-99th percentile: A
90th-94th: A-
75th-89th: B+
45th-75th: B
30th-44th: B-
20th-29th: C+
10th-19th: C
5th-9th: C-
bottom 5: D or F.
The grading is purely based on how well you do relative to your classmates. So if you want an A in this class, you must score in the top 5 percentile of the class. Needlessly to say, this is tough to do.

That said, if you are remotely interested in symbolic logic, take this class! Professor Cameron is very nice, and if you go to his office hours, you could also ask him about other topics and he would be happy to explain them to you. In addition, he usually brings his dog, so if you desperately misses your dog at home (like I was), go to his office hours!

This class content was really interesting but also challenging at the same time. There is a midterm, final, and then participation in discussion sections. The content was pretty straightforward leading up to the midterm but afterwards, the topics started to become more difficult. My advice to people taking this class is to really use the TA and Cameron's office hours to seek out help because it can be so easy to get lost in the class and the final is worth a huge chunk of the overall grade. I would recommend Andrei as a TA because he was really passionate about the topics and did his best to make sure us students learned the information.

The class isn't bad but your grade depends on the midterm, the final, and discussion. So if you mess up on the midterm, you pretty much need to ace the final to get a decent grade. That, however, is the only downside to the class. It isn't hard and there's never any assignments except discussion question to do before discussion.

I personally thought this class was great. Understanding the basic laws of logic is a good skill to have and I found the subject matter fascinating.The material is not very difficult and Prof Cameron spends ample time on each section in lecture. He is more than willing to answer questions for any concepts you may find confusing and his responses are clear and to the point. Your entire grade for the class is based on one final, which can be intimidating, but the exam is fair and if you keep up with the material you should be fine. In addition, he administers a practice midterm half-way through the semester so you can get an idea of how you're doing and what you need to work on before the final. Overall an excellent class. If you have any interest in the logic I highly recommend taking it with Ross Cameron.