2.6
Quality3.4
Difficulty23%
Would Retake84
Reviews23%
Would Retake
84
Reviews
Rating DistributionOfficial
5
9
4
17
3
18
2
20
1
20
What Students Say
“he claps his hands a ton which distracts students from paying attention to his otherwise super confusing lectures”
PHIL115 - 1.0 rating“Not gonna lie it's very hard to pay attention in his class, and it's brutal most of the time, and really boring”
PHIL115 - 3.0 ratingClass Info
Attendance Mandatory
84%
Textbook Required
31%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.11 avg changeRatings by Course
HUMANPERSON
5.0
(2)HONORSETHICS
5.0
(1)PHIL100
5.0
(1)PHIL
3.0
(1)PHIL215
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
PHIL11511
5.0
PHIL
4.0
PHILOSOPHY
4.0
HONORSETHICS
4.0
PHILO114
4.0
Reviews (84)
Nice guy and loves what he does, but the class is boring and his grading sometimes seems arbitrary.
i desrved more in his class cos i did all the readings.just a hard grader
Degnan does make this class interesting, atleast as interesting as logic and philosophy can be. He gives a decent amount of hw and his tests are somewhat difficult. He is probably on of the more difficult teachers, but his laugh makes taking the class worth it. He will get sidetracked easily too.
He's a nice guy ... very strange though. He has a really annoying laugh, and he seems to grade arbitrarily. The class is kind of boring, and he doesn't seem to know when to drop a topic.
He spends a lot of time explaining things, sometimes too much, but he makes sure everyone knows what is going on. He wasn't a very hard grader and I would recommend him. His laugh is hillarious.
A bit scatter brained but very nice. He likes it when you make an attempt to understand. Meet him after class to study and he will appreciate you trying. Good teacher, VERY unorganized.
No Comments
He's a nice guy, but really, he is a terrible professor. He has no concept of time and cannot get through a class without wasting a lot of valuable time on worthless tangents.
Very smart guy, but loses track of time and doesn't always finish a topic. Also really nice - hw can be a little late without loss of pts. Kind of a hard grader, offers a fair amount of e.c.
Engaging, fun and he rewards originality. Don't give him the Sparknotes version
Nice guy that loves what he's doing. But, he makes class/tests/quizzes needlessly difficult and he can be very irresponsible when it comes to getting work back on time. Classes can become incredibly tedious. Overall, thoug he's nice, I really don't recommend.
Dr.Degnan is a great teacher. He is unique and funny guy. Although his exams are a bit hard but he makes sure you understand .I had a great time in his class. i would recommend him but be ready to do alots of work. Just show him you care about the class and you will be fine.
Had degnan for all of my philosophy classes... Loved 114 & 115!
Unorganized and he takes a lot of time repeating himself. We did not get to a lot of the famous works in the class which was pretty dissapointing.
best teacher i've had for philosophy! He's a very nice guy and really makes effort to make sure everyone understands the subject. His homework/exams are not hard at all, as long as you pay attention in class, everything is in the notes (he post them on blackboard too). I strongly recommend him!
Degnan is an incredibly nice guy, he will help you with any questions you have. The tests are essay but he gives you the questions ahead of time and picks like 3 out 5. Great Prof!
Very interesting guy. His laugh makes me cry. Ask alot of questions.
Frustratingly disorganized.Class is a daily struggle to sort through what has been done and what needs to be completed. Requires reading a great deal of academic literature, but the class could never know whether to read what. He's a gentle soul I'd like to rate better. Grades based on daily participation but obviously doesn't keep track well.
Degnan is an average prof. He gets on tangents all the time, and he argues with every student who is trying for brownie points. I enjoyed the material, and think that he is interesting, but I felt like we moved too slowly
In most assemblies, people all argue on the same side. Look at the small-town papers. Truth is not much valued where everyone agrees on what the truth is and no one is handy to speak up for the side that's been dissmissed. However bad university professors may be in general, every great professor is a man or woman devoted to truth:)
He's a really nice guy. He repeats himself a lot and can be very confusing at times. He really tries to get everyone to understand the material. He goes over logic problems and validity forever. Nice guy but can be hard to follow.
He's super nice but goes off on tangents so you end up not knowing what he is even talking about anymore.
Totally passionate about philosophy. His enthusiasm really makes this class. He tries to make sure everyone understands. I really learned a lot, and he's a great guy with a sense of humor(and a hilarious laugh!).Keep up with the reading and participate in class. Interesting course material. Highly recommended!
