Katja Vogt

While the course was technically taught by three professors, Professor Vogt was the mastermind behind it all and the most prominent of the three. She was fantastic, somehow finding a way to challenge the philosophy students in the class while still ensuring that the non-philosophy majors understood and could access the technical concepts. The course itself was fascinating, covering a broad, but pertinent, topic and relating it to our lives. My major complaint was primarily with the class size, it was a 70 person lecture, yet student input constituted over half the class time. While this is a nice idea in theory, the reality is that the TAs spent too much time running around the room with microphones and many people did not provide valuable input to the course. If this was a seminar where people could actually engage with one another's ideas, it would be much better---otherwise, treat it as it is, a lecture, and pare down the student input. Otherwise a fantastic course, highly recommend.

This was my first philosophy course at Columbia, and I have absolutely no regrets. Professor Vogt (indirectly) confirmed my desire to concentrate in philosophy and reassured me that I can excel in the field. Professor Vogt is super sweet and an engaging lecturer. It is important to go to her class because she so clearly outlines exam and paper material. I wish she were teaching History of Philosophy II so I could be her student again.

i'll keep it short - take this class! This was my first philosophy class and I'm so glad I took it. Her syllabus is carefully composed with tons of interesting material, great for those who haven't taken many philosophy classes. Professor Vogt also expertly leads the class, raising intriguing discussions and questions. It's a fascinating, easy, and educative class. Take it if it's offered!

Professor Vogt is really, really a fantastic teacher for philosophy. We read texts (not long ones, typically easily manageable) that were complex and encompassed huge ideas, but once we discussed them in class, I think more or less everyone had a good understanding of the subject matter. Even more than that, though, we all developed our views on a topic and asked questions or criticized parts of a philosopher's theory, and Professor Vogt really encouraged that. I feel like the class has changed the way that I think, even, in that we were pushed to be very, very precise in the way we thought and spoke about topics. Obviously, in a class that revolves primarily around the meaning and usage of words like "good" versus "the good" versus "goodness," that kind of thinking is key. Don't ever think that philosophy classes are just easy! Ethics is really accessible in that it deals with ideas that permeate our everyday existence, but it was challenging in the best way in that it helped me grow. Christine was my TA, and her recitations were great and really illuminating. Same goes for her comments on assignments. She's really sweet and makes an effort to get involved with students to answer questions and to clarify points. She was also happy to meet one-on-one to talk about how to approach a paper topic. I really recommend this class to anyone, not just philosophy majors. I find it hard…

I love reviews like the one below this because they remind you how useful the 'Disagree' button is in CULPA. Professor Vogt was an amazing professor: sweet, funny, smart, accessible, and (in this reviewer's opinion) pretty attractive for a classicist not interested in beauty as existing in the realm of sensible things. Honestly, this is one of my favorite classes I've taken here yet. The first few days I was at a loss for what was going on, excited that I was clueless but still worried for my prospects in the class. Vogt asked the kinds of questions that you really have to think about before answering, and didn't shy away from making the class participate on her terms — through substantive analysis and thoughtful consideration of the texts. She wanted us to read Plato on his terms, so the smart-ass philosophy majors who feel better for knocking the tangential details about classical philosophy were left speechless almost every time they tried to use 18th century rebuttals against the Man, the Legend. She did a great job of guiding discussion and of engaging the large classroom so that it felt cozy. The reviewer below was correct in saying that some of the students in the class stopped participating toward the end, but the one time I came late and had to sit in the back I saw why: I was surrounded by Angry Birds and Facebook profiles — if you're only willing to look up and pay…

I'm pretty sure the reviewer before me must have been one of the quieter ones in class, because I clearly did not witness Prof. Vogt shooting down any points directly - in fact, her moving on from those points was essentially a polite manner of not embarrassing you by telling you how far off from the mark you were. Alot of my points were certainly glossed over in discussion which just prompted me to think about saying something that might catch her attention. She was a refreshing breath of air in the Core classes I've taken so far in her expert ability to TEACH. She knows the texts at the back of her hand and TELLS you where the key points to understanding the work are. This already makes the course easy, as opposed to other instructors (believe me, there are many) who would conduct a free flow discussion with ideas that may not end up with any substantial conclusion. Yes - CC is about teaching us how to interpret and apply the concepts that have shaped the Western world, but it should not be about a debate of, "oh what do you think Augustine said?" Rather, it should be "do you think what Augustine said was important?" And Prof. Vogt clearly teaches you about the second question. About attendance, when I read the general review that said Prof. Vogt missed class alot, I was astonished. It gave me the impression that she wasn't in class half the time. Truthfully, she rescheduled…

If Katya doesn't have a gold nugget yet, I don't know what culpa is waiting for. This woman is a goddess. Her students worship the ground she walks. If you have her for LitHum, you are incredibly lucky. She speaks nearly every language that the texts have been written in originally, she is the sweetest and most insightful little woman, and really loves her students. I'm honestly jealous of anyone who has her classes in the future, and am so upset that she doesn't teach anything else right now because I'd be first in line to take every subsequent class that she offers.

I learned about a variety of areas of interests of my fellow MA students, and had the opportunity to read and hear about their research, as well as read a few influential texts in the history of philosophy, ethics, the philosophy of mind and language, and other areas.

In terms of content, we investigated topics including what is wrong with lying, how lying relates to virtue, the value of truth and truthfulness, as well as the relationship between knowledge, assertion, inquiry, belief, and testimony. We also learned important terminology and conceptual frameworks as well as ways of approaching research papers and formulating questions.

Very light work, probably less than two hours of reading per week. 6 weekly reflections by the end of the semester. One midterm paper as an interview with someone older than 50 about what constitutes a meaningful life, and a 2500 word final paper about a topic of your choice pertaining to the course. Grading is depending on TA but it seemed relatively lenient.