Prof. Greenberg is a nice guy who was very accommodating during the pandemic. There were 6 homework assignments that mostly consisted of building different "circuits" and an extra credit paper one could write for up to 10% of your grade. You are able to work with a small group on the homework assignments which is cool because if you have a good group, you'll have a good support network for asking questions and getting the homework done. If you are someone who enjoys or is good at symbolic logic, then this class will be pretty straightforward and I recommend taking it. If not, this class could potentially be pretty difficult as it is all about conceptualizing coding/logic gates into different circuits. Also, the professor made his own website and wrote his own book for the class which are both pretty amazing and easy to follow.

As long as you attend lectures and review the handouts the professor gives you, the in-class essays are kind of a breeze. Towards the end of the class, I just started skimming through the readings since I found that the lectures were way more important to learning the material. I think the easiest way to get a good grade in the class is by going to office hours. I went to almost every office hour with the TA and the professor, and I found that by asking questions and listening to other people's questions, I learned way more. Also, Professor Greenberg and my TA Will are both super interesting people, which made conversations much more engaging. As for the actual philosophical content of the class, I thought it was interesting enough, but it was also a little bit of a struggle staying engaged and awake during lectures (which isn't the professor's fault by any means). The no-phones rule definitely contributed to my drowsiness, but at the end of the day, I think that was for the best. At the end of the day, I think this class is a classic you get what you put in: if you don't put in effort into learning the material, you obviously won't do well on the essays since it literally tests your knowledge on how well you know the material. Make sure you go to your TA's office hours before the essay to ask questions on material you still don't fully understand or potential questions that might appear on the essay, since they are literally the one grading your essay.

I would not recommend this class. The professor does not allow note-taking on the computer- only handwritten notes, which I do not believe benefits the class overall. I also felt there were grading differences that varied by TA. From what I heard from my friends in different sections, the discussion sections were structured differently by each TA. I wish that there were more structure and the opportunity to gauge your ability to write philosophical papers before the exam. If you are looking for an easy GE, as the prof said on the first day of class, this may not be the best option for you.

Professor Greenberg was an interesting enough lecturer, and it seemed like he really cared about the topic. Handouts pertaining to each lecture were distributed at the beginning of each class. They were NOT posted online, nor were the lecture slides. The lectures were also not recorded to enforce “mandatory” attendance but there was no other penalty if you didn’t show up. All readings were online on Greenberg’s own website, no textbook necessary. There were 3 written exams, one for each unit, and extra office hours were offered beforehand. I never went to Greenberg’s office hours and relied more on my TA, Seungtaek, who was awesome and explained the concepts very well. I took this class as a major requirement but I would recommend it as a GE as well. Fun time.

This class is NOT AN EASY A OR A LOW EFFORT CLASS (as previous reviews from before 2020 that I was influenced to take this class by claim). The class format was changed from 3 papers to 3 in class essays, one for each unit covered. Not only does Greenberg assign SO MUCH reading, it's also boring and impossible to understand, especially when you don't want to read it and the writings are from 400 years ago by Descartes, so I used chatgpt to summarize all the texts though I retained nothing. You can also use chat to do the 2 question quizzes that he assigns along with the readings. This is a tech-free class (For whatever reason, but I lowk scrolled on my phone every class instead of paying attention) and they pass out a handout with all the notes from the slides from that day, so you don't really have to take your own notes (which is why I didn't pay attention). Maybe that's why I was always so confused about the concepts, but every time I walked into lecture I got hit with a wave of drowsiness and I was fighting to keep my eyes open every day. But anyways I would just lock in the day before the test for like the entire day and go over the handouts and answer the study questions he provides (very helpful, he even provides an AI prompt to help you study). The questions are also similar to the things he asks you to write about on the exams. The TA's grade pretty harshly though, and you have to explain the concepts clearly with an example and make sure you do not write ANY incorrect information or you will be graded down. Overall, Greenberg is a great professor, the class is just not very interesting and the concepts are so abstract that you have to think more than I'm willing to for a GE.

This class was extremely interesting, fun and one I think everyone should take at least once at UCLA. The professor and my TA (Will Fraker) did a great job at guiding you through the material, and the main focus of the class is not just on the theories of how the mind works themselves, but in what your opinion is and why you believe in it. I can genuinely feel how my logical thinking has improved because of the underlying philosophical principles you gain from the class.

With all that said, this class is definitely hard because you have to take time to let the concepts sit in your mind and have a precise understanding of the concepts themselves. Do not pay attention to the grade distributions above, this is not an easy A ever since they switched to in-class essays for the midterms/final. But if your focus when taking classes is more on your growth as a person rather than simply just the grade, I wouldn't worry about this- the grade will take care of itself.

You can get away with only skimming the readings and looking for important parts, maybe revisiting them quickly after you had class. You can manage to skip a lecture or two but in general you want to go. Going to OH before exams helped clear up specific details that were a difference between an A and a B. The professor and my TA were also really great, kind people. They are clearly interested in you learning to think for yourself.