Professor Carlson is by far my favorite professor. I really enjoy that he does not use slides but rather engages with his students during the lecture. I felt by the end of the year, I genuinely knew the guy. TAKE THIS CLASS. I learned more with Carlson than I have in any other course, you just have to be willing to put the work in.

Many of us took the class after seeing his welcoming personality on day one. But with time, you will get fed up because professor's grading style is very unfair and does not enable creativity. He does not like it when you change the words that he said even slightly. That is a sign that he does not know what he is doing. Take another class.

If you have the chance to take this class, DEFINETLY DO! But if you are anticipating a busy quarter, DEFINETLY DO NOT! This class is very difficult and only rewarding if you are able to put the time into engaging with the readings. Prepare to make yourself into a funny character for Prof Carlson to play games with or do not speak in class.

If you enjoy writing and philosophy, you'll love this class. Took it last year and I still connect concepts we learned with current events and general happenings. Carlson involves students in his "lectures", which are more like talks if anything, making him very personable. Also Shelby was an amazing TA.

My favorite professor. The entire class is set up like a lecture, but is not carried out like one. He doesn't have a powerpoint slide, he just talks to us. But he talks like a conversation, he is extremely open to interruptions to discuss what students think about the topic at hand. He is a lot of fun to listen to. Lot's of reading.

I took this class for a GE and it was quite challenging. However, the key is to do all the readings (no textbook but the reader) and understand the concept of each philosopher. I skipped quite a few classes but I still ended up with an A in class by paying attention in section and doing all the readings. Overall, he is a great, funny professor!