PHIL170 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting an A- Anonymous 12/16/2024	I took this class as a quantitative skills requirement and honestly I wish I took something easier. However I love Professor Paolo Santorio. He is a very understanding and helpful professor, the class itself is challenging especially if you do come from a more 'humanities' background but overall great professor!
Justin Helms PHIL170 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/06/2024	Justin is a very nice guy. He knows what he is talking about and is very helpful in understanding the content both in section and in office hours. Nothing but positives for the guy, would recommend.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/06/2024	Santorio is a nice guy, and does well to engage the class. Logic in philosophy is the most math/computer science based humanities class I have ever taken and because of such those more STEM inclined or familiar with computer science will do really well, free even, but for the rest of us it can be a bit of a struggle especially that exam on proofs. But just because it is more challenging, some people get it and some just won't, it doesn't mean its impossible you just got to practice a lot. The fault I have with his teaching style comes to pacing and technicality, he is one of the PhD philosophy heads so to him everything is very clear so he uses more advanced technical language and doesn't always go as in depth with examples as he could before moving on. The TAs are all really good, mainly just goes over homework and does examples.
Michael Morreau PHIL170 Anonymous 07/18/2024	Phil170 with Michael Morreau is one of the greatest classes I have ever taken
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/17/2024	Really great professor tbh. Super helpful and approachable during office hours and after class. He made sure to emphasize that it was okay to ask questions and ask for help if you didn't understand something, so I never felt helpless when I was lost. He's also very generous when it came to our grades, dropping several of your lowest homework and quiz grades. Only reason I suspect the rating is so low is because of the class content, it's a very you get it and it's super easy OR it will simply never click for you kind of class. I personally found it quite simple as someone without mathematic or CS background, but maybe my brain is wired differently. Overall, this prof was super helpful and you shouldn't be afraid of this class despite all the other reviews!
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/14/2024	This is a really fun class. It is not too bad if you reach out to the professor and TAs.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/02/2024	Professor Santorio is a wonderful professor. The course is not too bad if you read the textbook and attend office hours. The course is very doable but may take more enough that you may think after the first midterm.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting an A ppeterp 12/16/2023	All of the reviews for him that are low, especially for PHIL170, is just because that is a hard subject, not anything he did wrong. It's a kind of you either get it or you don't class. I think he was a perfectly good professor, he was nice, always answered your questions, and helped you figure out the solution to problems. He also dropped your 3 worst homework, and 5 worst quizzes. And let it so that part of the final replaced your worst midterm grade. So don't choose to not take PHIL170 because of the professor, don't take it if you don't understand logic.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting a C bellawagnerr 12/06/2023	This course was tough for me. Professor Santorio is helpful and knowledgeable, but the course is one where you either really understand or really don't.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A Anonymous 10/27/2023	He was one of the best professors I've ever had. He is so engaging and really cares that his students understand the content. He always did a great job explaining concepts and was so approachable. He ran my discussion session as well which was great and so helpful.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/13/2023	Mr. McCourt is probably the best professor I have ever had. He is incredibly engaged with the students and the class material, has great and varied explanations for every part of the course, and makes an effort to ensure that every student can understand the material and succeed in the course. I loved taking his class and talking with him about philosophy during office hours.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A Anonymous 02/18/2023	really helpful and gets that the concepts can be pretty difficult to understand. very generous with the grading.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Anonymous 01/12/2023	Santorio was a fine instructor — he did a pretty good job for such a difficult subject. He held numerous office hour sessions before exams, released additional problem sets, and even curved all four exams (he curved the final exam greatly). I am not a major in math or computer science, so I had no prior knowledge of the material covered in this course. Professor Santorio and his TA’s office hours and review sessions are definitely the reason I succeeded. Further, the people who did poor in this class almost never went to class, discussion, and never even considered office hours. If you show up to class and occasionally go to office hours, you will have no problem passing the class.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A Anonymous 05/31/2022	Always available to help through material and to assist during office hours. Definitely recommend!
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Anonymous 05/15/2022	Super engaging, amazing lecturer, and he has a very generous grading policy.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting an A+ tybug 12/16/2021	So I did take this course, but I'm largely writing this review because I think Prof Santorio is being unfairly criticized here. First off, to anyone reading these reviews, understand that there are two types of people that take PHIL 170: people who are already familiar with abstract logic (math majors, computer science majors) and people who are not (philosophy majors). The former will think that the class moves too quickly (see reviewer directly below me) and the latter will think that the material is too difficult (see every other reviewer below). While I did already know the content of the class before taking it and so it's hard for me to judge Prof Santorio's lecturing, what I did observe was largely competent explanations. It doesn't help that while this course actually deals, relatively speaking, rather simple logic, logic in general is a very difficult subject to introduce for the first time. I'm not sure the reviewers below would have fared any better with any other professor. So yeah, I think Prof Santorio did just about as well as he could have given the difficulty of the subject matter. Any criticisms of the course going too slow should be disregarded, because the majority of people need the course to go slower, not faster. If you are part of the latter group, congratulations! Sit back and enjoy an easy class.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/13/2021	Drawn out lectures. I reviewed his 50-minute lectures in <10 minutes apiece and got the same information. Only went to lectures to submit homework. Even then, he won't put out the box for homework until the end and will keep you hostage the whole lecture.
