John Spackman

The readings were sometimes a little dense and hard to grasp. However, Spackman never failed to thoroughly unpack the texts through the use of helpful PowerPoint. In addition, Spackman makes time during class to encourage exciting class discussion. We had two 6-8 page essays about required readings during the semester, but you have lots of flexibility on the topic. For the final, you have a 6-8 page final research paper on a topic of your choice where you bring in outside readings. Also, on a side note, Spackman is just a super nice guy who wants his students to succeed and makes himself very available to meet with him.

The readings were sometimes a little dense and hard to grasp. However, Spackman never failed to thoroughly unpack the texts through the use of helpful PowerPoint. In addition, Spackman makes time during class to encourage exciting class discussion. We had two 6-8 page essays about required readings during the semester, but you have l …Read more

Intro to world philosophy with Professor Spackman was great. Really interesting material, overall reasonable amount of reading and pretty easy grading. Final was very relaxed and essays were timed well to make midterms and finals weeks less stressful.

I truly enjoyed this class for it's material. The material was, however, quite a lot. The reading was near constant and the assignments seemed to sneak up on me. If you're on top of your studies and enjoy constant philosophical reading it could be a wonderful course. In order to participate in conversations and understand your essay assignments it is actually necessary to read the work. Prof. Spackman is a great professor though, I would certainly take a class with him again -- but in order to understand his classes the reading is a must.

I truly enjoyed this class for it's material. The material was, however, quite a lot. The reading was near constant and the assignments seemed to sneak up on me. If you're on top of your studies and enjoy constant philosophical reading it could be a wonderful course. In order to participate in conversations and understand your essay …Read more