Great guy, really passionate for philosophy. Participation is important so attendance is mandatory. Lecture can be disorganized, but he puts notes on blackboard. Readings are difficult to understand and he doesn't always go over them before the quizzes. He does try to interest people in Philosophy and apply it life, such as Star Trek clips.
DO NOT TAKE HIM!! If you want to be confused every single class period and never know what your doing on your homework and write down pages and pages of aimless notes then take take him...but if not FIND ANOTHER PROFESSOR! Philosophy is my worst nightmare! He is incapable of making sense and explaining an assignment so you understand it.
Happy-go-lucky guy and very understanding and nice. Not the most interesting class, but you will NO DOUBT find him to be. Easy A or high B. Study before tests and show up to class and you'll do just fine. See him if you have questions on your test - he likes to see you're interested in your grade and is open to giving points back.
Nice enough guy but HORRIBLE teacher. He lectures way too much, goes off topic, very confusing lectures. Exams were ridiculously difficult. DO NOT TAKE HIM!!!
He teaches in a way that challenges your mind.e He has response papers due almost every other class period. You definitely have to work hard and think to understand his thought processes. His papers are easy to write as long as you explain your thought process. It's hard to earn an A in his class.
I would strongly encourage everyone to find a different Professor for Phil 115. Degnans a nice guy and will try to help you, but his class is a mess and is way more difficult than it needs to be. Also you cover some rather random topics and miss some of the more interesting Philosophy topics that are out there. Also there is a lot of homework.
He was an outstanding professor. If you pay attention, the class is super easy to get an A, the tests challenge your beliefs. He challenges you as a learner. But is a wonderful teacher
Save yourself the trouble and don't take him.Just don't. Hes a nice guys but hes technologically incompitent and it's way to hard to understand the points hes trying to get across. He uses his own way of explaining things and if you dont understand him, good luck trying to figure it out.
I cannot emphasize enough how frustrated I am with this professor.He rambles about irrelevant points and has no punctuality in getting across what you need to know.His notes are unorganized at best and to say that he is technologically incompetent is an understatement. Obnoxiously liberal too.Hands down my least favorite class at UST.Spare yourself
Alright I was a little too extreme in my review below. He is a super nice guy that honestly really wants you to learn. I guess his style of teaching doesn't get to me especially since philosophy isn't my strong suit. He is fair with assignments and works with students to help them out. He really does try and didn't deserve the rant he got below.
He is one of the nicest professors at St. Thomas. Even if at times he does go off on a tangent during lecture, he's willing to meet with you anytime you need help and truly wants you to succeed. Put in the extra effort,ask questions and you'll do really well. Stay focused and ask questions if it gets boring. Teacher is genuinely a nice person!
Difficult grader, but a really nice teacher. Willing to help you outside of class. Rambles a lot, and it didn't really feel like I learned a whole lot, but that just may be the difficulty of philosophy in the first place.
DON'T TAKE HIM. He rambles on so much that we are a month behind. He says umm after every word, and I have no idea how he got to be a prof. Notes are so long and pointless. It's impossible to get an A on a test, but his papers are pretty easy. Never get homework either, but a lot of people aren't doing well, so kinda wish we had homework...
Very available for help outside of class. But wasn't very clear in class. He was sort of confusing and contradicted himself. Not very easy to take notes and the tests were pretty difficult but homework was easy.
Dr. Degnan is probably the nicest guy in the whole school. His HW and tests are hard but he's willing to hear from students. Our class recommended a study guide, and within days, he gave us a study guide. He's very helpful, even if you get a 60%, that's still a C-.
He was a really nice teacher, but I felt like I never needed to come to class and it was a waste of time. I also spaced out a lot in his classes which was really frustrating, because I would try and listen, but he just seemed to ramble on. With a study guide his tests aren't too hard but still a tough grader...
Nicest man you will ever meet! Gets confusing and off topic often, but it's part of his charm. Take advantage of office hours and discussion in class--it can bump your grade so much!
Professor Degnan is a really really nice professor! He has office hours available all of the time and he always wants o make sure that students understand the content. His lectures are...ummm... not ...ummm, exactly the most..ummm...yes, engaging, because that is how he lectures.
Nicest guy in the world!! He is absolutely brilliant but sometimes struggles to project what he is trying to say which can make it difficult to understand the material sometimes. He always and wants to help and will basically give you answers if you go in for office hours. He also a very unique sense of humor that can be very entertaining!
