The worst class I have ever taken at UCLA. I can't believe I paid thousands of dollars to take this course. With all due respect to Burge, he is a legend in his field and is very knowledgeable but both he and the TA are horrible at teaching this content in a structured and comprehensive manner. There are two essays and a final test so the workload is not that bad, but they are incredibly difficult. This branch of philosophy is extremely complex, but Burge is not good at structuring his lectures at all and almost everything he writes on the board is extremely hard to understand. There are a bunch of readings listed on the syllabus, but he has never specified when to read what. Even though there is a BruinCast set up in the classroom, he and the TA don't bother to adjust the microphone to normal levels and therefore ditched recording the lectures halfway through the quarter. The TA is a mess and constantly interrupts Burge in class, asking questions that only pertain to her and her comprehension. She constantly speaks out and does not offer anything except erratic headshaking and comments from the front of the class which is honestly so distracting. It does not help that she is trying to teach us something that she does not understand completely. Her sections are all over the place and hard to follow, and her own stress is palpable. Burge's ego about his own intellectualism is unbearable. His assertion that this is the most exciting field of philosophy is depressing, especially when the first half of the course felt as though it was largely focused on semantics. This course has not taught me anything of value whatsoever. I severely regret taking this class.

Tyler Burge is legendary, and although this class was pretty heavy 'analytic philosophy,' I'm glad to say I could draw a small bucket from his deep well of knowledge.