This was without a doubt my favourite class. It’s run like the interpretation class, where there’s like 1 ½ hours of recorded lectures each week you can watch in your own time online, and a 2 hour tutorial. I mean, this course is just awesome. The hand outs are super well written and restate the week’s content, and ask lots of interesting questions about the material and stir discussion really well. The content is super interesting, and definitely worth doing the course for given how much language comes up in philosophy. The tutor I had (who was not the course-coordinator) is without a doubt the best pedagogue in the department. They are extremely good at making people feel comfortable sharing inchoate ideas and then building on them to a point where sound really sophisticated (makes you feel very smart!). I found making use of their office hours really set me up well to be able to write decently for the rest of the course and understand the course content I was writing on properly. Also, the level of discussion was really high and everyone, even if they hadn’t done the readings, had a lot of things to say. We covered sense and reference, language games, slurs, scorekeeping, speech acts, metaphors etc. the classes are also long enough where you really get to know everyone and I just so happened to sit with some really nice people every week, and you also get to dig into the topics and lot and have plenty of time to form complex opinions. Definitely recommend this class!

I enjoyed this subject! While I tend to find the minutiae of analytic philosophy quite dry, it is a testament to Laura's exceptional level of knowledge that I remained engaged and interested throughout the Semester! I actually ended up enjoying the second half of the sem more! The first half moves slow and lays down foundational knowledge in the domain, while the second half delves more into the intersection between language and politics. I think as the discussions became more complex as the weeks went on, the more I came to enjoy the subject. The seminars provide a great forum for asking specific content related questions, and for wider class discussion amongst peers. Laura led the Seminars well with handouts, it felt like the time was used well. I found the assignment prompts interesting, and the marking quick and fair. I would take this subject again! It was a great foundational subject for the classes I took later in my degree - Race and Gender, Foundations and Interpretations, and Philosophy of Philosophy.

Amazing subject. Laura is excellent and if you like analytic philosophy this is it for you. Marking is extremely fair.

Laura and Kai are excellent tutors who made the seminars more interesting and engaging. But yes, the content of the subject itself is quite dry, occasionally confusing and a bit more cerebral than what one might expect, at least from the name of this subject.

Interesting and engaging. Bit difficult for a non philosophy major but still decent to do well in. Assignments offer opportunities to explore areas of interest and marking isn’t too strict.

An excellent subject – would recommend for any person interested in language and some philosophical problems relating to it. If you're a philosophy major, this is a very analytic-focused subject. So don't do it if you don't like analytic philosophy. The lectures and readings were highly engaging and Laura is a fantastic lecturer and tutor. The seminars provided great opportunity for discussion and debate around the topics. The topics towards the end of the course (metaphors and slurs) are very interesting and incorporate elements from the beginning of the course but have their own set of unique questions and problems. Would easily recommend, and it has been my favourite subject in my course.

I loved this subject! The seminars were super engaging, and probably the best part. Laura provided fantastic weekly videos (rather than lectures) with engaging focused questions to guide discussion. I found the assignments very useful- they started quite basic and became progressively broader. Although the seminars were quite big, I felt there was plenty of support when needed.