Overall, I would have to agree with most of the comments here about Almog. I found him to be a funny professor with an interesting topic however he had very little direction in the course. Almog is annoying in that he stares at you until you give him a nod and if do not nod he assumes you are lost, which leads him to constantly repeat himself!!! He also wears these Super Short and Tight Shorts which caused sitting near the front to be uncomfortable. I did attend every lecture, however, I would say the majority were pointless and your understanding of the material solely depends on your T.A. My biggest recommendation is to MAKE SURE YOU GET SARAH COOLIDGE AS YOUR TA. She is the head T.A. and is FANTASTIC! Every discussion was interesting as well as explained exactly what Almog was trying to teach in his 2 hour lecture. Overall, This course is an easy B+/A-, attending Lecture is not important, attending discussion is, 2 Midterms, 1 Final with a Final Review which makes the Final Super Easy and make sure you get Sarah Coolidge as your TA!

fairly easy class. guaranteed A-/B+ if you attend all the lectures and discussion and pay attention. selling his book for philosophy 7, contact ************* for pricing.

Professor Almog seems to have gotten some pretty poor evaluations. I can only speak for myself. I was expecting something altogether different than what Almog actually offered. I was expecting more content, less method; rather than a single text, a scope of them; rather than three in-class tests, two or three papers. To begin with content: approximately 40 pages of reading, all either Spinoza or a neo-Marxist called Balibar talking about Spinoza in the interest of what appeared to be an affirmation of dialectical materialism. Aristotle, Descartes, Hobbes, Rousseau--all were mentioned, but only briefly, in class. The course was conducted with an almost complete attention to two methods, the essentialist and the materialist--which seem to comprise an excellent beginning point for Philosophy of Mind, a point from which radii of specific content (e.g., theories of the above four philosophers) might be extrapolated. This didn't happen. The course moved too slowly. Indeed, it was almost offensive how slowly it moved--almost offensive how little Almog expected of us. Alternatively, the slowness (if you're one so inclined--and Almog certainly does encourage this) will give you time to pursue the aforementioned radii on your own terms. As for the graded assignments: two brief essay-format midterms and an final of equal length to two or three of the midterms. In themselves, they were not difficult. What is more, the grading was exceptionally generous.

I actually enjoyed this class, notwithstanding the disappointment of my expectations (which should never really surprise us, should it?). You can interpret the below comments to the tune of "Almog is a terrible lecturer." in one of two ways. Either he is a terrible lecturer, and his exoneration of himself on this count (by his repetitive invocation of the notion that the abstractedness of the material corresponds to the disjointedness of his style) is patently absurd; or, he is telling the truth when he says things to the effect that "Philosophy of Mind cannot be conducted with a syllabus or format." I think the truth is somewhere in between.

This class was a joke. I had to take it as a prerequisite for psychology. For the first couple of weeks I attended each lecture and fell asleep about half an hour into it because he goes onto random tangents and it's hard to follow what he's saying. Discussions were much better, though. I learned all of the course material in discussion. After the first midterm I realized that there was absolutely no point to walking to Dodd for a nap, so I stopped going to lecture and only went to discussions. My TA, Ashley, is awesome. She really cares about her students and she explains everything you need to know for the two midterms and final. From what I hear, Sarah is also a great TA. In the end, your grade comes down to who you have for your TA because it's very difficult to learn all of the course material from lecture alone. GO TO DISCUSSION.

