Voula Tsouna

43 reviews
Get ready to read Inspirational Graded by few things Accessible outside class Skip class? You won't pass. Amazing lectures Respected Lecture heavy Tough grader Participation matters Clear grading criteria Tests? Not many Would take again Gives good feedback Beware of pop quizzes So many papers
Past quarters
PHIL 297A
8 / 15 Enrolled
Seminar in the History of Philosophy
Voula Tsouna 3.8
T
16:00 PM - 18:50 PM
81.9% A
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PHIL156 . 2 Years Ago

Second time taking a class by this professor and it's always engaging and interesting. There are a lot of readings but I mostly attended lecture instead of reading everything.

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PHIL156 . 3 Years Ago

I'm an alumnus of UCSB and Voula Tsouna is hands down the most inspirational and brilliant professor I've ever had. You will not succeed if you don't read. She will not be happy if you ask a question whose answer is obvious from the reading. Come to every class prepared to ask questions and raise objections, and you'll be duly rewarded.2 classes

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PHIL152 . 3 Years Ago

Professor Tsouna is brilliant. She is competent (not only in Greek philosophy, but also history and culture), accessible, and accommodating. The content was philosophically rigorous, so I recommend attending lecture. Also, there was a good amount of reading, which one may want to tackle strategically.

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PHIL20A . 4 Years Ago

Tsouna is a incredibly knowledgeable of her field and holds students to a high standard because of that. However, she recognizes the difficulty of her class and offers a lot of grade bumps, too. The graded assignments are really just some essays and a final, so make sure you start those in advance and you're fine.

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PHIL156 . 4 Years Ago

Tsouna teaches the tougher subjects of philosophy, but that doesn't make her a hard prof. She is an Athens native, and despite the thick accent, she teaches with passion and is the leading expert in her field, so its definitely worth taking a class with her. If you go to office hours she is more than helpful and only wants to see you do well.

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PHIL120 . 4 Years Ago

This professor is insanely interesting and she is why I switched from a history major to a philosophy major. Really interesting lectures. Sit at the front to be sure you can hear and go to her office hours. She only teaches in the fall I think so get a class first quarter! I heavily recommend this class for anyone if reading isn't a chore.

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PHIL152 . 4 Years Ago

Great professor for an upper div. class. She assigns a lot of primary source reading which can be overwhelming and dense, but lectures help break it down. Her lectures are very interesting and well done and I ended up enjoying the subject more than I thought! 10 ish prompts, choose 1 for paper, and 6 prompts choose 2 essay questions for final.

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PHIL152 . 6 Years Ago

Professor Tsouna is so sweet and kind to her students (if you read and know whats going on) if not she can be dismissive and seem cold. Lectures can be circular so you need to ask questions.

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PHIL20A . 6 Years Ago

Very passionate about philosophy and has lectures well ordered. she is engaging and allows people to ask question in class despite the large size of the class. The papers were tough, but the grades really depended on the TA. The average on the first paper was a C+ and the second a C-. I love philosophy so I've done well so far, but Voula helped.

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PHIL20A . 7 Years Ago

Tsouna was a nice lady and meant well, but it just didn't work out. Lectures always seem disorganized, dry, and it was almost impossible to take notes because she'd just talk in circles. You can find all the textbooks online for free, and the final is open book. I didn't go to lecture or read at all in the second half of the course and got an A-.

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PHIL20A . 8 Years Ago

She made the coursework very interesting but she is a very slow talker (that can be a good thing and a bad thing, I guess). I learned a lot more in section because we broke down the larger concepts she goes through in class.

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20A . 9 Years Ago

Two major essays regarding themes and ideas from readings, so don't forget to read. She's very sweet but can sometimes have hard-to-read handwriting. Don't be scared to ask questions, she's very nice.

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