Professor Panagia does such a great job at expanding your world view. He is very passionate about political theory and cares a lot about making sure that you see the world in a different way too. Not going to lie though, his lectures a bit difficult to get through at first especially if you’ve never taken a political theory/philosophy class before. It does get easier the more you expose yourself to the assigned readings though!

I would recommend anyone to take this class if you’re curious about political thinking and willing to go through some dense (but interesting) reading in order to fully understand the material. Also heads up, this is not a contemporary political theory class, its heavily focused on the origins of Western philisophical/political thinking.

Regarding assignments the writing prompts are a bit difficult but the TA’s have been pretty generous this quarter. *Also Rui Zhou is an awesome TA I would totally recommend him!* If you’re not really into reading or writing, or you’re just taking this as a GE, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you are actually interested in philosophy. But if you ARE interested Professor Panagia and the TA’s will do a great job for you.

I stopped going to lectures after the first class, after I realized that all of the assignments are graded by the TA, and if that TA is well-organized, they will explain what they want to see in your paper during discussions. I focused my energy into discussions and often went to office hours with my TA, and I was able to get an A+ on all my papers.

Professor Panagia is in many ways a delightfully stereotypical college professor. I loved his class and his passion for the subject material is obvious in every lecture. He also really makes an effort to discuss practical information with his students, especially in regards to the university system and job interests, that I really appreciated. The writing for this class is challenging but the TAs are very helpful and will guide you through the assignments if you go to office hours. Like seriously, definitely go to office hours. Although it was difficult my writing improved after this class which is always a good thing. I would recommend this class and this professor.

Overall, this class wasn’t too tough. The grading is 75% essays (three at 25% each), and 25% attendance and participation. You read a lot about the foundational ideas of Plato, Aristotle, Nietzsche and others, which sounds really dry and boring at first, but Professor Panagia presents those ideas in a way that is new and interesting. My TA, Michael Stenovec, was very helpful. He grades critically on the essays but he does offer lots of essay help and explains how certain things can be made better. His discussion consisted of a lot of writing-focused activities in addition to further oral discussion on ideas presented by Professor Panagia, and it was geared around making us more critical thinkers and writers. Discussion attendance is mandatory, as Michael gave us ungraded “quizzes” to see whether we were keeping up with the readings. Overall a simple and straightforward class, would take again.

Professor Panagia is one of the best lecturers. Lectures are always entertaining even when the content is kind of dry. He tells you what you need to know, especially for the essays. The essays can be a challenge in itself because of subject matter, but they are not too long and the prompts are very clear. Essays and participation make up the grade.

This class was by far my most enjoyable in my first quarter here at UCLA. Lectures revolve around the 2-3 readings given each week in the different books. You're supposed to buy the course reader and different books but I got away with just using PDFs online. Panagia then goes over the parts that he deems as important and has you take notes on this with him. He always shows up with his nice suit and is a goofball throughout a quarter of the lecture. Electronics are not allowed but I would sometimes see people in the back whip out their phones or laptops for the sake of ease.
The grading system consists of 3 different papers, each worth 25% of your grade, then participation in discussion section makes up the last 25%. Each paper typically has you write three/four 500 word short essays on different philosopher's ideas and how they relate to politics. As someone who didn't start writing until 1-2 days before the deadline, I never got anything lower than an A (although that might just be me). My TA also really contributed to how well this class went because he went above and beyond to make sure everyone understood the course material so shoutout to Michael S.
Overall, the class is very doable and I would be HAPPY to take it again... it is even making me consider Poly Sci as a major (im undeclared).

SELLING THE COURSE READER, THE BASIC WORKS OF ARISTOTLE, AND SAINT AUGUSTINE'S CONFESSIONS! $20

EMAIL ME AT *************

SELLING ALL BOOKS FOR THIS CLASS FOR $65!!! Including the course reader! PLEASE MESSAGE ME!
*************

I am selling every book needed for this class at a reasonable price, I bought all for around 300$ and I’m willing to sell them for way under that. Contact ********** if interested. I received an (A-). Lectures are important but they’re on BruinCast, and discussions were very much more helpful. An easy A if you read the texts and Panagia is very engaging and helps dissect these texts! Would recommend and would take again!

SELLING ALL OF THE BOOKS NEEDED FOR THIS COURSE + THE COURSE READER FOR A LOW PRICE OF : $55.
ALL ARE IN USED CONDITION.

contact me if interested in buying: *************