Spring 2027

Language and Meaning

Explores the nature and function of language, covering theories of meaning, semantic and syntactic paradoxes, proper names, private languages, rules, and linguistic relativity.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Martha Gibson3.7/5

Summary

1 / 3

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.75 GPA, 95.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.64 GPA, 81.8% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.71 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=17 letter grades).

What you’ll be able to do

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

  • Critically evaluate the key positions within philosophy of language.

  • 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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AB
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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 516

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
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.77/5 from 74 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2014: 3.50 GPA, 81.8% A/AB (n=11 letter grades); Fall 2018: 3.23 GPA, 66.7% A/AB (n=15 letter grades); Spring 2020: 3.36 GPA, 50.0% A/AB (n=14 letter grades).

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

MARTHA GIBSON is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Spring 2014, Fall 2018, Spring 2020. 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

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 250

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

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.75 GPA, 95.0% A/AB (n=20 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.64 GPA, 81.8% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.71 GPA, 88.2% A/AB (n=17 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

No workload feedback recorded.

Topics

  • Nature and function of language
  • Theories of meaning
  • Semantic and syntactic paradoxes
  • Proper names
  • Private languages
  • Rules
  • Linguistic relativity

Skills

  • Describe key philosophical questions and defended positions in philosophy of language
  • Critically evaluate key positions within philosophy of language
  • Engage in philosophical discussion with clarity, precision, understanding, and depth

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.

Download part 1
Selected offering source records
PHILOS 516 · Spring 2027

Language and Meaning

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:736:014722",
    "course_id": "PHILOS 516",
    "course_uid": "course_14dbbab62030ccb589b2fa3e",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "014722",
    "source_subject_id": "736",
    "title": "Language and Meaning",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
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Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

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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
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "1f415b98afa2defb6789c0fb4c6e2cfddd07e91e4f264fdd5461b2e78e9de8e0",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}