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.

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.

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!

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.

On a weekly basis, the workload consists of a relatively short reading and sometimes a paragraph or peer review, graded for credit. Stephen is a great teacher and the tests are very easy if you use the study guide he provides and prepare.

Attendance in lecture & section mandatory. There are reading quizzes every day on iClickr, so you have to do the reading hw. The tests are 15mc and 2 frq, which are graded by the TAs. The TAs can be strict. You have to submit a very good paper (only 1 at the end of the quarter) to get an A on it.. Prof is nice and accesible outside of class.

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.

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

Very nice and kind professor; always responsible for students' inquiries; Perfect lecture and slides; have intellectually challenging reading but can effectively train your reading skills (perfect starter for philosophy major) Easy to get full credit for paper & final if you put efforts it; easy reading quizzes if you finish the readings.

Honestly Stephen did not do anything it was his ta's who did the dirty work. All I am gonna say is if you have Steven Canet you are f'd. That man literally said you would get a worse grade the later you turn it in BEFORE the due date just cuz he was getting married. Discussion were not engaging and he had a clear lack of preparation.

Zylstra is one of the best professors in the Phil department. He is super caring and wants his students to do well. 3 Papers and weekly reading questions. Clear grading criteria and easy to do well. Would definitely take again!

Good lectures that make the subject matter (which is sometimes dense and complicated) a lot easier to understand. Grade based on discussion forum posts, lecture quizzes (easy), 2 essays and a final. Workload was reasonable, and he was receptive to students feedback at the beginning and adjusted the course to accommodate us, which was nice.

He's very knowledgeable and is able to translate difficult language into easier to digest language. However, I would not take this course for an easy A. You basically have to score perfect on all the participation/quizzes, and get 91 on each essay (there are 2) and on the final. You have to work on the essays for a while, Learned a lot, though.

Basically the most flatly alright course/prof possible. He was a nice guy and willing to help if you went to office hours. Grade made up of lecture quizzes, discussion posts, 2 papers and final. The readings could be tedious and repetitive because of the period studied, and it was all about religion. Definitely many better Phil courses than this.

Great Phil Professor! Very clear lectures that are easy to follow which help with assigned readings. Also helpful feedback on papers. Go to office hours to discuss paper ideas. He is awesome, will love his class!

Loved this class! Gave me an introduction to Phil, which I eventually made my major! Professor Zylstra is very intriguing, I think the content is very interesting and he makes relevant. Lectures explain the readings in depth which is very helpful. I-clicker questions every class. 2 papers, optional midterm and final. definitely recommend!

Honestly a super fun class. He's really easy to approach and to ask questions about the material or just speculate in general. No textbook so good for your wallets and the material was really interesting. Has some fun illustrations to explain concepts during lecture. 20/10 recommend.

Professor Zylstra is very approachable in office hours and is very supportive of students who participate in class. However his lectures are extremely boring, especially if you do the readings and take notes (as the lectures merely clarify the readings). The reading quizzes are very easy. I wouldn't go to class if we didn't have reading quizzes.

The lectures weren't riveting but also not awful. Reading quizzes almost every class so you have to go but you can honestly guess on them or get help from ppl around you. 2 short essays that were graded fairly. (Optional) midterm & final. I didn't take the midterm but studied super hard for the final & found it pretty easy. Overall solid class.

He talked the class materials on point, and he explained the readings pretty clearly. His powerpoint slides are useful for preparing the tests, and reading quizzes at the beginning of classes are actually easy as long as you finish the readings before the lectures. The exams are easily to be prepared as long as you read study guides and ppts.

He's a mediocre lecturer and has strange rules about handing in papers. I'm not sure he is a great representation of the quality of the philosophy department either. there is very little original thought required for this class which is certainly not what philosophy should be. I wouldn't go so far as to say don't take him, just be ready to be bored

His lectures were mostly clarification of the assigned readings, which is really helpful in a class where the readings can sometimes be difficult or confusing. Final and midterm were very straightforward. Provided study guide with vocab and potential essay questions that were identical to the tests. Essay's were a bit more difficult

Wouldn't recommend this class. Have to buy a reader and a small book altogether 40 dollars. 2 essays with a completely different format of a regular essay. Readings hard to understand and a three question quiz on the readings every week. Hard material in general not a super clear lecturer.

Decent professor, just somewhat boring lectures. class isn't hard as long as you go to lectures or do the readings.