John Collins

This class is a great introduction into philosophical thought. I came into this class having no formal education in philosophy, and I learned a ton. His heavy analytic style may be a little bit frightening in that he mostly talks about ideas and arguments by organizing them in steps, which makes the entire thing a little less "fun" and a little more rigorous. However, he is an engaging lecturer, has a great accent, and is very helpful during office hours. I would definitely recommend this class to anyone unsure about whether to take it. You will finish with a very solid foundation in philosophical content and style.

Professor Collins is, simply put, the best professor I have ever had at Columbia. But if he's not your style, you will not have a good time in his class. I had him for both methods and problems and epistemology, and the difference between a 120 person class and an 8 person class was huge. In Epistemology, Collins could actually get to know each and every one of us, and he was honestly interested. It's a tough subject to master, but he went clearly and methodically through every subject, making sure everyone got what was going on. If you are a fan of syllabi and structure and knowing exactly what's on the exam, this is not the professor for you. Our "syllabus" was a list of topics that he wanted to get to at some point. He writes his exams the morning of the test, and if you ask him what's on it he will honestly tell you that he doesn't know. If that bothers you, don't take a class with Collins. If you're a fan of philosophy and really thinking critically, this is the class for you. This is the kind of class that will keep you up at night, not because you're in butler studying but because you're lying in bed thinking about that days lecture and wondering if we know anything at all.

I am not the type of person to speak negatively about a professor, but I just needed to do this for the good of our school and for anyone who is ever considering taking a class with John Collins. Collins is funny and adorable; he can blow your mind and, to some degree, make you think about your life differently. But it stops there. As a professor for Probability and Decision Theory he was completely negligent and indifferent about the class. At several times during the semester, I thought "maybe he's just trying to test the limits of how little effort one can put into a class and still get through the semester..." I'm not saying he's lazy or anything...for all I know, maybe he was going through a lot that semester. THE GOOD - he's funny - he digresses and talks about interesting things - he doesn't punish you with his grading THE BAD - he does not respond to emails, no matter how many times you reword them and send them - he does not post his office hours online, so that if you want to meet with him to talk about something you sent him 4 emails about, you have to get him before he ducks out of class at the end of his lecture - he does not give a syllabus - he changes his requirements over the course of the semester so you never know how you're doing or even how you COULD be doing in the class - he does not give assignments back...not even the midterm...so you don't know what y…

Oh where to begin with metaphysics... This class was hilarious, pointless, challenging, and useless all at the same time. In fact, the only way that one can sum up the absurdity of this course is to look at the absurdity of the professor. Collins exhibits unexpected strengths and unexpected weaknesses. The most apparent thing about Collins is his utter lack of professionalism. This lack manifests itself in many way including but not limited to: the notable absence of any syllabus that actually tells you what you are going to learn in the course (for the trolls out there, know that there is a 'listing of readings and assignments' but it is updated as we go which means you never know where the course is headed), Collins' utter rejection of the idea that he needs to put any of the topics we discuss in context (i.e., so that you could see where a particular debate fits in to the larger field of philosophy), and the lack of a grading rubric, a set number of assignments, or a description of how much each assignment will affect one's grade. In my opinion, Columbia professors should be allowed to teach their classes as they wish provided they meet certain a criteria of professionalism which Collins simply does not possess nor demonstrates any desire in possessing. This unprofessionalism leads to all sorts of frustrations from not knowing how you are doing in the course to being bullie…

Terrrible, Terrible CLASS! NO one ever had any clue what was going to be taught each week b/c there was no syllabus. The professors (Collins co-taught with Prof Amarante) seemed not to notice that few if any students were following the discussions. Few topics were covered as the profs spent most of their time rehashing (again and again) the topics they were interested in (i.e. had written papers on). After class, we would commisserate in the elevator about how much we hated the class. Unforunately, if you are an econ-phil major, u don't get much of a choice. just hope that the class gets better, or that someone else teaches it.

This class was a nightmare! You could go to all the lectures, do every homework meticulously, and still end up completely lost on the exam. There was no way whatsoever of getting help. No way of figuring out what you did wrong (the homeworks were just never returned). Yeah, he's funny and a great lecturer, but unless you're willing to get a horrible grade despite all your hard work, stay away.

Ahhh yes … the enigma that is John Collins … Some years ago I had him as professor for CC. It was a good experience. Collins is very knowledgeable about the texts, and challenging, though he tends to dominate discussion. Professor Collins also provided the single most memorable classroom moment in my Columbia experience when he turned up to teach the class on Simone de Beauvoir’s “The Second Sex” wearing a pleated skirt and camisole, sheer black pantyhose and high-heeled boots. This was a challenge to fashion sense as well as gender stereotypes. The total effect was something like the slightly dissipated wife of a corrupt southern politician. The boys in the back row squirmed. Professor Collins does have rather nice legs, and we noticed for the first time how tiny his feet are (like size 7). The most interesting thing though, was that (s)he was actually much nicer to us that day, didn’t cut us off, listened more to what we were saying, and brought us cookies instead of giving us a quiz!

If you have the opportunity to take this course with Professor Collins, I strongly recommend you do so. The lectures are very interesting and, when time allows, he will permit the student's questions to drive the conversation, often for the betterment of the class. The only time when time will not be an issue is when Professor Collins recalls a witty story or a philosophy joke, and will undoubtably end up telling it. Although the stories and jokes may end with silence, his lectures are, more often than not, very funny. As stated in the previous post, you will see No! on your returned papers, at least if you write philosophy papers of the same poor quality as I do, but the grading is fair. If you are new to philosophy, as I was, do not expect an easy transition into the subject, the first topic was time travel. If you have never experienced an extreme level of confusion, so extreme that you may be convinced you have just suffered a stroke, you will when you read a philosopher's explanation of time travel. You will also never be able to enjoy Back to the Future ever, ever, again. Occasionally the link to the assigned readings will not work and the notes will not be posted, just bring it up to him before or after lecture and it will get fixed. I do not recommend emailing him.

This man is hilarious, engaging, intelligent, and knows how to lecture. He clearly enjoys what he does and I enjoyed listening to him lecture. This course went rather slowly, belaboring details, but Collins could make almost any subject at least somewhat interesting. There is rarely any reading or syllabus, and there are opportunities in class for discussion. He quoted a student as saying to him, "Now that I've completed your course, I know even less than when I began", and pointed to that as one of his proudest moments. He follows a slightly-combative, discussion-based pedagogical style which I enjoyed but may turn some people off. He invented the word "comundial" on the fly, meaning, "in the same world".

Having taken classes with most of the professors from the philo department, I can say without reserve that Collins is one of the better ones. The material covered in Metaphysics is extremely interesting and mind-boggling. The subject of metaphysics was novel to me. Most of us are more acquainted with theories of logic, epistemology, classical philosophy, etc. But metaphysics truly takes philosophy to a new level. With that said, there is virtually no reading material to this class, which can be a blessing or a curse. To do well in this class, unless you are David Armstrong himself, you should definitely attend every lecture and take notes. Collins presents arguments in a very dynamic fashion. The topics are interesting. But in the end, it's up to you to sort out all the theories and come to the conclusion yourself which theory is most viable. He will answer questions and will often take your opinion into consideration. A very challenging subject, taught be an experienced professor. One of the better courses at Columbia.