Class record · PHIL · MCAS

PHIL 5549

Selected Readings in Phenomenology · 1 instructor on record · 4 sections

What the course score is made of

91BC evaluations4 records · weight ×1.0 · Spring 2022 – Fall 2025

—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

86thMore challenging than 86% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

96BC — “Intellectually Challenging”4 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

78thMore work than 78% of BC classesranked against every one we hold

60BC — “Workload”4 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 offers a critical introduction to phenomenology, one of the most important movements of twentieth-century European philosophy, including its French existentialist development, and its critics. The major themes and movements in phenomenology and existentialism will be studied through several key thinkers: Franz Brentano, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Edith Stein, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre, Emmanuel Levinas. Themes that will be critically considered include: intentionality, phenomenological description, perception and embodiment, moods and emotions, self-consciousness, the nature of the self, sociality and the surrounding lifeworld. The course will have both a historical and a critical orientation with an emphasis on reading selected primary-source texts in English translation.

The only instructor on record

4 sections · nobody else has taught itFull record

Instructor	Overall	Workload	Challenge
Dermot MoranProfessor; Joseph Chair in Catholic Philosophy · Philosophy	954 records	78th	86th

There is no ranking to read here: Dermot Moran is the only instructor with evaluation records for PHIL 5549, so the number is a record, not a position.

Also taught by Dermot Moran

2 other classes

Class	Instructors	Course score
PHIL 7224Medieval Christian Mystical Philosophy: Eriugena, Eckhart, Cusanus	13 records	89
PHIL 1727The Self and its Limits: Classical and Contemporary Perspectives	12 records	81

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 4 records

The Professor4 items

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

9882nd pctl

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

9670th pctl

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

9668th pctl

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

9659th pctl

The Course3 items

Well-Organized CourseThe course was well organized.

9363rd pctl

Clear Learning GoalsThe learning objectives for the course were clear.

9466th pctl

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

9460th pctl

Assignments & Feedback3 items

Assignments Help You LearnAssignments and exams contributed to my learning.

9255th pctl

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

9045th pctl

Meaningful FeedbackThe feedback I received on my work was meaningful.

9781st 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.

6078th pctl

Intellectually ChallengingThe course was intellectually challenging.

9686th pctl

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

9361st 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

4 sections · newest first

Instructor	Term	Sec	Instr	Course	Work
Dermot Moran	Fall 2025	01	96	91	40
Dermot Moran	Spring 2025	01	95	88	60
Dermot Moran	Spring 2023	01	93	89	80
Dermot Moran	Spring 2022	01	98	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.