PHIL370 | PlanetTerp

Information	Review
Ilaria Canavotto PHIL370 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/27/2025	This was a really nice class, Ilaria is a very kind and approachable prof who cares deeply for students' understanding and wellbeing. The lectures were thorough and she took the time to really explain things/give examples if anyone had questions or didn't understand specific topics. Despite being a decently numerous class (prob 20 people), it felt more like a seminar-style class, with student input being important. Ilaria was very flexible with things like quizzes and even offered students the opportunity to reach out before the final if they felt as though they weren't adequately prepared. The material itself starts out very easy (esp if you've already taken CMSC250 or equivalent) with propositional logic but becomes quite challenging towards the middle and end of the semester when you finally get to the proofs of soundness/completeness, and the final exam was quite dense. This is a proofs class, so you're expected to be able to follow/recreate the proofs covered. There were 3 midterms (2nd and 3rd were take-home) and an in-person final (10 questions on the later material, several proofs). There were also weekly homeworks/problem sets which were doable, and weekly/biweekly quizzes which also started out easy but became challenging, several were dropped. Don't skip much because it might be quite difficult to catch up, but the notes are very thorough. Good, intellectually stimulating class for a cs/math major or similar looking for an upper level logic course, and you'll likely get an A/B if you put in decent effort towards understanding the material.
Masayuki Tashiro PHIL370 Expecting an A Anonymous 12/02/2025	Great lecturer, can be a bit hard to understand but he wants you to succeed and all the exams were take-home. If you have any questions just ask him, great guy who loves when students are engaged.
John Horty PHIL370 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 12/19/2022	I took this class after taking PHIL170 and CMSC250. Go to every single class and you should get an A. His lectures were great and I was able to understand everything he taught (for the most part). He also made me laugh really hard a few times. If you are doing an upper-level concentration in philosophy as a computer science major, I would suggest taking PHIL370 with prof. Horty. The logic isn't super hard and you'll probably do well. I also probably only spent an hour on the class per week.
John Horty PHIL370 Expecting an A+ Anonymous 10/31/2018	literally the greatest professor I've ever had. super understanding of student concerns, he will happily reschedule an exam if people don't feel prepared for it and want to review for an extra day or 2. His exams are simply a subset of the review questions that he hands out, meaning that a week or so prior to the exam, he will give you a practice exam, and then the actual exam will be selected questions from the practice exam (taken word-for-word). He just wants you to learn, not get tricked by an exam. Even though the class is an hour and 15 minutes, the exams take no longer than 20 minutes if you really know the material. Take him if you're interested in logic, because he makes it so interesting and stress-free at the same time.

Ilaria Canavotto
PHIL370

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/27/2025

This was a really nice class, Ilaria is a very kind and approachable prof who cares deeply for students' understanding and wellbeing. The lectures were thorough and she took the time to really explain things/give examples if anyone had questions or didn't understand specific topics. Despite being a decently numerous class (prob 20 people), it felt more like a seminar-style class, with student input being important. Ilaria was very flexible with things like quizzes and even offered students the opportunity to reach out before the final if they felt as though they weren't adequately prepared. The material itself starts out very easy (esp if you've already taken CMSC250 or equivalent) with propositional logic but becomes quite challenging towards the middle and end of the semester when you finally get to the proofs of soundness/completeness, and the final exam was quite dense. This is a proofs class, so you're expected to be able to follow/recreate the proofs covered. There were 3 midterms (2nd and 3rd were take-home) and an in-person final (10 questions on the later material, several proofs). There were also weekly homeworks/problem sets which were doable, and weekly/biweekly quizzes which also started out easy but became challenging, several were dropped. Don't skip much because it might be quite difficult to catch up, but the notes are very thorough. Good, intellectually stimulating class for a cs/math major or similar looking for an upper level logic course, and you'll likely get an A/B if you put in decent effort towards understanding the material.

Masayuki Tashiro
PHIL370

Expecting an A
Anonymous
12/02/2025

Great lecturer, can be a bit hard to understand but he wants you to succeed and all the exams were take-home. If you have any questions just ask him, great guy who loves when students are engaged.

John Horty
PHIL370

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
12/19/2022

I took this class after taking PHIL170 and CMSC250. Go to every single class and you should get an A. His lectures were great and I was able to understand everything he taught (for the most part). He also made me laugh really hard a few times. If you are doing an upper-level concentration in philosophy as a computer science major, I would suggest taking PHIL370 with prof. Horty. The logic isn't super hard and you'll probably do well. I also probably only spent an hour on the class per week.

John Horty
PHIL370

Expecting an A+
Anonymous
10/31/2018

literally the greatest professor I've ever had. super understanding of student concerns, he will happily reschedule an exam if people don't feel prepared for it and want to review for an extra day or 2. His exams are simply a subset of the review questions that he hands out, meaning that a week or so prior to the exam, he will give you a practice exam, and then the actual exam will be selected questions from the practice exam (taken word-for-word). He just wants you to learn, not get tricked by an exam. Even though the class is an hour and 15 minutes, the exams take no longer than 20 minutes if you really know the material. Take him if you're interested in logic, because he makes it so interesting and stress-free at the same time.

Reviews for PHIL370