Lectures very aggressively. Philosophers like him spend their careers coming up with theories and get very worked up when students say anything that gets in the way of that. He yelled in class like 3 times. Very unpleasant, avoid. Material is straightforward if you simply follow him exactly. But if you want something enriching, stay far away.
Lectures are really hard to follow, even if you're really interested in the material. A genuinely nice guy who knows his stuff, but your understanding of the material is going to depend heavily on your comprehension of the reading and how good your TA is.
Incredibly knowledgeable and eloquent man. If you are serious about philosophy, take this class. Otherwise be forewarned that his style of lecturing is more like one long stream-of-consciousness, so if you're not paying attention you might get lost. But he also passed out paper outlines before each class so it was easy to follow. It really helps to
By far the worst philosophy professor I have had the displeasure of taking a class with. He certainly seems like he knows his stuff, but he can't teach to save his life. He rambles on and on and draws incomprehensible diagrams on the blackboard. If it weren't for the handouts from class, I would have failed. Never again.
Pretty awful professor, lectures, and TAs. Absolutely no structure at all. Total joke.
Falvey is a very passionate and articulate professor. He is very clear and concise in what he says; he gives very specific examples and analogies. He is very graceful on stage, and you can tell he loves teaching. TA Sarah Silverman is amazing! She is super helpful/understanding and quickly replies to e-mails. Hard to get an A, but a B is doable.
he needs to retire
excellent class and excellent professor. gave me A+ on one of my papers. this prof is for those who are serious about philosophy. those wanting a laid back fun phil class will not like him. you will learn a lot if you pay attention to everything he says. doesnt really slow down much for questions so be alert the whole time.
Worst CLASS EVER...rambles...cant even understand him and disorganized!!!
horrible lecturer. not clear at all. he kind of rambles and doesn't explain the material well. TA office hours saved my grade, came out with a B, no thanks to the professor
I don't think he's a good lecturer. He's not clear at all and he speaks through a stream of consciousness so it's not structured. Midterm and final are take-home essays. It's fairly easy just not pleasant. I would go to section since he can't lecture well. There's no need to do the reading, he summarizes it in the notes he gives. Easy but BORING!
Hard class, especially if you're new to Phil or not a Phil major, but Prof. Falvey is very engaging and does a great job of clarifying the material, which would be incomprehensible otherwise. OT, his lecture notes are so good, I've since emulated his style for all my other classes. I'd recommend this course to those with good grounding in Phil.
Falvey is an awesome professor - one of the best I've encountered so far at UCSB. I attended lecture regularly, did the readings, went to section and got an A in the class. It baffles me how others didn't...Falvey explained everything clearly and lecture topics were always interesting.
metaphysics is a hard topic to comprehend. the reading is explained very well by him, although he loves to go off on tangents. its imperative to take notes, read, and go to class to have any grasp on what is going on. test are pretty straight forward. class is Ok, TA's make the grading harder.
I really enjoyed Falvey's class, he is entertaining, charismatic, enthusiastic and has a wealth of knowledge on the subject. There isn't too much reading but it does help to stay caught up.
wouldn't reccomend taking this unless you really really like this kind of stuff
I really liked Professor Falvey; he's a funny guy and he made the material presented really interesting. He's always around if you have questions, and is more than willing to answer any you may have. Overall, I would definitely recommend him to others who enjoy Philosophy.
Loved Him! Those who say otherwise, I would deem unobservant and thus unintelligent, common folk. Falvey is brilliant and attractive; you people are just jealous.
if you don't care what it means for something to be red, then you should not be a philosophy major. Falvey is really smart, and expects alot from his students. If you like philosophy, few are better.
No Comments
Some stuff is very interesting, however it is imperative to go to class and take notes every day in order to know what is going on.
From the moment he walked in, I was in love. He is very charismatic and you can see his passion for the subject. He is very intelligent, has a wonderful sense of humor. And he is very attractive. I take classes with him all year because I am deeply and madly in love with him.
Maybe I just had a bad experience but this was the worst class I have ever taken. I am a philosophy major and I hate this class. It was so ridiculously boring I couldn't believe it. We talked for a month about what it meant for an object to be red. Seriously, who the **** cares. Not to mention it was hard as hell. The curve made a B- a 60%.
Falvey rocks, he's super enthusiastic about the material and really easy to talk to outside of class. Metaphysics isn't a subject you can just hang out in and expect to know what the hell is going on, especially if you aren't interested.