Professor Hsu is a nice man and you can tell he's very passionate about the material. However, this is a very difficult class to take if you have no experience with philosophy whatsoever. The only things you do in the class are the midterm and final essays and the homework assignments. You only need to do three homework assignments and I was confused if that meant that you only needed to do three to get at least a C, but you shouldn't do all 5 because they'll only grade three of them. They aren't graded for accuracy, only for whether or not you gave them a fair shot.
The midterm and the final were the hard parts of this class for sure. I basically had to figure out how to write a philosophical essay which is different from anything I've ever done. Go to your TA's office hours and discussion sections because those were the most helpful things I did this quarter. I somehow came out with a decent enough grade but do not take this class if you have another choice.

Is this a hard class? Yes. Is the material extremely hard to wrap your head around sometimes? Definitely. This is definitely a class that is not for the faint of heart. But I really do think that Prof. Hsu did a good job teaching the material. He allowed us to ask questions in class and was often receptive to the ideas of students and would respond to them. (I must note that I also have a benefit of having some familiarity of the material going into this class and being a philosophy major who likes this kind of content, so keep that in mind).

I will warn you that the only two things that determine your letter grade are your midterm essays and final essays, with five homework assignments that aren't worth credit but you need to pass 3 to get a passing grade in the class. But honestly, if you stay on top of it and do the readings, you'll be fine. With that said, I can definitely see why if you're not into philosophy/majoring in it, this can be a ROUGH class.

Also, on a lighter note, don't take this class as an 8AM if you can avoid it. Prof. Hsu has a Bob Ross-type inflection to his voice that often lulled me to sleep in class, even if I found the material itself engaging.

DO NOT TAKE THIS CLASS.

The material is horrid and extremely unclear. If I could go back and tell my freshman self not to take this class I would.

I entered the class extremely excited due to my interest in philosophy. Unfortunately, though, lectures weren't that clear and the syllabus on CCLE did not help. I enjoyed some of the readings but I didn't feel confident when writing essays about them. The positive aspect of the class was that we didn't have to write essays or take tests in class. What I would change is the engagement and clarity of the lectures.

Philosophy with him is fun, even though he is boring at times.
Honestly, the class is pretty tough but hella interesting but getting an A is manageable if you have a good rapport with your TA so go to discussion.
I would recommend this class, just to broaden your horizons.

The professor is someone who is certainly well versed in the concepts, and attempts to convey the difficult concepts to the students in the class. For someone who is not interested in philosophy, this class is not recommended - the concepts are hard to grasp and it becomes difficult to understand the reasoning process behind what the professor is saying, since often times he is unclear, and he tends to repeat himself especially in regards to trying to answer questions from students are not understanding the material correctly. Otherwise, Professor Hsu is quite nice and patient regarding answering questions and is certainly not the worst professor you can have, just expect tedium.

I took a philosophy class in high school and liked it, so I thought that the case would be the same with this class. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The concepts that are discussed are so abstract and difficult to get a firm grasp on that it is very easy to get lost. Most of the arguments that are presented are from long-dead philosophers who seem to only want to complicate things rather than explain the way that people think and the human condition or the state of the universe (maybe this is actually the point of philosophy and I've just missed it). It seemed that the arguments were full of "Yeah, but what if...," which gets incredibly annoying after a while. The professor is extremely kind and articulate, but almost to a fault. His diction and way of speaking (side note: his accent is pretty cool if that helps) only further complicated things, and he often went on tangents that only vaguely related to the lesson. I did end the class with an A, but that is only because I put a lot of time and effort into the two big papers that are due as well as the homework assignments. Overall, I wouldn't say that this class was particularly enlightening, and I was glad when it was over, but I will admit that it presents a different way of thinking that some people may find inherent. I didn't.

I took Philosophy 21 because an NSA told me it would be fun during orientation. That guy had no idea what he was talking about. Silly freshman me had no idea what I was getting myself into.

This class was absolutely boring. Lectures put me to sleep, and no matter how many times I tried to understand the readings, I often got lost. I BS'd a lot of my essays, and my TA who was condescending and very hard to reach, graded pretty harshly. I never bothered to go to discussion, so this was why. Definitely make friends with your TA. I can see how they make or break your grade.

I barely escaped with a C-, so go to lecture, take diligent notes, go to discussion, participate often, and find others in the class that can help. It's a hard and boring class, but it's definitely doable.

Hsu is great! He's nice, cheerful, intelligent, and has a nice accent that's fun to listen to, though it might put you to sleep. He's not great at explaining the concepts as he tends to circumnavigate, but the material is difficult and hard to explain by nature. I do think that if he could be more straightforward in his lectures, they wouldn't have to be 2 hours long. But you can tell that he tries to be as helpful as he can.
All of the readings are on the course website online (no textbook) and for the most part the reading is minimal but dense. As with any philosophy class it seems, you need to put quite a lot of effort into your papers to get a good grade, and the one test we had was difficult but you don't need to study that hard if you've been keeping up with the lectures and readings, and I think there might be a curve on it but not sure.
All in all, you get out of the class what you put in.

Professor Andrew Hsu is one of those people whose first impression is fantastic. He is a very cheerful man with a very elegant way with words that help drive home the atmosphere that you are learning philosophy. In this course, you actually partake in light philosophical reasoning instead of just reading about it, so it Is definitely something that I would recommend to people who enjoy thinking critically about situations and propositions from a new and unique perspective. His workload is also quite light - so long as you pay attention in lecture and carefully read the assigned texts on time. The concepts themselves I personally did not find too hard to comprehend (until the very last thing he covers that throws everything out the window), but I have heard from others that they struggled a bit, so I would keep that in mind before taking his class for the GE credit alone when there are so many easier options. You have to work for an A, but the journey there is actually enjoyable. Now, there are two things to keep in mind. One is that discussion sections are critical. Your TA is responsible for your grade, so understanding what they expect from you and having a good standing with them is a must. The other thing to keep in mind is that listening to the melodic accent of Professor Hsu for two hours can be a bit sleep-inducing in times, so be sure to come to class alert enough to stay awake. Overall, I highly recommend this course to anyone who wants to take a GE that is actually interesting and really makes you think about life .