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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
What can philosophy tell us about race?
Categorising human beings into races has had, and continues to have, an enormous impact on people’s lives. Many societies have been shaped by racial divisions and racial discrimination. Race continues to affect people’s experiences and personal identities today. This free course, What can philosophy tell us about race?, will introduce you to ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
The ethics of cultural heritage
This free course, The ethics of cultural heritage, provides the basic theory behind the protection of cultural property in war zones and is presented in three parts: the protection of cultural property; the legal basis for that protection; and accounts of proportionality (that is, on deciding whether or not there is a feasible alternative to ...
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Exploring philosophy: faking nature
Commercial exploitation of nature, such as mining, fracking, or generating hydro-electric power, often damages the way the natural environment looks. What if the environment could be restored to exactly how it looked before? Would that mean that no damage had been done, that the natural environment was as valuable as it had been before the ...
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level 1: introductory icon
History & The Arts
Introducing philosophy
Ever wondered what it would be like to study philosophy? This free course, Introducing philosophy, will introduce you to the teaching methods employed and the types of activities and assignments you would be asked to undertake should you wish to study philosophy and the human situation.
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
The moral equality of combatants
This free course introduces and explores the idea of the moral equality of combatants and discusses the question of the basis of liability to killing in war. It invites students to understand and assess the epistemological argument for the moral equality of combatants and other arguments for and against this idea.
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Imagination: The missing mystery of philosophy
What is imagination and can philosophy define it in any meaningful way? This free course, Imagination: The missing mystery of philosophy, will introduce you to some of the possible answers to these questions and will examine why philosophy has sometimes found it difficult to approach imagination. It will then go on to examine the relationship ...
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Philosophy: the nature of persons
What is a person? This free course, Philosophy: the nature of persons, examines this philosophical question concerning the nature of personhood. You will examine whether a 'person' is the same as a 'human being', and look at whether it is our free will that in the end defines us as a 'person'.
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Minds and mental phenomena: an introduction
This free course, Minds and mental phenomena: an introduction, examines the philosophical questions surrounding the mind. You will examine how beliefs have changed over the centuries and be able to contrast the views of Descartes with more modern ideas.
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Emotion: an introductory picture
What is emotion? This free course, Emotion: an introductory picture, takes a philosophical approach to this question in an attempt to understand why people respond to events in a certain way. Is there a difference between an emotion and a bodily feeling or is one a consequence of the other?
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Introducing consciousness
What is consciousness? How does the brain generate consciousness and how can a science of the mind describe and explain it adequately? This free course, Introducing consciousness, will introduce you to the slippery phenomenon that is consciousness, as well as some of the difficulties consciousness presents to science and philosophy.
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level 3: advanced icon
History & The Arts
Language and thought: introducing representation
How does what you say come to mean something? Does what you say inherently represent what you, the speaker, think it means, whatever that might be, or does what you say carry its own meaning, separate from your intentions in saying it? This free course, Language and thought: introducing representation, introduces you to the key questions about ...
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level 2: intermediate icon
History & The Arts
Two concepts of freedom
What defines individual freedom in a civilised society? Philosophers have argued over such questions for centuries. This free course, Two concepts of freedom, looks at a positive and a negative concept of freedom, asking you to think carefully about how freedom is restricted by our place in society and how it can vary from state to state.