Casey Enos PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/09/2021	Had him as a TA for this class. Favorite TA I've had.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A Anonymous 07/28/2021	He was fantastic, whenever I came into office hours he was happy to help.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 05/19/2021	He knows his stuff well, answers questions well in class without making anyone feel self-conscious, and explains the material well. The material can be dry, a bit like a math class. Grading is fair (maybe even generous). Be warned: The final exam is about 3x tougher than any of the other exams, problem sets, or given practice problems.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Anonymous 12/26/2020	Horrible. Cannot teach at all. Class was essentially logic, which has nothing to do with philosophy at all. Class is 3 midterms and a final. 2 asynchronous lectures a week, and a live session every 2 weeks. Does not help at all when it comes to learning the material. The open source textbook is also really bad at explaining the material. If you get a good TA, you actually might do well enough, but if not, discussion is almost not worth it. Class time itself was a disaster, midterms had to get pushed three times, and material had to be cut from the final, which would not have helped, as the class average on tests uncurved was either a D or a C. He does curve tests like 10-15 percent, but I consider myself lucky from scraping something adequate. There is no reason you should be picking this class unless you need this class for law school or you need to fulfil the quantitative skills requirements. Take STAT100 or something like that, which is less torture.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Anonymous 12/19/2020	Lectures are difficult to understand, he is not great at explaining material at all. TA’s were helpful but that’s just about it. Would rate lower if I could
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Expecting a B+ Anonymous 12/02/2020	The material is abstract and he does not do a good job of explaining said material. Every class period was frustrating and the only reason I haven't failed is because I lucked up and got a really good TA. Needless to say, if you have the option, I would not recommend taking this class or having Paolo as a professor.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 11/11/2020	Top notch teacher, don't hesitate to take his classes.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Anonymous 10/10/2020	I'm sure he is smart and capable of understanding the material himself, but he cannot teach it to others to save his life. Don't take this class with him unless you absolutely have to.
Paolo Santorio PHIL170 Anonymous 09/16/2020	Horrible at translating the material of the book and his materials into plain English. I had to to turn to YouTube and other third party sources in order to have any kind of chance of succeeding in this class.
Casey Enos PHIL170 Expecting a W Anonymous 12/17/2019	I've noticed every review so far has been for PHIL 100, but I can tell you right now DO NOT take Phil170 with this professor. He is a real hard ass on everyone for no reason. He pretends to be all soft, but will not budge one bit when it comes to grades. Again, I don't know what he is like in PHIL100, but oooo man was Phil170 absolute hell.
Michael McCourt PHIL170 Expecting an A Anonymous 08/25/2019	Good guy. Down to earth. Knows his stuff. Welcoming to class and office.
Michael Morreau PHIL170 Expecting a C Anonymous 01/13/2013	Only take this class if you need to. It is very boring and I ended up watching Netflix a lot. It's really a hit or miss with this class on how much you learn. You either learn it or you don't because if you don't understand one part it's hard to do the others. I got shitty grades because I just didn't get it and I didn't get as much help as I could have. The TA's matter a great deal cause they grade you and mine was good, but the class just kind of sucked in general. He also makes the content to complicated to what the TA's did and he also just talks, and talks, and talks. When you ask questions he usually responds with a question or tells you that it's not relavent or too vague. Just don't do it.
Michael Morreau PHIL170 Expecting an A Reactionist 01/02/2012	Prof. Morreau is definitely nice and knows what he is teaching. There's no assignments for this class - no paper, no hw, even though doing your hw will help you and your grade a lot. He is very open to questions as referred, so never be afraid of asking questions if you don't understand something. Never skip class. (both lecture and discussion) NEVER. Prof. Morreau's plan is so tensely scheduled that you don't have any chance to cover what you missed.
Michael Morreau PHIL170 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 01/01/2012	He was a really nice guy, and he never made you feel dumb in class, always tried to answer students' questions. But his exams were a real pain. No matter what TA you have, just go to Sung-Won's discussions. He's a legend. I heard Dimi is good too, but I suggest just going to him. Try and take a different professor than Morreau though, I heard he goes way more in detail than most other logic professors. He also has a weird way of waiting two weeks after teaching material before he tests you on it.
Michael Morreau PHIL170 anthmajorftw 11/01/2010	He's really knowledgable about the subject and is really open to questions. He never makes people feel stupid, even if you don't pick up on it right away. Morreau also has a nice voice! Anyway, he only does grades for tests/exams, so attendance and all that don't count (though it's a really good idea to always show up!!!). Sometimes he loses people because he kind of teaches the subject backwards, but most of the time you'll understand by the end of the class. Not so sure about the TA's, though. I've attended at least one of each of the TA's sections and they're all radically different. I don't know if he doesn't tell them what to do or what to go over, but they're all over the place. It also can be difficult if you're in a section with someone who asks WAY too many questions, because it's not a clear-cut subject. DON'T join this class if you aren't satisfied until you understand the "WHY" to everything. Morreau explains that a lot of the reasons for logic are too complicated to go over and would only confuse the class. I'm also not a fan of how he did tests, where he teaches about three extra weeks of stuff that's not on the test (so you can "have extra time to study"), but the tests are relatively straight forward. Morreau is really freindly and knowledgable about the subject and is always willing to answer questions. He goes out of his way to make sure that people in the class are understanding and he tries to incorporate pop culture references and everyday life situations to the subject which always helps comprehension and application.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
12/16/2024

