CLUSTER 21A
History of Modern Thought
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, two hours. Course 21A is enforced requisite to 21B, which is enforced requisite to 21CW. Limited to first-year freshmen. Introduction to key issues in humanities and social sciences through reading of prominent social theories of past four centuries. Consideration of writers from Rousseau and Wollstonecraft to Foucault and Beauvoir in historical context and from perspectives of academic specialties for which their work is fundamental. Letter grading.
Units: 6.0
Units: 6.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - This class is one of the most difficultly easy classes I've ever taken in my life. Grading depends ENTIRELY on your TA so it's really luck of the draw if you get one who is gracious or not. The grading system is based on watching two movies and writing short reports (2.5% each), going to the Getty and writing a report (5% and you have to figure out how to get there, taking pop quizzes (20%), attendance and participation (25%), and then writing a midterm and final paper (15% and 30% respectively). The attendance is this classes saving grace as the papers can be difficult and the quizzes are hard to prepare for. Basically, you spend like $150 between the books and course reader and have to read like all of everything to prepare. Randomly, the professors give a pop quiz during lecture and you have to recall the author, title, and publication date of a given paragraph from one of the readings and, since each week's readings are based on the same topic, it's quite difficult to recall which paragraph is from which piece. If you abuse the life office hours (of your TA because they're who matter for your grade), you should do well. As few students tend to take this cluster, you may even get lucky and have your TA read and edit your paper long before it's due to ensure that you get an A. Side note: Sissa and Stahulyak (the professors for the Fall quarter) are very nice individuals but are often hard to follow in lecture. The slides are tiny and are usually either A) direct quotes from the reading that they read directly off of or B) totally unrelated to the readings and thus unrelated to any quizzes or papers that you may write. This was cool for a while, but the novelty of learning fun facts wore off when the lack of coverage of actual course material reflected itself in my grades for quizzes. Do the readings and rely on your TA and you should do well.
Fall 2019 - This class is one of the most difficultly easy classes I've ever taken in my life. Grading depends ENTIRELY on your TA so it's really luck of the draw if you get one who is gracious or not. The grading system is based on watching two movies and writing short reports (2.5% each), going to the Getty and writing a report (5% and you have to figure out how to get there, taking pop quizzes (20%), attendance and participation (25%), and then writing a midterm and final paper (15% and 30% respectively). The attendance is this classes saving grace as the papers can be difficult and the quizzes are hard to prepare for. Basically, you spend like $150 between the books and course reader and have to read like all of everything to prepare. Randomly, the professors give a pop quiz during lecture and you have to recall the author, title, and publication date of a given paragraph from one of the readings and, since each week's readings are based on the same topic, it's quite difficult to recall which paragraph is from which piece. If you abuse the life office hours (of your TA because they're who matter for your grade), you should do well. As few students tend to take this cluster, you may even get lucky and have your TA read and edit your paper long before it's due to ensure that you get an A. Side note: Sissa and Stahulyak (the professors for the Fall quarter) are very nice individuals but are often hard to follow in lecture. The slides are tiny and are usually either A) direct quotes from the reading that they read directly off of or B) totally unrelated to the readings and thus unrelated to any quizzes or papers that you may write. This was cool for a while, but the novelty of learning fun facts wore off when the lack of coverage of actual course material reflected itself in my grades for quizzes. Do the readings and rely on your TA and you should do well.
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Most Helpful Review
Professor Brubaker is a highly intelligent and excellent professor who gets very enthusiastic about his lectures. His enthusiasm allows him to better explain philosophers and to allow the students to grasp main ideas. Although his tests are a little difficult and require much reading, the class was worth it. Just study off the reading questions and the test will be easy.Especially for the final Exam make sure that you go to the Final review because although they dont directly tell you whats going to be on the final, whatever they mention is mostlikely to be in the final.However, I have to warn you- there's a lot of writing and reading. Overall, I enjoyed the class and highly recommend it.
Professor Brubaker is a highly intelligent and excellent professor who gets very enthusiastic about his lectures. His enthusiasm allows him to better explain philosophers and to allow the students to grasp main ideas. Although his tests are a little difficult and require much reading, the class was worth it. Just study off the reading questions and the test will be easy.Especially for the final Exam make sure that you go to the Final review because although they dont directly tell you whats going to be on the final, whatever they mention is mostlikely to be in the final.However, I have to warn you- there's a lot of writing and reading. Overall, I enjoyed the class and highly recommend it.
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Most Helpful Review
Jacoby is extremely hilarious. He was lecturing about the French Revolution, which isn't the most interesting topic for a science major, but he made it extremely fun. He ALWAYS throws in jokes, and has witty humor--but he doesn't get off topic. He's really cool. Also, the TA Mary McThomas is great for this class. She knows her material and is willing to help.
Jacoby is extremely hilarious. He was lecturing about the French Revolution, which isn't the most interesting topic for a science major, but he made it extremely fun. He ALWAYS throws in jokes, and has witty humor--but he doesn't get off topic. He's really cool. Also, the TA Mary McThomas is great for this class. She knows her material and is willing to help.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - This class is honestly pretty difficult, but not too bad depending on your TA! The TA I had fall quarter (Seth) was very nice, but made us write a paper every single week... which was a lot. I much prefer my more laid back TA for winter quarter (Sean) who hosts more conversation-based sections. It's a lot of reading, so if you don't enjoy reading lengthy (and extremely difficult to decipher) dissertations written by age-old philosophers, I wouldn't suggest it. As for Professor Kareem, I found her to be a little difficult to understand at times, especially compared to Dienstag. Her points aren't nearly as precise or engaging, but she's an okay lecturer.
Fall 2017 - This class is honestly pretty difficult, but not too bad depending on your TA! The TA I had fall quarter (Seth) was very nice, but made us write a paper every single week... which was a lot. I much prefer my more laid back TA for winter quarter (Sean) who hosts more conversation-based sections. It's a lot of reading, so if you don't enjoy reading lengthy (and extremely difficult to decipher) dissertations written by age-old philosophers, I wouldn't suggest it. As for Professor Kareem, I found her to be a little difficult to understand at times, especially compared to Dienstag. Her points aren't nearly as precise or engaging, but she's an okay lecturer.
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