This is most definitely not an easy GE. The content was interesting, but your grade is entirely based off horrible quizzes. There are just so many small details that you need to know. It was an interesting class, but I felt like the things I actually learned were most definitely not tested on the quizzes. The multiple choice was fine, but the SELECT ALL THAT APPLIES?? actually brutal. There was never a day I wasn't in fear of what my grade might become. You might think you won't need to drop two quiz scores, but that will most definitely come in clutch, because you essentially need a 90% average on the quiz section and getting one question wrong already drops one quiz score down to a 90 (trust me, you will get more than one question wrong). with that being said, my TA was really helpful and was genuinely very interested in the topic.

WARNING: NOT A G.E. FOR THE WEAK!

Skimming through other reviews of this class, I wonder if perhaps me and my friends did something seriously wrong, because this class was not enjoyable in the slightest or easy, especially as a GE.

Prof. Khalifa seems nice enough and his lectures were interesting, but I have several complaints.

One, as a philosophy/ethics professor, it felt very ironic for him to constantly rely on AI-generated images for his slides.

Second, the quizzes were absurdly hard. Being philosophy quizzes, they felt at times incredibly subjective or based on mathematical formulas buried deep in the slides. All quizzes were open-internet and even with group work, several hours, AND the help of the internet, I was still constantly getting partial points deducted because there were often 2 or 3 near-identical answers for every question. Don't be fooled by the "no homework", you will need to pour over the readings and spend hours on these quizzes if you want to get about 80%. I will say that an extra credit assignment was offered to those with a low enough grade.

That being said, this was clearly not the class for me, as the lectures didn't feel related enough to the very specific content on the quizzes and were too general. It's a well-structured class that I would recommend to PHILOS majors, but if you're looking for a quick G.E. and think the vague idea of philosophy is "fun", be wary.

Professor Khalifa is actually a goat. There is no homework (besides "suggested" readings), no midterms, and no final. You are only graded on ten open book/open internet quizzes, and the two lowest are dropped. The remaining 4% is participation, which he is pretty chill about. I felt that the lectures were pretty interesting, and he does a good job of making the content accessible to everyone with good discussions. He cracks jokes to keep the class engaging, and gives out a lot of help in office hours. Genuinely a super interesting guy to talk to if you get the chance. I would definitely take this class again, or any class offered by Khalifa.

The class is a decently easy GE. The class consisted of 10 quizzes that were online, and the two lowest scores got dropped. The class is not hard as long as you dont get lazy with the class. Prof. Kareem is definitely an interesting professor and nice person. Also in order to get the participation point for the class just go to the office hours once

No midterms, finals, or assignments. Only weekly quizzes, which are absurdly difficult but definitely manageable and you can usually guarantee a good grade if you spend a lot of time reviewing your answers. The content is kinda boring but the professor is funny and really wants to help students. People who had a grade lower than 80% got an extra credit assignment to boost their grade. Discussion was great, he seemed pretty knowledgeable and super helpful, it was weekly jeopardy, so take Gu if you can.

96% of your grade comes from the weekly quizzes. The issue is, if you average 80-90% or lower, you likely won't get an A (or a high A). Although the two lowest quiz scores are dropped, if you want an A+, you need to average like 100% (and a few 90%). Some quizzes have ambiguous answers and you may regret taking the class if you don't do well on them. From my knowledge, the quizzes are created by 1-2 TAs in a rotation, so the easiness will differ every week. In order to get a high grade, you'll probably need to collaborate on the quizzes. 4% of the grade is participation. 2% comes from discussion section, but halfway through the quarter, you'll realize it's not worth the 2% of your grade to get up in the morning for discussion section. The other 2% comes from asking the professor a philosophical question, but everyone automatically receives 1%. The other 1% comes from going "above and beyond" in participation, but is that even worth it? And lastly, unless if you're passionate about philosophy (or the readings), don't go to lecture (they're recorded too).

The professor was really great! Hes really really good at lecturing. There's also a lot of back and forth with the professor and his students during lecture because he really likes to hear his students' perspectives and ideas. I went to a lot of his office hours and he was SUPER helpful and also really willing to help out. There have been times where I was the only one with questions and he would put time aside to draw out examples and email them to me. The only downside is that the quizzes are insanely hard. There are no midterms finals or assignments, so your entire grade is on these quizzes. Some of them are so detailed and difficult that I've spent 4 HOURS taking one before. Also because the quizzes are made by the TAs, there are issues sometimes where there could be two right answers depending on which perspective you're thinking in. The 2 lowest ones get dropped though, which is good.

This class was extremely easy. I only showed up for class once and he seemed like a decent lecturer. Participation doesn't matter for lectures. All you have to do is talk to him once during office hours to get a point (which I never even did) and show up to most discussions to get 2. There are 10 online quizzes and the lowest two grades are dropped. I never read the readings and only glanced at the slides for 5 minutes each week, then took the quizzes in less than 30 minutes and got almost all 100s. Easiest GE there is.

This class is 4% participation and 96% weekly quizzes. The worst 2 quizzes are dropped, and the rest make up your grade. Readings are helpful, but there's a lot of them and it's possible to complete weekly quizzes with help from lecture and discussion material alone. Make no mistake, the quizzes are hard. This is a subjective subject tested on in a finite MC environment; it is really difficult to distinguish what the questions are asking and what the options mean. To be successful on these, you need to go through each question with a fine-tooth comb and completely analyze what the question is asking to the letter. If you can accomplish that, most of the answers can be described by lecture material. Other than that, Khalifa is an extremely fun lecturer and very friendly outside of class. A large amount of effort goes into making this class accessible outside the lecture hall. Other than the quizzes and readings, there is no other work for this class. I'd recommend taking Pass/No Pass given the difficulty of the quizzes, but definitely take this for a GE.

The content for me was a hit or miss. Most were difficult to understand since I've never taken philosophy before and probably never again. Make sure to be active in discussion to get what you need for that week's quiz. The great thing was there were only 10 quizzes for which our lowest two scores were dropped. Lectures are recorded so no need to attend in person.