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Dibs Fall 2026

PHILOS 21

Skepticism and Rationality

Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour. Can we know anything with certainty? How can we justify any of our beliefs? Introduction to study of these and related questions through works of some great philosophers of modern period, such as Descartes, Hume, Leibniz, or Berkeley. P/NP or letter grading.

Course statistics

Predicted GPA
3.42
n = 1,144 · 5 terms · ± 0.016
A range
56%
of letter grades
Taken P/NP
7%
98% of those passed
D / F / W
2.1%
incl. withdrawals

Sections in Fall 2026

Not offered in Fall 2026.

Enrollment history

Final enrollment per term, averaged across that term's sections. Four years deep, summer excluded. Per-section live curves are on each section page.

  • 22622W
  • 29522F
  • 28424W
  • 18724S
  • 23625W
Enrolment by term: 22W 226, 22F 295, 24W 284, 24S 187, 25W 236
Peak 295 Most recent 236 in 25W 5 terms on record

Grade distribution

  • A+ 68 · 5.5%
  • A 349 · 28.4%
  • A- 227 · 18.5%
  • B+ 186 · 15.1%
  • B 145 · 11.8%
  • B- 71 · 5.8%
  • C+ 36 · 2.9%
  • C 28 · 2.3%
  • C- 10 · 0.8%
  • D+ 4 · 0.3%
  • D 3 · 0.2%
  • F 17 · 1.4%
  • P 81 · 6.6%
  • NP 2 · 0.2%
  • U 1 · 0.1%
  • I 1 · 0.1%

Grey bars are non-letter outcomes — P/NP, S/U, incompletes. They are excluded from the GPA entirely rather than scored, because counting a P as a 4.0 would be a fabrication.

By instructor

Instructor Predicted Raw n Terms A range
HSU, ANDREW 3.42 3.42 1,144 5 56%

“Predicted” is shrunk toward the course average, which is itself shrunk toward the department — so an instructor with a handful of students sits near the course mean rather than topping the list.

By term