I took this class as a quantitative skills requirement and honestly I wish I took something easier. However I love Professor Paolo Santorio. He is a very understanding and helpful professor, the class itself is challenging especially if you do come from a more 'humanities' background but overall great professor!

Justin Helms
PHIL170

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/06/2024

Justin is a very nice guy. He knows what he is talking about and is very helpful in understanding the content both in section and in office hours. Nothing but positives for the guy, would recommend.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/06/2024

Santorio is a nice guy, and does well to engage the class. Logic in philosophy is the most math/computer science based humanities class I have ever taken and because of such those more STEM inclined or familiar with computer science will do really well, free even, but for the rest of us it can be a bit of a struggle especially that exam on proofs. But just because it is more challenging, some people get it and some just won't, it doesn't mean its impossible you just got to practice a lot. The fault I have with his teaching style comes to pacing and technicality, he is one of the PhD philosophy heads so to him everything is very clear so he uses more advanced technical language and doesn't always go as in depth with examples as he could before moving on. The TAs are all really good, mainly just goes over homework and does examples.

Michael Morreau
PHIL170

Anonymous
07/18/2024

Phil170 with Michael Morreau is one of the greatest classes I have ever taken

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/17/2024

Really great professor tbh. Super helpful and approachable during office hours and after class. He made sure to emphasize that it was okay to ask questions and ask for help if you didn't understand something, so I never felt helpless when I was lost. He's also very generous when it came to our grades, dropping several of your lowest homework and quiz grades. Only reason I suspect the rating is so low is because of the class content, it's a very you get it and it's super easy OR it will simply never click for you kind of class. I personally found it quite simple as someone without mathematic or CS background, but maybe my brain is wired differently. Overall, this prof was super helpful and you shouldn't be afraid of this class despite all the other reviews!