Dr. Degnan is the nicest professor, ever! His lectures can get drag on and he has a tendency to ramble, but this class was still great! There were weekly quizzes that were pretty easy if you read the material beforehand. He also provides really considerate feedback on the papers/bi-weekly assignments. Also, gives you the exam essays ahead of time!
Really nice guy, but not such a great teacher. Class was disorganized which made it hard to know what to expect. If his organization was better I think he would be a very good professor.
super nice man! definitely not the best at explaining the material. he beats around the bush a lot while teaching to the point where you forget what he was talking about by the time he finishes. he keeps his expectations really low for his students which definitely doesn't inspire a lot of effort but it makes it a pretty easy class to pass.
He's a really nice guy, but hard to follow sometimes. Like any philosophy professor, he likes vague questions and asks them often. If you participate in discussion he'll really like you, if you make every effort not to participate, for some reason he'll still like you. Low stakes quizzes every week, painfully boring lectures, but still a nice guy.
Nice guy, but is very confusing and tends to ramble. Teaches class through asking vague questions, and when he gets no answer, he decides to just ask more vague questions and never gets to his point. When asked questions by students, he answers them with more questions, if he even answers them at all.
He is honestly the most confusing teacher i have ever had. He says umm about every other word. He is very unclear when he is explaining something as well. He also doesn't answer students questions very clearly either. He gives you hard readings and asks you to find arguments that are really hard to find!!!!
I have never been more disappointed. He rambles and doesn't answer questions
Dr. Degnan is a great man, but not the best professor. The material in the class is hard and confusing. Sometimes he makes it even more confusing. He also gets confused himself and doesn't know how to answer student's questions. But if you ask for help, he is always there and also if he notices you are struggling, he will talk to you to set an app.
Very all over the place, never stays on schedule. When you ask for help he goes on and on and you already forgot what you asked. I will not take him again.
Dr. Degnan is the sweetest, kindest man you'll ever come across. He's passionate about Philosophy, and he clearly is knowledgable. He just doesn't have the best way of relaying information in a way that's understandable for the average college student. He'd be better at lecturing a room full of philosophers, and often it feels like he's trying to.
Dr. Degnan is a great teacher that I would like to take again. Good points: he makes philosophy topics very easy to understand, grades his tests by using the highest grade, and gives out extra credit. Bad points: he doesn't keep to the schedule, makes participation worth the same as a test (dont expect to get 100%), and tends to get off topic.
super nice professor who always has a good attitude and clearly loves what he is teaching. However he rambles during lectures and is unclear in answering questions. All tests are multiple choice and true/false and he is good at preparing students for what will be tested. Lots of small group discussion
Decent prof, very nice guy, almost makes you not want to go against him, but I really struggled because of him. It's said to say, but I think I might have enjoyed this class a lot more with another prof... he rambles and is unclear. Very hard to learn from, not clear on material or answering questions.
Dr. Degnan is a great person but his classes all seemed to blend together. His lectures were always on exactly what the homework covered. He then would ramble on about his powerpoints explaining different points of the homework. Afterwards he would assign another homework assignment that would be discussed all next class likes to hear himself talk
He was a really great professor. I thought his class was excellent and he was kind and willing to discuss anything inside class or during his office hours. I would definitely recommend him to anyone.
I thoroughly enjoyed his class. While his lectures were rather scattered, he enjoyed what he does and tries to instill that love in his students. There are some quizzes. Study guide is a must. Unfortunately, he had a health issue during my course so didn't complete semester with him.
Dr. Degnan means well but in all honesty he is not good at teaching. He says "uh" every other word and will clap. This will distract you from the point he is trying to make. All he does is read PPTs that are from years ago. He also does not post the homework in a timely matter. Good guy, not so good at teaching. Avoid if possible.
Dr. Degnan is terrible at lecturing to his students because he tends to get off subject. Another thing that frustrated me was he posts the homework one night before its due. Usually a prof would give it to you at the end of class but Dr. Degnan is just too disorganized for that.
DO NOT take this professor. He can't finish sentences and he is an insanely hard grader. Although he does mean well and is nice, he does not answer your question and he can't seem to put together what he's trying to say at all. I strongly suggest you to find another philosophy professor.
The class consists of some quizzes, two tests and a paper. But who know actually knows because he is too unorganized to be consistent. He is very hard to understand while he lectures to his students because he tends to get off subject and struggles to finish sentences. The positive is he tells you exactly what is on each test and paper.
