This was my first philosophy course and I didn't know what to expect, but I loved this class, and Prof. Herman is a great teacher! I really enjoyed going to lecture--she explained the ideas/concepts really well and used funny examples. She is extremely knowledgeable and has a great sense of humor. We read Plato, Aristotle, Epictetus, Hume, Kant, and Mill. The readings weren't too bad...definitely got progressively harder though. Thankfully she gave handouts with notes on their main arguments. Know the philosophers' arguments well, discuss the study questions, and read Herman's notes, and the midterm shouldn't be hard at all. The paper (5 pages) was harder to write than I expected and I thought I was going to get an A but got a "high B+" ..wut-_- I also thought the final was harder than the midterm.
Overall, awesome teacher, interesting class...definitely recommend taking if you get the chance!

Boy am I glad I did not take this class with the writing II addition. The one paper we had to write for this class was hard enough! Now, Professor Herman is a great professor - very fair and lectures at a good speed for students to follow along. However, the course itself was very difficult. Never in my life have I done SO MUCH READING. We full-on read the books of Hume, Kant and parts of Aristotle and Plato as well Mills' book as well. Like I said, SO MUCH READING! And it's not the typical reading for your other classes - it's philosophy reading. That's different. I spent AT LEAST 5 minutes per page where we had about 20-30 pages of reading per lecture. You do the math. My T.A. wasn't as helpful as I hoped he would be either - he kind of went off his own tangents of the material and focused on one subject out of hundreds for the entire discussion period. All in all, I barely scraped by with a B. The midterm was kinda tough, but Prof. Herman was generous with the final by having some of the study questions in the final itself, and gave us a 2 point bonus. However, that doesn't mean the final was easy. The only comforting factor of the class was that Prof. Herman gave us notes for each philosopher and really did try to help. The course itself was just very difficult.

Professor Herman was one of the beset professors I've had at UCLA. Her ability to explain complicated philosphical ideas is extraordinary. Her lectures are interesting and well organized. They logically flow and explain the readings in new and insightful ways that make it much easier to understand. Her examples were clear and amusing so that you could easily recall them. Her exams were fair, if you went to lecture and followed the study guide. The paper topics were well explained in lecture and the TA's were exceptional (from the 3 I talked to). Dr. Herman was especially helpful and willing to explain topics depsite being one of the brightest philosophers in the world.

Professor Herman has to be the best philosophy teacher I have had so far. She knows how to make you understand the material. She uses silly examples during lecture when trying to teach concepts so that you'll never forget them. Her tests were fair and you'll do fine on them as long as you follow her study guide. AND YOU MUST GO TO LECTURE!!!
If you want a thorough understanding of some of the greatest philosophers out there (especially Kant) take Prof. Herman.

i absolutely adored her! she had a sense of humor. when i signed up for the class, i thought that i was going to hate it, but i ended up really enjoying all her lectures. she's very neat, thorough, and she makes sure that you are well prepared for her exams. her reviews are extremely helpful and she really does care about her students.

philosophy 22 was interesting. We had lecture twice a week w/ herman for an hour and 15 mins. Although the lectures are important it is hard to pay attention. Her examples are cute and help understand the material. Everything really depends on your TA. If you have a TA who can explain things pretty well, you'll do awesome on the midterm and final (which are short answer and long essays). I was pretty confused the whole time but I ended up understanding plato, glaucon, aristotle, kant, and mill pretty well. WARNING: read the material. It is necessary to understand. She doesn't assign them for fun. If you wanna do well, you have to know the material.