Spring 2027

Theory of Knowledge

Survey of epistemology covering the nature, sources, and limits of human knowledge, including scepticism, sensory perception, evidence, justified belief, and induction.

no offering record for this termCredits unavailable
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · James Messina

Assessment included four papers and five discussion posts, with attendance and participation factored into the grade.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Describe some of the key philosophical questions within epistemology and the positions that philosophers have defended.

  • Critically evaluate the key epistemological positions that philosophers have defended.

  • Engage in philosophical discussion with an eye for clarity, precision, understanding, and depth.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

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

Prerequisites

Course map

Junior standing or 3 Credits in PHILOS

    • Junior standing
    • 3 Credits in PHILOS
    take one
PHILOS 503

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

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • Junior standing
    • 3 Credits in PHILOS

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

JAMES MESSINA is recorded teaching in Spring 2014, Fall 2022, Fall 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL TITELBAUM is recorded teaching in Spring 2010, Spring 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2014, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. 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

Spring 2027

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SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.

Meeting source records

No records available.

Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · James Messina

Past students described the course as engaging, with an instructor who used humor to make complex material easier to understand.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.50 GPA, 68.4% A/AB (n=19 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.56 GPA, 72.0% A/AB (n=25 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.58 GPA, 75.0% A/AB (n=24 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · James Messina

Assessment included four papers and five discussion posts, with attendance and participation factored into the grade.

Past student reviews · Michael Titelbaum

A student noted that the class forced them to think logically, which significantly improved their reasoning skills.

Topics

  • Scepticism, concept of knowledge, sensory perception, evidence, justified belief, induction

Skills

  • Critically evaluate epistemological positions
  • Engage in philosophical discussion with clarity and precision

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Not enough comparable courses for Spring 2027 in UW–Madison.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records

No offering records for the selected term.

Raw records 
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

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Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
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Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

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Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "c2d6c55f5ca743b8dd5772d437ca5c7198531ec5beaf146bbce047c527c43c4c",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}