He assigns homework from the readings every day, but won't get to it the day of class because he wants to go back and cover something from earlier in the semester. 5 question true/false quizzes every week, one had a question that only 2 people got right. Readings are often from a book that was dedicated to him, not books that other classes read.
I hated this guy. He was the worst, most unorganized prof I have ever taken. 10/10 would not recommend.
Dr. Degnan is an absolutely terrible Prof. he makes no sense the instructions for papers and tests don't even feel like they are written in English, he stumbles on his own words, he goes off on tangents during lectures like crazy and generally leaves the class in a state of confusion.
Awful
I honestly do not understand how he is still gainfully employed
he claps his hands a ton which distracts students from paying attention to his otherwise super confusing lectures
Professor Degnan may not be on his A-game every day, but he sincerely cares about his students, his students' grades and lives, and is known to regularly change scores if you argue your case. He's very friendly, and funny, and makes a rather hard subject at the very least interesting.
Philosophy is definitely a tough subject, and I can only imagine how hard it is to teach it. That being said, some of Dr. Degnan's lectures were scattered, but he always did his best to make class interesting. He would often stick around after class to help answer questions and added office hours. He cares about his students!
Dr. Degnan's class was very interesting; his lectures felt repetitive and when it came time for tests the review outlines were very scattered which made it challenging to study the correct material. He does care about his students and if you put in the effort to go to office hours or talk with him after a test he will be helpful.
Not gonna lie it's very hard to pay attention in his class, and it's brutal most of the time, and really boring. Something I liked though, is he is always around outside of class to provide help (which is good, because his instructions can be very confusing) and he clearly cares about your grade if you prove to him you're working for it.
His lectures are very all over the place, making it hard for most students. He jumps back and forth between slides making it harder to pick up information. I would get so lost in the lecture, I pretty much lose interest in the subject. I don't even know what he talks about pretty much all time. Would NOT recommend!
Dr. Degnan is a very passionate professor. Although he can be a little disorganized, he truly cares about each one of his students and wants you to do well. He is always available outside of class. Philosophy can be complicated and confusing but if you put in time and effort, Dr. Degnan recognizes this, and you will be rewarded.
He struggles to finish his sentences and rarely actually answers your questions. The content can be confusing and this does not help. Be ready to teach yourself most content.
Great guy, but for content this confusing he could have been more lenient on his grading. Many of us are not philosophy majors and the ambiguous nature of language is going to be your downfall if you dont plan your papers perfectly.
Degnan never answered any of my questions and I had to go to the tutors a bunch. He would confuse himself and then confuse all the students as well. Would not recommend him.
Was over 45 minutes late to the final exam. Everything on tests is on things you talk about in class and are never posted online to study.
Besides being late for class every day, he gave long lectures and we had quizzes at least once a week. He was not helpful when going in and talking to him and did not explain what he expected on the test.
Dr. Degnan is a great guy who is very passionate about philosophy, but he lacks any kind of organization. His lectures are repetitive, boring, and all over the place. He confuses himself and students way too easily. Pretty easy class though as long as you do the readings and put in minimal effort.
Just don't take this class, he is the most disorganized professor I have ever had and isn't clear when it comes to test material and grading. Really nice guy but not a good teacher at all.
Ethics with Dr. Degnan was really enjoyable, especially since it's a requirement that most of us would not choose to take. He is very kind and takes the time necessary to make sure the class is grasping the concepts. Homework is very manageable, but if you skip class or readings you'll struggle with quizzes. Read and participate and you'll do fine.
Dr. Degnan is a super nice guy, but he is a horrible professor. He is very disorganized and is unclear about homework. His class made me have many mental breakdowns.
His introductory ethics class is the worst class Ive ever taken. I dont think he even knew what he was talking about. I would definitely recommended finding a different professor to take ethics with.
Class Info
Attendance Mandatory
84%
Textbook Required
31%
Grade Predictor
Your expected effort level
Predicted Grade
B
Grade Distribution
Common Tags
Rating Trend
Declining
-1.11 avg changeRatings by Course
HUMANPERSON
5.0
(2)HONORSETHICS
5.0
(1)PHIL100
5.0
(1)PHIL
3.0
(1)PHIL215
3.0
(2)Difficulty by Course
PHIL11511
5.0
PHIL
4.0
PHILOSOPHY
4.0
HONORSETHICS
4.0
PHILO114
4.0