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/14/2024

This is a really fun class. It is not too bad if you reach out to the professor and TAs.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/02/2024

Professor Santorio is a wonderful professor. The course is not too bad if you read the textbook and attend office hours. The course is very doable but may take more enough that you may think after the first midterm.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting an A
ppeterp
12/16/2023

All of the reviews for him that are low, especially for PHIL170, is just because that is a hard subject, not anything he did wrong. It's a kind of you either get it or you don't class. I think he was a perfectly good professor, he was nice, always answered your questions, and helped you figure out the solution to problems. He also dropped your 3 worst homework, and 5 worst quizzes. And let it so that part of the final replaced your worst midterm grade. So don't choose to not take PHIL170 because of the professor, don't take it if you don't understand logic.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting a C
bellawagnerr
12/06/2023

This course was tough for me. Professor Santorio is helpful and knowledgeable, but the course is one where you either really understand or really don't.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A
Anonymous
10/27/2023

He was one of the best professors I've ever had. He is so engaging and really cares that his students understand the content. He always did a great job explaining concepts and was so approachable. He ran my discussion session as well which was great and so helpful.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/13/2023

Mr. McCourt is probably the best professor I have ever had. He is incredibly engaged with the students and the class material, has great and varied explanations for every part of the course, and makes an effort to ensure that every student can understand the material and succeed in the course. I loved taking his class and talking with him about philosophy during office hours.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A
Anonymous
02/18/2023

really helpful and gets that the concepts can be pretty difficult to understand. very generous with the grading.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Anonymous
01/12/2023

Santorio was a fine instructor — he did a pretty good job for such a difficult subject. He held numerous office hour sessions before exams, released additional problem sets, and even curved all four exams (he curved the final exam greatly). I am not a major in math or computer science, so I had no prior knowledge of the material covered in this course. Professor Santorio and his TA’s office hours and review sessions are definitely the reason I succeeded. Further, the people who did poor in this class almost never went to class, discussion, and never even considered office hours. If you show up to class and occasionally go to office hours, you will have no problem passing the class.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A
Anonymous
05/31/2022

Always available to help through material and to assist during office hours. Definitely recommend!

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Anonymous
05/15/2022

Super engaging, amazing lecturer, and he has a very generous grading policy.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
tybug
12/16/2021

So I did take this course, but I'm largely writing this review because I think Prof Santorio is being unfairly criticized here. First off, to anyone reading these reviews, understand that there are two types of people that take PHIL 170: people who are already familiar with abstract logic (math majors, computer science majors) and people who are not (philosophy majors). The former will think that the class moves too quickly (see reviewer directly below me) and the latter will think that the material is too difficult (see every other reviewer below). While I did already know the content of the class before taking it and so it's hard for me to judge Prof Santorio's lecturing, what I did observe was largely competent explanations. It doesn't help that while this course actually deals, relatively speaking, rather simple logic, logic in general is a very difficult subject to introduce for the first time. I'm not sure the reviewers below would have fared any better with any other professor. So yeah, I think Prof Santorio did just about as well as he could have given the difficulty of the subject matter. Any criticisms of the course going too slow should be disregarded, because the majority of people need the course to go *slower*, not faster. If you are part of the latter group, congratulations! Sit back and enjoy an easy class.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/13/2021

Drawn out lectures. I reviewed his 50-minute lectures in <10 minutes apiece and got the same information. Only went to lectures to submit homework. Even then, he won't put out the box for homework until the end and will keep you hostage the whole lecture.

Casey Enos
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/09/2021

Had him as a TA for this class. Favorite TA I've had.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A
Anonymous
07/28/2021

He was fantastic, whenever I came into office hours he was happy to help.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
05/19/2021

He knows his stuff well, answers questions well in class without making anyone feel self-conscious, and explains the material well. The material can be dry, a bit like a math class. Grading is fair (maybe even generous). Be warned: The final exam is about 3x tougher than any of the other exams, problem sets, or given practice problems.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Anonymous
12/26/2020

Horrible. Cannot teach at all. Class was essentially logic, which has nothing to do with philosophy at all. Class is 3 midterms and a final. 2 asynchronous lectures a week, and a live session every 2 weeks. Does not help at all when it comes to learning the material. The open source textbook is also really bad at explaining the material. If you get a good TA, you actually might do well enough, but if not, discussion is almost not worth it. Class time itself was a disaster, midterms had to get pushed three times, and material had to be cut from the final, which would not have helped, as the class average on tests uncurved was either a D or a C. He does curve tests like 10-15 percent, but I consider myself lucky from scraping something adequate. There is no reason you should be picking this class unless you need this class for law school or you need to fulfil the quantitative skills requirements. Take STAT100 or something like that, which is less torture.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Anonymous
12/19/2020

