POL SCI M111A
Ancient and Medieval Political Theory
Description: (Same as Classics M121.) Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Exposition and critical analysis of major thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, St. Augustine, Aquinas, Machiavelli, and More and questions such as forms of government, citizenship, justice, happiness, rhetoric, religion, emotion. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2017 - Amazing professor, amazing class. I think Libby Barringer actually took a position at another university this, but on the off chance I'm wrong, TAKE HER. The readings are actually interesting, and she has a great sense of humor so lectures are usually fun. Often a few students would stay after class to nerd out about whatever topic, met some of my now-closest friends here. TAKE THIS CLASS.
Winter 2017 - Amazing professor, amazing class. I think Libby Barringer actually took a position at another university this, but on the off chance I'm wrong, TAKE HER. The readings are actually interesting, and she has a great sense of humor so lectures are usually fun. Often a few students would stay after class to nerd out about whatever topic, met some of my now-closest friends here. TAKE THIS CLASS.
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Most Helpful Review
Winter 2026 - Strongly disliked, honestly could say I hated, my time in this class. Immensely boring and difficult material with a professor who makes little to no effort to make it more engaging or understandable. Sloppy slides that are so, so so confusing (i.e. 40 point font for one sentence, 10 point font for the next) that you genuinely feel like you forgot how to read. Would assign an entire book to be read for a class (she literally copied and pasted the ENTIRETY of Thomas More's Utopia onto BruinLearn) only to spend the entire class period talking about a totally different, non-assigned author. On that front: be ready to have those non-assigned authors be something you could possibly be tested on for your final !!! Literally. Two days before our final exam, she told the WHOLE class that ANY quote from ANY reading (required or non-required) from ANY slide over the past 5 weeks could potentially be on the final... Meaning that we had to re-comb through more than 500 slides and MEMORIZE the most random of quotes-- for example, memorize a quote from Alexander Hamilton's The Federalist Papers, for an ANCIENT and MEDIEVAL political theory class-- because they "all connect." Don't even get me started on the grading scheme. 40% of your grade is the midterm and 50% of your grade is the final. THAT'S IT. Never before seen in a political science course ever. Gave no clarity on what the tests would look like (MC, T/F, essay, etc.) leading up to the tests, no rubric, or any kind of guidance on how it would be graded/what the TA's would be looking for. Gave us ten guiding questions that we, "should, but if you can't it's okay, but you SHOULD" write about when it came to doing our in-class essays. Consisted of 4 quotes that we had to be able to identify what author it was from, historical context, what their work was about, what the quote was about, and compare it to different author. Overall, terrible class. Would not recommend anyone to take.
Winter 2026 - Strongly disliked, honestly could say I hated, my time in this class. Immensely boring and difficult material with a professor who makes little to no effort to make it more engaging or understandable. Sloppy slides that are so, so so confusing (i.e. 40 point font for one sentence, 10 point font for the next) that you genuinely feel like you forgot how to read. Would assign an entire book to be read for a class (she literally copied and pasted the ENTIRETY of Thomas More's Utopia onto BruinLearn) only to spend the entire class period talking about a totally different, non-assigned author. On that front: be ready to have those non-assigned authors be something you could possibly be tested on for your final !!! Literally. Two days before our final exam, she told the WHOLE class that ANY quote from ANY reading (required or non-required) from ANY slide over the past 5 weeks could potentially be on the final... Meaning that we had to re-comb through more than 500 slides and MEMORIZE the most random of quotes-- for example, memorize a quote from Alexander Hamilton's The Federalist Papers, for an ANCIENT and MEDIEVAL political theory class-- because they "all connect." Don't even get me started on the grading scheme. 40% of your grade is the midterm and 50% of your grade is the final. THAT'S IT. Never before seen in a political science course ever. Gave no clarity on what the tests would look like (MC, T/F, essay, etc.) leading up to the tests, no rubric, or any kind of guidance on how it would be graded/what the TA's would be looking for. Gave us ten guiding questions that we, "should, but if you can't it's okay, but you SHOULD" write about when it came to doing our in-class essays. Consisted of 4 quotes that we had to be able to identify what author it was from, historical context, what their work was about, what the quote was about, and compare it to different author. Overall, terrible class. Would not recommend anyone to take.
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