PHIL 1740

This course was relatively interesting and easy. There wasn't too much reading for a philosophy class (although some of it is dense) and you could definitely get away with skimming it for the final. I think literally 90% of the class didn't ever do the readings and did fine because Professor Stangl will go over the main arguments in lecture. She also posts her slides to Collab which have the arguments laid out, so a lot of people didn't go to lecture either. Lecture wasn't the most riveting, but Professor Stangl was clearly very knowledgeable about bioethics and legal issues in general. As someone who isn't majoring in philosophy or is pre-med, I still found the course material to be very interesting. The workload wasn't overwhelming either: there are three papers that are worth 65% of your grade. The first was only 500 words and the second and third were 1,200-1,500 words. I had Sam as a TA and didn't think he was a tough grader. The only other grades are discussion section (10%) and the final (25%). Professor Stangl released 11 possible essay prompts about a week before the exam, of which four would appear on the final. You could pick three out of the four to answer. The final exam will not be difficult as long as you prepare a few days in advance - I mostly used my lecture notes to reconstruct the main arguments of the readings and added some supplemental details from my own notes and did well.

Professor Stangl is awesome her lecture is very informative and interesting so it’s easy to pay attention, although you really do not need to pay that much attention to do well. I am really only writing this review and giving this class a bad grade to warn everyone to not sign up for TA Gabis discussion. He is by far the worst TA I have ever had here at UVA. This class was originally pretty interesting and I enjoyed going to it but after the first few grades came out I hated it. Gabi is an absurdly hard grader and I do not know anyone who has gotten a higher grade than a B+ on one of his assignments. Not only that but his discussion section each week was chaotic and I got nothing out of it. You are more likely to do better in this class not going to discussion then going at all. Gabi gave such harsh grades, the lowest I’ve ever received at this university, and then would give little to no feedback. He also never responds to emails so good luck getting in touch with him if you need clarification on anything. I’m pretty bummed as this was my first philosophy class at UVA, a subject I used to enjoy, and now I do not plan on ever taking one again.

I do recommend this course but avoid TA Gabi at all costs for any course.

Stangl was an engaging professor and the content was interesting. My TA however.... so brutal with grading for no reason and with no reasoning when asked about it. I took the class as a college scienceish requirement and did not enjoy it that much but I guess it was easier than other courses that count for the requirement.

Rebecca Stangl was a kind person and was clear in her explanations. She was awesome! My TA, on the other hand, made life hard. He graded ridiculously hard, even when you met with him. He was nice, but making the essays cater to his wishes was extremely difficult, even after talking to him about it. He really brought down the enjoyment of the class, so I do not recommend taking class with Blake.