Western Culture: Political, Economic, and Social Thought II

ILS 206 covers the development of Western political, economic, and social thought from the Reformation to the present day.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 4

Historical reviews of Daniel Kapust, John Zumbrunnen, Richard Avramenko: Students report significant reading loads, including 13th-century texts, and difficult concepts like Machiavelli that require memorization or careful study to achieve high grades.

Grade history

average GPA
letter grades
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

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ILS 206

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • None

Professors

Fall 2026

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Richard Avramenko, John Zumbrunnen, and Daniel Kapust are the primary historical instructors. Avramenko received mixed reviews for reading load and grading, while Zumbrunnen and Kapust were praised for engaging lectures and helpfulness. Ethan Alexander-Davey had polarizing reviews regarding his teaching style.

DANIEL KAPUST is recorded teaching in Spring 2017, Spring 2019. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ETHAN ALEXANDER-DAVEY is recorded teaching in Spring 2011. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JOHN ZUMBRUNNEN is recorded teaching in Spring 2009. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

RICHARD AVRAMENKO is recorded teaching in Spring 2007, Spring 2008, Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2018, Spring 2020, Spring 2022. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

THOMAS BUNTING is recorded teaching in Spring 2016. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

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No records available.

Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Daniel Kapust: Daniel Kapust delivers engaging, funny lectures that make difficult material exciting, though the course remains reading-heavy and requires consistent work to succeed.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2020: 3.54 GPA, 78.3% A/AB (n=23 letter grades); Spring 2022: 3.25 GPA, 60.0% A/AB (n=30 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.67 GPA, 77.8% A/AB (n=18 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Daniel Kapust, John Zumbrunnen, Richard Avramenko: Students report significant reading loads, including 13th-century texts, and difficult concepts like Machiavelli that require memorization or careful study to achieve high grades.

Historical reviews of Ethan Alexander-Davey, John Zumbrunnen: Some instructors provide all necessary information in lectures or PowerPoint slides, reducing reading requirements, while others are described as thoughtful and helpful.

Topics

  • Liberalism, Marxism, and organic conservatism
  • Modern systems of thought

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2023— not enough history to project Fall 2026.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
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F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2023

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

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Student reviews

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Grade history

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Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Model & dataset provenance
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "c8673597dcabc6fc7c79f9c78af9473214abe6d0edf0dfd6f355db6ee9b952ba",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}