Lectures are difficult to understand, he is not great at explaining material at all. TA’s were helpful but that’s just about it. Would rate lower if I could

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Expecting a B+
Anonymous
12/02/2020

The material is abstract and he does not do a good job of explaining said material. Every class period was frustrating and the only reason I haven't failed is because I lucked up and got a really good TA. Needless to say, if you have the option, I would not recommend taking this class or having Paolo as a professor.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
11/11/2020

Top notch teacher, don't hesitate to take his classes.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Anonymous
10/10/2020

I'm sure he is smart and capable of understanding the material himself, but he cannot teach it to others to save his life. Don't take this class with him unless you absolutely have to.

Paolo Santorio
PHIL170

Anonymous
09/16/2020

Horrible at translating the material of the book and his materials into plain English. I had to to turn to YouTube and other third party sources in order to have any kind of chance of succeeding in this class.

Casey Enos
PHIL170

Expecting a W
Anonymous
12/17/2019

I've noticed every review so far has been for PHIL 100, but I can tell you right now DO NOT take Phil170 with this professor. He is a real hard ass on everyone for no reason. He pretends to be all soft, but will not budge one bit when it comes to grades. Again, I don't know what he is like in PHIL100, but oooo man was Phil170 absolute hell.

Michael McCourt
PHIL170

Expecting an A
Anonymous
08/25/2019

Good guy. Down to earth. Knows his stuff. Welcoming to class and office.

Michael Morreau
PHIL170

Expecting a C
Anonymous
01/13/2013

Only take this class if you need to. It is very boring and I ended up watching Netflix a lot. It's really a hit or miss with this class on how much you learn. You either learn it or you don't because if you don't understand one part it's hard to do the others. I got shitty grades because I just didn't get it and I didn't get as much help as I could have. The TA's matter a great deal cause they grade you and mine was good, but the class just kind of sucked in general. He also makes the content to complicated to what the TA's did and he also just talks, and talks, and talks. When you ask questions he usually responds with a question or tells you that it's not relavent or too vague. Just don't do it.

Michael Morreau
PHIL170

Expecting an A
Reactionist
01/02/2012

Prof. Morreau is definitely nice and knows what he is teaching. There's no assignments for this class - no paper, no hw, even though doing your hw will help you and your grade a lot. He is very open to questions as referred, so never be afraid of asking questions if you don't understand something. Never skip class. (both lecture and discussion) NEVER. Prof. Morreau's plan is so tensely scheduled that you don't have any chance to cover what you missed.

Michael Morreau
PHIL170

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
01/01/2012

He was a really nice guy, and he never made you feel dumb in class, always tried to answer students' questions. But his exams were a real pain. No matter what TA you have, just go to Sung-Won's discussions. He's a legend. I heard Dimi is good too, but I suggest just going to him. Try and take a different professor than Morreau though, I heard he goes way more in detail than most other logic professors. He also has a weird way of waiting two weeks after teaching material before he tests you on it.

Michael Morreau
PHIL170

anthmajorftw
11/01/2010

He's really knowledgable about the subject and is really open to questions. He never makes people feel stupid, even if you don't pick up on it right away. Morreau also has a nice voice! Anyway, he only does grades for tests/exams, so attendance and all that don't count (though it's a really good idea to always show up!!!). Sometimes he loses people because he kind of teaches the subject backwards, but most of the time you'll understand by the end of the class. Not so sure about the TA's, though. I've attended at least one of each of the TA's sections and they're all radically different. I don't know if he doesn't tell them what to do or what to go over, but they're all over the place. It also can be difficult if you're in a section with someone who asks WAY too many questions, because it's not a clear-cut subject. DON'T join this class if you aren't satisfied until you understand the "WHY" to everything. Morreau explains that a lot of the reasons for logic are too complicated to go over and would only confuse the class. I'm also not a fan of how he did tests, where he teaches about three extra weeks of stuff that's not on the test (so you can "have extra time to study"), but the tests are relatively straight forward. Morreau is really freindly and knowledgable about the subject and is always willing to answer questions. He goes out of his way to make sure that people in the class are understanding and he tries to incorporate pop culture references and everyday life situations to the subject which always helps comprehension and application.

Reviews for PHIL170