From Medievals to Rationalists.

No Prerequisites

5

Units

Optional

Grading

1, 2, 3

Passtime

None

Level Limit

Letters and science

College
GEs Area E Euro Trad Writing
Unlocks PHIL 160
ZYLSTRA S J
Stephen Zylstra
4.2
26 reviews

Lecture

BUCHN1920
M W
09:30 AM - 10:45 AM
86 / 120

Sections

SH 5617
M
18:00 PM - 18:50 PM
30 / 30 Full
SH 5617
M
19:00 PM - 19:50 PM
15 / 30
PHELP1444
W
18:00 PM - 18:50 PM
30 / 30 Full
ILP 4105
W
19:00 PM - 19:50 PM
11 / 30
Winter 2024 . Zylstra S J
ILP 2302
M W
09:30 AM - 10:45 AM
See All
PHIL 20B Zylstra S J Winter 2024 Total: 112
PHIL 20B Zylstra S J Winter 2023 Total: 109
See All
26
4.2
PHIL20B . Zylstra S J 5 Months Ago

Don't take this class for an easy GE. Zylstra is great, but the readings are mandatory and enforced by lecture quizzes. The course is graded heavily on three evenly-spaced non-cumulative exams. The TA's split up portions of the test to grade, which makes the course slightly unfair. If you have a good TA you'll be fine, but you need to work for it.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHIL20B . Zylstra S J 6 Months Ago

Professor Zylstra is an amazing person and lecturer. He clearly shows that he cares about what he is teaching and cares for the success of the students. With that said, this course is uninteresting and contains lots of reading. There are three exams (not cumulative), and one major writing assignment. As long as you do the readings you will be fine.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHIL20B . Zylstra S J 7 Months Ago

Professor Zylstra is such a fun guy. He is so charismatic and genuinely interested in the topics he teaches. He breaks down the dense readings very well and makes the subject matter very digestable. There are iclickers every class on the readings but they're usually very simple. We also had 3 non-cumulative exams which were pretty straightforward!

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHIL20B . Zylstra S J 8 Months Ago

Prof Zylstra is awesome! The class content can be difficult and the readings can be dense, but his slides in class explain them well & thoroughly. Really interesting material if you like phil. Difficult class if you're inexperienced w/ it. 3 exams w/ mcq & 2 long answers. The one essay is graded tough, just like any writing is in PHIL.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHIL20B . Zylstra S J 1 Year, 5 Months Ago

Since the readings in the Phil class were quite difficult to understand, his lectures super concisely broke down arguments in the readings and made philosophy very approachable. However, essay grading in the philosophy department is kinda scuffed, so if you want an A, make sure you're fairly good at writing compared to your peers.

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
PHIL20B . Zylstra S J 1 Year, 7 Months Ago

short iclicker quizzes every lecture, so make sure to read. papers were quite easy, I'm just terrible at writing. prof does talk a lot, but it's also philosophy sooo. TA Patrick was really helpful, when I asked for help with reviewing for the final, so I regret not asking for help for the midterm papers too. pretty fair course for a GE

0 helpful 0 unhelpful
See all 26 reviews
PHIL 1
213 / 240 Enrolled
Short Introduction to Philosophy
Judith Green 1.9
M W
08:00 AM - 09:15 AM
29.6% A
PHIL 3
240 / 240 Full
Critical Thinking
T B A
T R
08:00 AM - 09:15 AM
51.0% A
PHIL 4
240 / 240 Full
Introduction to Ethics
Aaron Zimmerman 4.0
M W
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
31.3% A
PHIL 7
120 / 120 Full
Biomedical Ethics
Li Yuchen
T R
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
62.1% A
PHIL 100B
60 / 60 Full
Theory of Knowledge
Kevin Falvey 2.9
T R
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
27.0% A
PHIL 100F
62 / 60 Full
Introduction to the Philosophy of Science
Charry J D
M W
09:30 AM - 10:45 AM
51.3% A