PHIL366 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Georges Rey PHIL366 Anonymous 05/28/2023	I have taken three courses with Professor Rey and enjoyed all of them – but, I'll do my best to write an unbiased review. The material in all of his courses is tough for the average undergraduate: it's often difficult to determine what's actually going on in the readings and once you understand that, it's sometimes more difficult to understand why it matters. This is largely because most of the issues under consideration in Rey's courses are not only highly abstract (i.e. removed from "everyday" experiences) but ones where only extremely precise and delicate philosophical "solutions" are taken seriously. In short, the issues are rigorous. They require solid, consistent effort to understand that few students nowadays choose to exert. I say this because many average undergraduates come into philosophy courses expecting a lively discussion on speculative topics like "the meaning of life" where there is no right answer. This could not be farther from the truth about philosophy in general; Rey's courses are no exception. Rey primarily teaches courses in metaphysics and epistemology whose content includes a wide range of interconnected philosophical disciplines such as the philosophy of mathematics, logic, and mind/psychology. Let me be frank: this stuff is hard. These issues, as I stated earlier, are not easy to grasp or apply. But they are extremely rewarding to learn about. If you pay close attention to the lectures and readings, and ask questions about what you don't understand (make sure you do this), you likely learn more than you have in any other course. And what you learn is not merely technical philosophical disputes distinct from other scientific domains: you will learn a lot about a lot, much more than I can describe here. But you need to engage with the material rather than just try to absorb it – you will get little out of Rey's courses as a passive learner. What I am trying to say by all of this is that you should only take Rey's courses if you are a dedicated, active learner who is really interested in learning in general or learning some (pretty intricate but revealing) philosophy. As other reviewers have mentioned, he lectures with little "visual" presentation and usually just sits at the front of the classroom and speaks for the class duration. But this is common in upper-level philosophy classes. He lectures assuming that everyone has done the readings and will ask questions about them. If you are to take his courses seriously, try your best to work through the readings before class and ask questions about them in class. You will likely be lost if you haven't done so. His exams are difficult because they require extremely clear answers to complicated prompts. But these prompts are always included in a study guide distributed a few days before the exam – so you can ask him any question you want from the study guide. Just make sure to do it before the exam so you can study based on his answer. He hosts oral exams (as a replacement for written ones), but only do these if you are overly prepared (i.e. if you really know your stuff). These are harder than written exams, but very good practice if you desire to actually understand the material to the extent that you can articulate it well. The essays are hard too: start them about two weeks before they are due (and finish them one week before, making changes daily until you submit them). Ask him questions about the essay during office hours because he tends to provide little explicit guidance on what your responses should look like. The best advice I have for any serious writing in philosophy: be as clear as possible. As I hope this review has made it obvious that I only recommend a few types of students take courses with Professor Rey: "overachievers," people who are very smart, people who love to learn, and people who are very interested in philosophy (particularly the types I mentioned).
Aida Roige Mas PHIL366 Expecting an A- Anonymous 08/05/2022	She made getting an A very difficult. While she was very nice, she wasn't a great lecturer. I was excited about this class initially, but then it turned into weekly presentations and minimal assignments which were really tedious. I repeat, she was very nice but she was just not a great professor.
Aida Roige Mas PHIL366 Anonymous 07/24/2022	Aida is a very kind person. But she does not seem passionate when teaching which leaves you feeling like I could have been doing something better. When teaching she assumed you knew all the concepts. This made it very difficult to understand the majority of the things being said. Felt like I was in a math class at times, you doze off for a second and you are completely lost. And asking questions didn't really help much when she can't even explain the concept to you in the first place. This was not a good experience.
Aida Roige Mas PHIL366 Anonymous 05/04/2022	Aida's great. Simply put, she's willing to answer all questions and encourages everyone to ask questions. The amount of work isn't unreasonable in her class, but the assigned readings do become too much at a point. I found myself struggling to understand about half of them, resulting in the final paper to be a huge puzzle.
Georges Rey PHIL366 Expecting a B Anonymous 05/09/2019	Can't really say anything bad about Professor Rey. The course was intellectually engaging. He gives you pop quizzes that are just one question sometimes but you don't have to really do well on those to do well in class. He gives you review sheets with a series of terms to define and essay questions to write (just a paragraph suffices). And those same questions will show up on the exam, so if you do the review sheet then go to him to grade that, you'll do marvelously well on his exams. He actually recommends you to do this. The class is basically taught while following along to his book so if you don't explain the concepts the way he understands them then you'll lose points. If you don't get a good exam grade, go to him and ask him to review it again, he will give you a lot of points back. I personally went up two letter grades because he gave me back 12 points. He makes mistakes and sometimes grades to harshly, and the second look he takes really does help! Professor Rey is worth taking this class with. You'll think hard on the subjects at hand, and if it goes over your head, don't worry he encourages students to take up as much of his time as possible so you can understand the concepts.

