Class record · ADPL · ADV

ADPL 1800

World Philosophies · 1 instructor on record · 8 sections

What the course score is made of

90BC evaluations8 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2023 – Spring 2026

—Student reviewsno reviews — does not contribute

—RateMyProfessorsno ratings — does not contribute

That is the class itself, averaged across everyone who taught it. Who taught it, and how each of them scored, is the board below — that is what a student picking a section is actually choosing between.

What the challenge rank is made of

57thMore challenging than 57% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

92BC — “Intellectually Challenging”8 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College's own “intellectually challenging” question for this class only — students answer it positively about courses that stretched them, so it measures intellectual challenge and NOT grading, workload or quality. Almost every BC class scores high on it, which is why it is shown as a rank rather than a score.

What the workload rank is made of

93rdMore work than 93% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

80BC — “Workload”8 records · raw score out of 100

Boston College reports workload for this class only as one of five bands, not as a number of hours, and it does not publish what the bands mean — so this site will not translate it into hours. Higher means more work, which is not the same as worse.

World Philosophies contributes to a project that is at the core of Jesuit education and its intellectual tradition: global conversations on the meaning of human existence. This course will introduce students to global philosophical accounts of the human person. Exploring diverse philosophical approaches also presses students to engage their own thinking in dialogue with a variety of views. By embarking on the quest to understand what it means to be human, around the world and across history, students take up a heritage that they share with past and future generations and their contemporaries across the globe: they will learn to reflect critically on their own culture, assumptions, and responsibility. This course is concerned with foundational topics in philosophy, particularly: what does it mean to be a human person? Such a question is inevitably personal and at the same time vast in scope. This question has been taken up and addressed in some form or another by a wide range of thinkers from around the globe and across human history. The course will be organized around an investigation of the philosophical foundations for living, loving, and dying well. In search for answers to these questions, we will review how they are addressed in the western philosophical tradition, as well as a broad sampling of wisdom from around the world, including Indigenous philosophy, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Chinese philosophy. We will discuss the role of feminism in reshaping the ancient question of the human person, which has been for centuries predominantly answered by male voices. Particular attention will be paid to the Jesuit tradition and its focus on justice and reconciliation. Ultimately, the course will press students to reconsider their own human personhood in light of this global collection of movements and ideas.

The only instructor on record

8 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge
Eric SeversonAdvancing Studies	928 records	93rd	57th

There is no ranking to read here: Eric Severson is the only instructor with evaluation records for ADPL 1800, so the number is a record, not a position.

Also taught by Eric Severson

2 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
ADPL 1500Ethics	413 records	89
ADPL 1810Special Topics: Our Common Home: Philosophies of Ecology	12 records	91

Other ADPL classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
ADPL 1500Ethics	413 records	89
ADPL 2011True Detectives: Investigating the Crimes and Mysteries of Existence	18 records	90
ADPL 1070Philosophy of the Person I	36 records	83
ADPL 1483Philosophy of Human Sexuality	14 records	91
ADPL 1498Philosophy of Cinema	14 records	95
ADPL 1252Practical Logic	12 records	74

The line

All 13 items · means across 8 records

The Professor4 items

Clearly Explains MaterialThe instructor was effective at creating an understanding of difficult subject matter.

9564th pctl

Available Outside of ClassThe instructor was available for help outside of class.

9559th pctl

Brings Out Your Best WorkThe instructor motivated me to do my best work.

9452nd pctl

Sparked My InterestThe course stimulated my interest in the subject matter.

9551st pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9888th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9570th pctl

Useful Beyond the CourseWhat I learned is applicable beyond this course.

9457th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9367th pctl

Gives Feedback PromptlyI received feedback on my work in a timely manner.

9256th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

9463rd pctl

Workload, difficulty & attendanceNot ratings

WorkloadHow much work the course took outside class, on Boston College's five-band scale — the band boundaries are not published, so this is not a number of hours.

8093rd pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

9257th pctl

Attendance MattersAttending class was necessary to do well in this course.

9463rd pctl

Bar length is the rank against every comparable record we hold, not the raw score: BC's questions all have a median around 4.5, so a raw-scale bar would be nearly full on every row and would tell you nothing. Every bar is one ink colour — nothing here is graded green or red. The hatched bars are not ratings at all: a higher number on either describes a different course, not a better one.

Game log

8 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Eric Severson	Spring 2026	01	93	91	—
Eric Severson	Summer 2025	01	95	95	100
Eric Severson	Spring 2025	01	96	93	60
Eric Severson	Summer 2024	01	85	80	100
Eric Severson	Spring 2024	01	89	89	80
Eric Severson	Spring 2024	02	96	89	—
Eric Severson	Summer 2023	01	87	90	—
Eric Severson	Spring 2023	01	96	95	60

How to read this boardInstructors are ranked on their record in this class only, never on their average across everything they teach. Scores are out of 100 — Boston College's 1–5 agreement scale, ×20, the way these numbers were printed for years. Workload is BC's own five-band figure, not a number of hours, and is shown as a rank. A dash means the question was not reported, and is never a zero.