all lectures recorded , attendance not taken. class is really easy, i got an A on the midterm and the term paper but didn’t do as well on the final, but to my own fault. super easy class

I took this class for my major (Cognitive Science) but was elated to see it knock off a physical science requirement as well! Professor Smith is a very kind-hearted prof and his lectures are pretty intriguing. He does not use slides but to be honest, that was never a problem because he lectured like he was telling a story. Also on Bruinlearn, there are lecture notes provided which is what he goes off on and elaborates on it + the audio recordings are also uploaded. Although the class is Philosophy of Science, the professor made it clear that we do not need to know any science for this class - it is moreover how scientists think. This is by far one of the best classes I have taken so far here at UCLA because the content is so interesting and I never felt bored. There are readings for this class but I never did them because I found going solely on the lectures was good enough. Additionally, there are no assignments in this class whatsoever besides the three things listed below.

The breakdown of the class is:
33.33% -> Midterm 1 (if you attend all the lectures and take notes on them, use them to fill out the study guide as pretty much all the information you need to know comes from that. There are three short essay questions in it though which TAs can be pretty picky on wording for, so pay attention to that)
33.33% -> Essay (this I think was the hardest part of the class, you are given 6-7 prompts to choose from and the TA went over them during the discussion as well. You have 2 weeks to do it, and it is 4 pages long. The topics have been discussed in class before. I had TA Guo and he was really sweet and offered individual OH to help craft your essay which I highly recommend you do as the TA is the one grading the paper)
33.33% -> Final (look above, same format, same style as Midterm)

Professor Smith is adorable. He is so passionate about this class, which is very straightforward. You don't need to do ANY of the readings, or even go to lecture really -- just read the notes he posts and you will get the main ideas. For the two exams, he gives out study guides 2 ish weeks prior. The exams are almost EXACTLY what the study guide consists of, so just memorize that!
You don't need to like philosophy or understand any of it to do well in this class, just memorize terms and their meanings!! Good luck!

Very interesting class and great professor.

Professor Smith is a kind and funny individual. He does a great job at explaining what can be quite complex concepts. He is always open to questions being asked and is known to be flexible and understanding if there a circumstances which require a deadline extension. I had no prior experience with philosophy but even with no error knowledge I felt the class moved at a steady and consistent pace. There is a textbook require but it can be accessed for free online. The readings, which are assigned as roughly a chapter before every lecture (2 lectures a week) could get to be a bit long but I found them pretty digestible and rather interesting, though the 2 philosophy articles assigned were a not as accessible in terms of language. I also recommend reading each chapter prior to lass as it helps lecture go more smoothly and feel more like review. The course was structured so that we only had 3 graded assignments our midterm, paper, and final exam. The final exam was online and open not due to the TA strike but the midterm which was traditional was identical in structure and filling out the study guide Professor Smith provides makes it entirely manageable. Lectures are recorded on burin cast but I recommend attending in person as the content is actually very interesting, and I found it to be more engaging in person as opposed to when it was recorded due to the TA strike. Overall I highly recommend this class as it was great and engaging course to have for my first quarter at UCLA!

Prof. Sheldon Smith is very passionate about Philosophy so if you genuinely like philosophy you will enjoy this course. I personally got stuck in this class and wasn't interested at all in the topics that were taught so the lectures were not very helpful for me, in fact I stopped going after 2 classes. Attendance is not mandatory and is not really necessary. There is a midterm, essay, and final each worth 1/3 of your grade. There is no homework at all and if you just complete the study guides before the tests you will do fine.

I really recommend attending lecture, as almost 100% of test content comes directly from lecture notes and his lecture. Overall pretty interesting/thought provoking class, but the lectures can be a little bit dry at times. Smith is a funny guy and enjoyable to be around, and he tries to keep it interesting. Generally speaking, easy class as long as you attend lecture and try to pay attention.

I barely went to any of the lectures or read any of the textbook. They were both complicated for me to understand and follow. However, Professor Smith’s lecture notes were super helpful and clear, and I had the most incredible TA (Jurgen!!). My TA would make handouts of all of the important things to know about the reading which was helpful for studying (but you can basically find all of the information in the lecture notes). Both my TA and the professor were easy to reach during office hours, though I do think my TA was way more clear and made concepts simpler than the professor. The professor was SO kind and was accommodating/understanding amid the TA strike. The midterm and final were really easy in my opinion based off just studying the lecture notes and my TA’s handouts a few days beforehand. There was honestly no work for this class— just studying for the midterm/final, writing the paper, and the readings if you do them. I would recommend this class for an easy GE (can satisfy physical science or philosophical analysis) or a major requirement (I’m a cognitive science major).

Love this class, professor and I got a great TA. Good GE, and I would take it again.

This class is alright. The quizzes were fair. Lectures were boring (at least for me). And writing the essays were annoying. I felt that my discussion section was not helpful at all so I stopped attending them. I also did not read the book (which I probably should have to do better on the quizzes) and I got a B+ so the class is not very difficult.
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I AM SELING PDF VERSION OF "Theory and Reality, An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science" by Peter Godfrey Smith. Send me a quick email:
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