Almog is by FAR the worst professor I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. so you think the course is supposed to be about the philosophy of the mind? THINK AGAIN, it should just be re-titled the worthless musings of Almog's mind. he is the most self-centered professor i've ever encountered, and for absolutely NO legitimate reason. Lectures are ridiculous with absolutely no structure. If you are thinking "oh, that's okay, philosophy classes don't need to be structured anyway" you should also think again as that thought is only permissible if there is some sort of substance present. in this case, nothing close to that. There is ONE required text: Balibar's book on Spinoza and Politics. why is this an idiotic choice? well, if you are discussing the philosophy of the mind then you clearly cannot focus SOLELY on one philosopher uprooted from one random point in time. on top of that, the reading is not even Spinoza but someone else's interpretation of him. on top of that, it is regarding POLITICS. as absurd as that is, you should also consider that THE BOOK WAS NEVER EVEN READ. I spent hours slaving over a random 5 page excerpt Almog randomly decided to assign only to hear that he told other FAVOURITE students (oh yes, clearly partisan) that the reading was not at all even necessary. He just goes on and on about the most irrelevant nonsense that he happens to find entertaining that IN NO WAY is pertinent to the exam or class. once again, he is completely self-absorbed and thinks he is at the same level of Descartes. speaking of which, he randomly decides to put Descartes into his lecture-stream-of-consciousness just in order to make himself feel as if this is a legitimate class. mind you, the things he says about Descartes are not only IRRELEVANT but also INCORRECT. it is ridiculous to have your entire grade based on two midterms in the last half of the class (absurd, I know) and then a final worth 50%. The questions on the first midterm we had weren't even phrased correctly and made little sense. this class is a joke and I have no idea why Almog would be teaching at UCLA, much less in charge of a core philosophy course. as someone actively working on a philosophy double major he completely repulsed me and I am forced to reconsider; if the entire Philosophy department is similar to Almog's class then I want nothing to do with it, EVER.

also- he seems to be madly in love with his TA Sarah Coolidge. it's almost shameful how obvious they both are. according to Almog the self-proclaimed legend, "you all must aspire to be Sarah Coolidge". so if you aren't a blonde with a nice chest, good luck trying to de-crypt his nauseating "class"

He does not care about any of his students. Often is mean for no reason.

phil 7 was the easiest class i've ever taken at UCLA. what a breeze. didn't study at all and got an A. they give you the answers at the review before the final....and we got open notes on the exam.

it was so easy, it was insulting.

Proffesor Almog is just short of a Genius. With that said, his brain is neither stuctured nor as organized as a typical student's is. In this class we don't take notes, he doesn't write on the board, there's no syllabus, and only one course reader with like 30 pages. Almog said it himself, the purpose of this class is "to make you think". So if you like thinking and analyzing metaphysical questions, you will love lecture/discussion. But if you are taking the class for an easy A, or with the idea that all you have to do is memorize and regurgitate the shit back on the test...this isn't the class. This class reminds me of what learning really is.

Don't be intimidated by the first lecture--nothing will really make sense and you'll find that Joseph goes off into lots of tangents. Your grade is entirely based on your midterm and final. In both cases, if the class behaves well (basically, most people attend class and people show genuine interest by asking thought-provoking questions), then Joseph will give you the questions to both exams a week beforehand. TAs are extremely helpful--utilize them and attend section, especially when it gets close to the midterm and final. Perhaps the most knowledgeable or helpful TAs are Sarah Coolidge and Julie, but regardless, all the TAs are very helpful and friendly. For the final, there was a review section and it is DEFINITELY worth going to because they basically give out free answers. Aside from that, you really don't need to pay attention in class--I couldn't help but fall asleep regularly, especially since it's a 9am class, and even when I did stay awake, I couldn't pay attention at all. There was one course reader we had to purchase but it was about $15 and we only read a few pages of it and you don't even really need to read it. Overall, I recommend it:
1. the topics were pretty interesting, but his lectures were very boring.
2. the class is very easy and relaxed--very little time is spent studying.
Other things worth noting is that every quarter covers a different topic (so you don't need to consult friends who took the class before) and the class is not at all about the "Introduction to the Mind"--Joseph even said so the first day of class.

Lectures were very confusing and disorganized; taking notes is impossible and no lecture notes were provided for the first part of class. However, both professor and TA's seemed to understand the challenges and were very helpful with understanding the subject and tests. Overall, I'm glad to take Almog - but make sure you have a TA that can do a good job at deciphering his lectures.