PHIL 3320

Professor Langsam is super nice, and he makes difficult readings pretty easy. To succeed in the course you need only to listen to what he says in lecture and study exactly that, though doing the readings does help a lot. Two things to note: 1) I'm pretty sure it's pretty much impossible to get an A in this class, though it's not hard to get an A-, and 2) the lectures can be pretty boring. But if you're into really theoretical, abstract philosophy, there's a lot to like here.

This class one of the more challenging philosophy courses I've taken at UVA. If you are a philosophy major and have the choice between epistemology and metaphysics, then I would choose whichever one that you find more interesting. However, the professor does play a big role in how interesting the material is presented. Prof Langsam was a great lecturer and was very knowledgable about the material. The readings were very heavy and uninteresting so I personally didn't enjoy this course purely for its source material. There is about 2 longer papers and 1 medium length papers and a final. He is a tough paper grader but if you do the readings and thoroughly understand the material then you'll get a B. His final was exactly like the review sheet he handed out so there weren't any surprises there.

Overall, I stopped doing the readings mid semester but I attended lecture as much as possible. The lecture notes you take will be your saving grace in this class.

I love philosophy but would not recommend this course. The material was dry and very conceptual. Epistemology as I've studied it elsewhere has interesting moral and metaphysical issues, but we did not focus on these much. Langsam is intelligent and enthusiastic, the material was the problem.