에든버러대학교의 Introduction to Philosophy 학습자 리뷰 및 피드백

M

This is an excellent course, but done in a frustrating way: the option of having to complete only one out of the two modules per week seems like a good idea, but I was confused about how it will work when the student decideds to go for both. I wasn't sure how the grades will be worked out and, to be honest, I was dissapointed to see that although I did 100 on all, there was absolutely no reason for me to try to achive such outcome. I felt that the grading system was unfair, because many qestions demanded multiple correct answers yet only ONE point was given for each question. This means that if any one of the multiple possible correct answers was not marked OR if one answer was wrong but others were correct, the point for that question was not given, even if it was partially correct. Although the quizes can be done many times, when an answer is wrong, there is no explanation to why, and what would have been the correct answer so there was no way to learn from the mistakes. In order to correct them, one must either go back and listen to the whole thing over and over again OR start a quessing/eliminating game, which does not teach anything else but how to beat the system. Some of the lecturers accent and presentation style makes it very hard to understand the material.

Although I greatly enjoyed the teaching in Week 5 of this course, and that part of the course alone has boosted up my rating from a 2 star rating to a 3 star one, I felt like the concepts argued were far from introductory - perhaps even pedantic for someone who was not exposed to the methodology of philosophy beforehand. Examples such as aliens made out of wood, or harping on the tiny difference between the words 'comply' and 'obey' seemed to me at least an insufficient method of explaining concepts, and until I reached week 5 I felt I didn't gain insight into the course. That said, The review assignments were great and the faculty did for their part try to cover as many diverse domains in philosophy as possible in this short duration. The week 5 modules were particularly enjoyable as they seemed to be more relatable, and with more solid arguments that a beginner could grasp more easily. I am glad to have finished this course, but I hope these small issues could be fixed in further versions of the course.

Very informative and interesting overall, I can certainly recommend it. Yet, the absence of loci to discuss ideas, asking questions, and sending feedback is a bit irritating. For example, I found an error in the tie-in book written for this course, yet found nowhere to report it. It was only through cross-checking the material that I was able to confirm it. I appreciated the selection of topics for this introduction, with the exception of the metaphysics lesson. Apparently, the time-travel thing was supposed to be a background idea to discuss metaphysical issues. However, it seems to have occupied almost the entirety of the discussion (fascinating as it may be). In that sense, it was a bit dislocated in the midst of the other lessons, which were broad outlines of major areas of contemporary philosophy. These are the two points that displeased me. I am not one for hot-headed discussions, but having nowhere to discuss complex ideas, in order to better understand them, made the experience poorer for me.

I loved some parts of the course only. I was happy to learn. However, as an introductory course, some elements were way tooooo heavy and intense. I struggled to get thru some bits. esp the one on Philosophy of Time.

Perhaps its not useful to pack in too much across a wide spectrum.

Also learning should be broken down into smaller digestible chunks; with small required readings (that are select pages or articles rather than materials that seem even more frightening!

It is a very entertaining broad introduction to the topic of philosophy in general. The lecturers are very knowledgeable and are very good teachers. However, I wish there would be a more detailed treatment of the topics in question. I look forward to their future course on Philosophy of Science, as I believe that by focusing on a more narrow topic, they will be able to go a bit more in depth.

I found the course a little hard to follow mainly because the video lectures would not load. I found I spent more time trying to get the course material working than actually absorbing it.

I really liked the lectures once they were working though. Its a very nice introduction to a way of thinking and the examples used to argument the theories were very entertaining.

The way of presenting topics of philosophy is refreshing and inviting for further reflection. The tests however are focusing on nitty gritty differences or features in the presented videos. Less motivating to submit the tests and invites me to focus only on the preseed video and excellent links to other extra sources.

i don't really care for different people doing this module but, i understand that there is a lot of information so it has to be broken up. Its kinda hard to keep up due to everyone's different styles. i had to actually print out the transcripts in order to understand certain topics or revise videos more than 3 times.

This course teach you how important is to have philosophical mind.The overview of what philosophy is in the first lecture is awesome. In further lectures they go into tools of philosophy and major questions and arguments for them.But you have to read the hand outs and have to work yourself through the course.

A good overall (modular) introduction to Philosophy and worth completing, but it lacks a more complete development of any of the presented topics. Definitely worth watching the lectures, but in-depth independent work and thorough readings are a must if you want to get more out of this course.

Los aportes de cada uno de los profesores es muy diferente, algunos de ellos tienen sesiones realmente interesantes y muy bien elaboradas, mientras que en otros las ideas son muy básicas y poco profundas, además de que no se hacen entender bien. Hacen falta las transcripciones en inglés.

The classes were pretty good, but the bibliography was not. The bibliography consists of encyclopedia's articles which are not necessarily written to a beginner. It is quite discouraging for someone starting with philosophy to read articles which lacks a pedagogic approach.

Many of the test questions have multiple answers to be checked. Philosophically, many of the answers are very similar and there is no partial credit. I understand this is a philosophy class but the material was organized nebulously and the tests were even more nebulous.

Interesante pero tal vez demasiado amplio para ser una introducción y por lo tanto demasiado general.

No capté el criterio de selección de los temas, y los temas presentados no eran los que esperaba.

Muy buenos los profesores, muy entusiastas de su materia.

The ideas behind certain theories were explained but the basics of how to formulate an argument and checking its validity and soundness were not given. This is what I was expecting from and introductory course.

Too complicated for those who are new to philosophy. The basic concepts not very clearly explained. It seems that teachers had the assumption that students already had some previous knowledge of philosophy.

Contenido interesante y instructivo, bien presentado, con un pelín de humor y un buen orden. ¡Que pena que sea sólo con voces en inglés! Me cuesta mucho leerlo en español y luego tener preguntas en inglés.

Overall, I found the topics to be interesting, but many times the videos seemed boring as there is no coherence between the modules nor much depth as I expected into the philosophycal questions.

The course was good but the certificate should have the total amount of time I spend in the topic. And also its written non-credit certificate which is causing problem in my college

The course does not have much videos and some of the lecturers (especailly week 5) talk TOO FAST. The subject is abstract and hard enough and talking too fast makes it harder.

Great topics and teachers! The tests could be a little more exigent, I guess, nevertheless, it's a well built and interesting course open to anyone!

The first couple of tutors sounded interested in what they were doing and like they knew what they were saying. The rest didn't.

As an introductory course this was sufficient and provided an excellent insight into the numerous areas of philosophy.

I have a mixed feeling about it. Sometimes I felt, this course was trying to deliver more content in short time.