Class record · PHIL · MCAS

PHIL 4565

Happiness and Utopia: Thinking about the Ideal Life · 1 instructor on record · 3 sections

What the course score is made of

90BC evaluations3 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2022 – Spring 2024

—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”3 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

25thMore work than 25% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

40BC — “Workload”3 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.

This course examines the notion of an ideal human life, understood as living well in ideal circumstances. This notion is at once familiar and puzzling. On the one hand, we all have some conception of living well - i.e., happiness, flourishing, the good life. And we recognize some circumstances as inimical to human flourishing, such as conditions of famine, poverty, oppression, and exploitation. Moreover, we seem to operate with some idea of good circumstances whenever we wish good fortune for our loved ones, or whenever we work to make our societies more supportive of human well-being. But on closer inspection, the notion of ideal circumstances raises a number of questions. What would human life look like in utopian conditions? Would humans still work and labor, or would we pass our lives entirely in leisure? Could our lives still have meaning and purpose, if there were nothing in our circumstances to struggle against?Would we still need virtues like courage and perseverance, with nothing to fear or overcome? And what about death: is it the ultimate non-ideal circumstance that might be overcome in some future utopia? This course considers such questions in relation to the notion of an ideal human life. We will read a range of philosophical texts, from Aristotle to Thomas More to contemporary thinkers. We will also examine film and works of imaginative literature by writers such as H.G. Wells.

The only instructor on record

3 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge
Micah LottAssociate Professor · Philosophy	923 records	25th	57th

There is no ranking to read here: Micah Lott is the only instructor with evaluation records for PHIL 4565, so the number is a record, not a position.

Also taught by Micah Lott

5 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
PHIL 1089Person and Social Responsibility II	20104 records	88
PHIL 1088Person and Social Responsibility I	1969 records	88
PHIL 1721The Value of Work: A Philosophical Examination	14 records	78
PHIL 3275Ethics of Migration	23 records	78
PHIL 4443What is Democracy?	12 records	87

Other PHIL classes

All of them

Class	Instructors	Course score
PHIL 1071Philosophy of the Person II	71247 records	84
PHIL 1070Philosophy of the Person I	65207 records	82
PHIL 1091Perspectives on Western Culture II/Perspectives II	39144 records	87
PHIL 1089Person and Social Responsibility II	20104 records	88
PHIL 1088Person and Social Responsibility I	1969 records	88
PHIL 1090Perspectives on Western Culture I/Perspectives I	3067 records	84

The line

All 13 items · means across 3 records

The Professor4 items

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

9454th pctl

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

9136th pctl

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

9351st pctl

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

9659th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

8937th pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9144th pctl

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

9139th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9152nd pctl

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

8114th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

8110th 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.

4025th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

9257th pctl

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

9144th 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

3 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Micah Lott	Spring 2024	01	88	88	40
Micah Lott	Spring 2023	01	92	88	40
Micah Lott	Spring 2022	01	96	92	40

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.