Georges Rey
PHIL366

Anonymous
05/28/2023

I have taken three courses with Professor Rey and enjoyed all of them – but, I'll do my best to write an unbiased review. The material in all of his courses is tough for the average undergraduate: it's often difficult to determine what's actually going on in the readings and once you understand that, it's sometimes more difficult to understand why it matters. This is largely because most of the issues under consideration in Rey's courses are not only highly abstract (i.e. removed from "everyday" experiences) but ones where only extremely precise and delicate philosophical "solutions" are taken seriously. In short, the issues are rigorous. They require solid, consistent effort to understand that few students nowadays choose to exert. I say this because many average undergraduates come into philosophy courses expecting a lively discussion on speculative topics like "the meaning of life" where there is no right answer. This could not be farther from the truth about philosophy in general; Rey's courses are no exception. Rey primarily teaches courses in metaphysics and epistemology whose content includes a wide range of interconnected philosophical disciplines such as the philosophy of mathematics, logic, and mind/psychology. Let me be frank: this stuff is hard. These issues, as I stated earlier, are not easy to grasp or apply. But they are extremely rewarding to learn about. If you pay close attention to the lectures and readings, and ask questions about what you don't understand (make sure you do this), you likely learn more than you have in any other course. And what you learn is not merely technical philosophical disputes distinct from other scientific domains: you will learn a lot about a lot, much more than I can describe here. But you need to engage with the material rather than just try to absorb it – you will get little out of Rey's courses as a passive learner. What I am trying to say by all of this is that you should only take Rey's courses if you are a dedicated, active learner who is really interested in learning in general or learning some (pretty intricate but revealing) philosophy. As other reviewers have mentioned, he lectures with little "visual" presentation and usually just sits at the front of the classroom and speaks for the class duration. But this is common in upper-level philosophy classes. He lectures assuming that everyone has done the readings and will ask questions about them. If you are to take his courses seriously, try your best to work through the readings before class and ask questions about them in class. You will likely be lost if you haven't done so. His exams are difficult because they require extremely clear answers to complicated prompts. But these prompts are always included in a study guide distributed a few days before the exam – so you can ask him any question you want from the study guide. Just make sure to do it before the exam so you can study based on his answer. He hosts oral exams (as a replacement for written ones), but only do these if you are overly prepared (i.e. if you really know your stuff). These are harder than written exams, but very good practice if you desire to actually understand the material to the extent that you can articulate it well. The essays are hard too: start them about two weeks before they are due (and finish them one week before, making changes daily until you submit them). Ask him questions about the essay during office hours because he tends to provide little explicit guidance on what your responses should look like. The best advice I have for any serious writing in philosophy: be as clear as possible. As I hope this review has made it obvious that I only recommend a few types of students take courses with Professor Rey: "overachievers," people who are very smart, people who love to learn, and people who are very interested in philosophy (particularly the types I mentioned).

Aida Roige Mas
PHIL366

Expecting an A-
Anonymous
08/05/2022

She made getting an A very difficult. While she was very nice, she wasn't a great lecturer. I was excited about this class initially, but then it turned into weekly presentations and minimal assignments which were really tedious. I repeat, she was very nice but she was just not a great professor.

Aida Roige Mas
PHIL366

Anonymous
07/24/2022

Aida is a very kind person. But she does not seem passionate when teaching which leaves you feeling like I could have been doing something better. When teaching she assumed you knew all the concepts. This made it very difficult to understand the majority of the things being said. Felt like I was in a math class at times, you doze off for a second and you are completely lost. And asking questions didn't really help much when she can't even explain the concept to you in the first place. This was not a good experience.

Aida Roige Mas
PHIL366

Anonymous
05/04/2022

Aida's great. Simply put, she's willing to answer all questions and encourages everyone to ask questions. The amount of work isn't unreasonable in her class, but the assigned readings do become too much at a point. I found myself struggling to understand about half of them, resulting in the final paper to be a huge puzzle.

Georges Rey
PHIL366

Expecting a B
Anonymous
05/09/2019

Can't really say anything bad about Professor Rey. The course was intellectually engaging. He gives you pop quizzes that are just one question sometimes but you don't have to really do well on those to do well in class. He gives you review sheets with a series of terms to define and essay questions to write (just a paragraph suffices). And those same questions will show up on the exam, so if you do the review sheet then go to him to grade that, you'll do marvelously well on his exams. He actually recommends you to do this. The class is basically taught while following along to his book so if you don't explain the concepts the way he understands them then you'll lose points. If you don't get a good exam grade, go to him and ask him to review it again, he will give you a lot of points back. I personally went up two letter grades because he gave me back 12 points. He makes mistakes and sometimes grades to harshly, and the second look he takes really does help! Professor Rey is worth taking this class with. You'll think hard on the subjects at hand, and if it goes over your head, don't worry he encourages students to take up as much of his time as possible so you can understand the concepts.

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