Great Courses
This is a list of high-quality courses that, for one reason or another, didn't make it into the curriculum. The most common reasons are that the course isn't available often enough, or that there was an alternative that fit better into the curriculum.
Ancient Philosophy
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Ancient Greek Philosophy (Yale OYC – PHIL 201) | 24 lectures | ~6 hr/wk |
| Plato’s Republic (MIT OCW 24.231) | self-paced | 6–8 hr/wk |
| Aristotle: Metaphysics (YouTube – Harvard/Howard lectures) | varies | varies |
Early Modern & Enlightenment
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason (YouTube – Oxford, Dan Robinson series) | ~30 lectures | self-paced |
| Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature II (Yale OYC) | 24 lectures | ~6 hr/wk |
Logic & Formal Methods
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Mathematical Thinking (Stanford Online) | 10 weeks | 6–10 hr/wk |
| Computability, Complexity, and Algorithms (MIT OCW 6.045J) | self-paced | 6–10 hr/wk |
| Symbolic Logic (UC Davis full YouTube series) | ~30 lectures | self-paced |
Ethics & Political Philosophy
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Global Ethics (Leeds / FutureLearn) | 2–3 weeks | 4–6 hr/wk |
| Political Philosophy: An Introduction (Oxford – YouTube) | varies | self-paced |
| Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of End-of-Life Care (Harvard) | 10–12 weeks | 4–6 hr/wk |
Epistemology & Metaphysics
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Knowledge and Reality (MIT OCW 24.02) | self-paced | 6–8 hr/wk |
| Free Will and Moral Responsibility (UCI Open) | 10 weeks | ~6 hr/wk |
| Epistemology (Oxford – YouTube seminar series) | varies | self-paced |
Philosophy of Mind & Cognitive Science
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| The Hard Problem of Consciousness (YouTube – David Chalmers lecture series) | varies | self-paced |
| Introduction to Cognitive Science (Carnegie Mellon / OLI) | self-paced | 4–6 hr/wk |
| MIND101x: The Science of Everyday Thinking (UQ / edX) | 12 weeks | 4–6 hr/wk |
Philosophy of Science
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Scientific Thinking (MIT OCW 24.03) | self-paced | 6–8 hr/wk |
| Karl Popper and the Philosophy of Science (YouTube) | varies | self-paced |
| Philosophy of Physics (Oxford – YouTube) | varies | self-paced |
Aesthetics & Philosophy of Art
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Aesthetics and the Philosophy of Art (MIT OCW 24.262) | self-paced | 6–8 hr/wk |
| Philosophy of Film (Oxford YouTube – Film Philosophy Series) | varies | self-paced |
Specialized Topics (Metaethics, Philosophy of Language, etc.)
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Metaethics (MIT OCW) | self-paced | 6–8 hr/wk |
| Semantics and Pragmatics (MIT OCW 24.900) | self-paced | 8–12 hr/wk |
| Philosophy of Mathematics (YouTube – Stewart Shapiro, OSU) | varies | self-paced |
Online Learning - Great Courses
| Courses | Duration | Effort |
|---|---|---|
| Learning How to Learn | 4 weeks | 2 hours/week |
| Mindshift | 4 weeks | 2 hours/week |
| Powersearching with Google | 3 weeks | 4-6 hours/week |