Historical instructor

JOHN BENGSON

Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.35/5 from 17 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.

What students say

Original student reviews · all captured dates

PHIL503 · course not matched
Quality 5/5Difficulty 3/5
He gives a surprising amount of attention to individual students. The amount of feedback he gives is incredible. This is a teacher who is motivated to teach students as much as possible. He assigns a lot of work but is forgiving about it to students who are trying to learn. A fun class for people who like the topic and discussion.
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PHIL503 · course not matched
Quality 2/5Difficulty 5/5
hard, he's not worth it
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PHIL101 · course not matched
Quality 3/5Difficulty 5/5
Professor Bengson, although a very personable professor, does a very good job at presenting course content but is a pretty tough grader. He assigns several philosophy papers and grades midterms and finals strictly. Beware of word choice.
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PHILOS 304
Quality 3/5Difficulty 3/5
I took 304: Appearance v Reality. Bengson was ok, he seems to be pretty smart. There were plenty of times when the class got a little too boring and I was disengaged. The class taught me to think critically though, so I feel like I gained logic skills from it.
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PHIL101 · course not matched
Quality 4/5Difficulty 3/5
Lectures can be a bit boring, but just as long as you understand the material, you will do fine.
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Personal experiences, not a representative survey. Profile matching and captured coverage are shown in the source details.

Classes with JOHN BENGSON

No teaching recorded in Fall 2026.

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Recorded teaching history

Distinct courses recorded per term

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Browse recorded courses
TermCourseTitle
Fall 2020PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Fall 2020PHILOS 503Theory of Knowledge
Spring 2020PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Spring 2020PHILOS 903Seminar: Epistemology
Spring 2019PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Spring 2019PHILOS 304Topics in Philosophy: Humanities
Fall 2018PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Fall 2018PHILOS 503Theory of Knowledge
Spring 2018PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Spring 2018PHILOS 701Reading Seminar
Spring 2018PHILOS 941Seminar-ethics
Fall 2017PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Fall 2017PHILOS 304Topics in Philosophy: Humanities
Spring 2016PHILOS 682Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2015PHILOS 560Metaphysics
Fall 2015PHILOS 681Senior Honors Thesis
Fall 2015PHILOS 903Seminar: Epistemology
Fall 2013PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Spring 2013PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Spring 2013PHILOS 503Theory of Knowledge
Spring 2012PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Spring 2012PHILOS 903Seminar: Epistemology
Fall 2011PHILOS 101Introduction to Philosophy
Fall 2011PHILOS 503Theory of Knowledge

Teaching history may be incomplete. Course pages contain course-specific feedback and citations.

Instructor identity & provenance 
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