Courses Intro to Philosophy: Knowledge and Reality or Philosophy: Practical Logic?

[JoshGuthrie]

Which course do you guys think would be more interesting/helpful for a physics major? They are both 100 level, Intro consists of two lectures and a seminar a week, and Practical Logic consists of a three hour lecture once a week.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Whichever has the most writing.

 

[quickquestion]

Both sound like classes that could be potentially interesting.

What I would do is less focus on the class descriptions, and more focus on who the professors are going to be. Go to ratemyprofessor and see what the professors will be like.

 

[Dishsoap]

Both sound like classes that could be potentially interesting.

What I would do is less focus on the class descriptions, and more focus on who the professors are going to be. Go to ratemyprofessor and see what the professors will be like.

I second this. Philosophy courses are either some of the most interesting courses you will take, or the most boring and useless. The deciding factor is the professor.

 

[alan2]

Logic. It is sorely lacking in undergraduates.

 

[StatGuy2000]

I second this. Philosophy courses are either some of the most interesting courses you will take, or the most boring and useless. The deciding factor is the professor.

I agree with this, and not just for philosophy classes, but all humanities classes. The value of such courses is highly dependent on the professor.

However, there is a caveat -- one of the issues with sites like ratemyprofessor is that there may be a potential bias involved in terms of the types of responses that "students" enter. Students who may have an axe to grind against a professor (say, for giving a grade that the student may deem unfair, no matter how justified the professor's actions may be), will be disproportionately likely to judge the professor on the site negatively, whereas students who have had a positive experience may not necessarily be inclined to respond as such.

Furthermore, how does sites like ratemyprofessor prevent trolling among supposed "students" who have not taken a class with a given professor (or who may not even be enrolled in the college/university)? These issues may be lessened if there are multiple reviews of a given professor, but not entirely.