PHIL 3500

Professor Barnes is clearly a very smart person but she continuously takes controversial viewpoints as truth and neglects to engage with opposing opinions. I myself am extremely liberal, but have benefited in most classes at UVa from professors who provide balanced viewpoints and look at the multifaceted issues surrounding different topics. There were times in this class when Barnes outright laughed at conservative viewpoints.

Also, her grading scale is absolutely absurd, and she neglects to share it with the class. She maintained all semester that her grading scale was the 'standard UVa scale'. When I asked for clarification after grades were out, she said that actually an 88 was a B 'on her scale' which is a full 2 points off from the scale the vast majority of departments (including other courses in philosophy) use.

Overall, I would not recommend this course unless you are obsessed with philosophy, absurdly liberal to the point of being close-minded and/or do not care about your GPA.