philosophy

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