Steve Nathanson - Northeastern University

Professor: Steve Nathanson

Department: Philosophy

College: Northeastern University

Rating # 1

Overview:

• Course: HONR1209
• Grade Received: B-
• Overall Rating: 1.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I can't even begin to express my frustration with this class. Brought my grade down. Professor doesn't want to hear anything other than what he thinks. All other opinions dismissed or else "no, you're wrong." Office hours were useless. Lectures go off on tangents and never relate to the course. Don't reccommend

Rating # 2

Overview:

• Course: HONR1209
• Grade Received: B+
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: Not Mandatory

Comment:

Great professor! Very helpful and intelligent. This class inspired me (in part) to switch to philosophy major. Not an easy grader, but a fair one. Will improve your writing skills. Don't take a class of his if your looking for an easy way to get credits. Do take his classes if you're interested in philosophy.

Rating # 3

Overview:

• Course: HONR1209
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

This professor is incredibly inefficient in the classroom. Lectures are unplanned and unorganized. He feeds his opinion to you and expects you to regurgitate it else your grade suffers. This particular course comes highly unrecommended. Its a GPA killer, which honors students surely don't need. Don't make the same mistake I did.

Rating # 4

Overview:

• Course: HONR1209
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 1.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Hated everything about this class. He is so full of himself, and the fact that we have to use his textbook makes it worse. Narcissistic and talks in the third person. Lectures were boring and constantly off topic. Went to office hours then wrote a paper using his exact feedback, but still got low grades.

Rating # 5

Overview:

• Course: HONR1204
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nathanson is a great guy! He is always willing to help. His classes are graded mostly from papers, and he tells you exactly what he is expecting from those papers. If you are good at putting into writing exactly what he says on his lectures, you'll be fine!

Rating # 6

Overview:

• Course: HNRS1204
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is beyond "a bit opinionated". He seems reasonable, but he has his own ideas and I doubt he can even imagine that his opinions are wrong. It is true that those who agree with him are rewared; the others taken down. The readings for this course were great. The classes varied: Some good discussions; other discussions cut off too soon.

Rating # 7

Overview:

• Course: HONR1204
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 2.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Good teacher. Caring man, passionate about philosophy. A bit opinionated; he made his personal beliefs pretty clear. I wrote my first paper in line with his beliefs, and did very well. Second paper, I disagreed with his, and did worse. Third paper, I agreed with him and got the same score as the first paper. The texts were fantastic.

Rating # 8

Overview:

• Course: PHL2304
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nathanson is well-prepared, organized and a nice person. He is not a dynamic teacher, but a good one. His grading is tough but his comments are fair. One complaint: he doesn't always understand some of the best student questions and comments. I'm not sure why. He's very smart and understands different theories. Still, he needs to be more flexible.

Rating # 9

Overview:

• Course: PHIL2304
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He did a decent job teaching this course, not great tho. He obviously knows a lot about the subject, but it seems that he has a strict agenda for each class and doesn't seem to like answering questions that don't directly follow along with what he plans on talking about. I don't highly recommend this class, but take it if you must.

Rating # 10

Overview:

• Course: PHLU102
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: No
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

He is a tough grader, as others have said, but he intends only to improve your writing, which is commendable. My problem with the professor is how he approaches philosophy like a math equation, and lectures as such. There is NO valuable discussion in the course, just mindless rambling. The same topics will be endlessly recounted in a sterile manner

Rating # 11

Overview:

• Course: PHL102
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Do Not Take. One of the hardest graders I have ever had. Boring . Zero discussion straight lecture

Rating # 12

Overview:

• Course: PHLU205
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Professor Nathanson is a great professor, & a great guy. I will agree his papers are hard a, but if you go to class you will be fine. He wants you to ask for help, & he helps you to the best of his ability. I highly suggest taking the class, and don't give up. The book is NECESSARY, it gives you examples of what he expects. Good issues though!

Rating # 13

Overview:

• Course: PHLU140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.0
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

I'm surprised that students find Prof Nathanson a difficult grader. He tells you EXACTLY what he expects you to do on his papers! He is not an entertaining lecturer, but his presentations are very clear and well-prepared. It mystifies me that some students find him boring. My one reservation is that he does not always understand in-class questions.

Rating # 14

Overview:

• Course: PHLU140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Has very lofty expectations. His lectures can get tedious and boring at times, but taking some notes will help. Get help early if you need it because he gives better grades if you improve over the course. Still very hard to impress, even if you feel you have a good grasp of the material. Grade is based entirely on papers.

Rating # 15

Overview:

• Course: PHLU140
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: Yes
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Grade is based mostly on papers, which he grades very harshly. He is willing to help if you have problems wth your writing, but it gets frustrating, because even if you think you understand the material, he might not grade it so easily. Your final grade would be better if improvement is shown over the course, so ask for help early if you need it.

Rating # 16

Overview:

• Course: PHL435
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 2.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

expectations are way to high. Extremly boring and intimidating. Only papers, no exams but very hard grader. Classes make you want to die.

Rating # 17

Overview:

• Course: PHL435
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.5
• Course Difficulty: 3.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

beyond boring... he lectures straight through. But he's a very nice guy, who will be eager to help you when asked.

Rating # 18

Overview:

• Course: PHLU101HONORS
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 3.0
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

SO boring! I could not keep my eyes open for more than 5 minutes. All he does is talk and rarely leaves room for class discussion. I mean if you wanna sit there and listen to him talk about Socrates for an hour go for it.

Rating # 19

Overview:

• Course: PHLWARPEACE
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 5.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Excellent at letting the class guide itself with very little if any intervention except to keep some students on track. Expectations are high, but if your willing to put forth a good deal of effort, you can get quite a bit out of this class in return. Brushed over pacifism, but still an excellent look at the other side of the coin.

Rating # 20

Overview:

• Course: MORALPHILOSOPH
• Grade Received: N/A
• Overall Rating: 4.5
• Course Difficulty: 4.0

• For Credit: N/A
• Textbook Used: N/A
• Would Take Again: N/A
• Attendance: N/A

Comment:

Nathanson is very kind. Put the effort to know our names. Quickly answered emails. Class subject was very interesting. Always open, asked for questions and moderated class discussion well. Tough grader, but not overly so. Challenging but if you put in the work you'll get the grade. Very nice guy.