Philosophy gives a framework for reasoning and logic to comprehend existential concerns. Various credit and non-credit free courses are available on massive open online courses (MOOC) platforms, with subjects ranging from Ancient Greece and Roman philosophy to bioethics and metaphysics. Here’s a brief guide to the best free philosophy courses online offered by top universities.
1. Introduction To Philosophy
Offered by the University of Edinburgh
This free online philosophy course will expose you to some of the most important subjects of contemporary research. In each lesson, a different philosopher will walk you through some of the most pressing subjects and concerns in their area of expertise.
The remainder of this free online course will be spent acquiring an introductory overview of several fields of the course, including epistemology, metaphysics, and political theory.
Features
● Platform: Coursera
● Language: English
● Paid Certificate Available
● Duration: 5 weeks long
● Credit- Audit for free
Benefit
This online philosophy course helps to know the nature, origin, and limits of knowledge, it helps individuals deal with those fundamental queries that shape who they are.
2. Philosophy, Science, and Religion
Offered by The University of Edinburgh
This course ranks amongst the best online courses. It touches on three of the most fundamental ways of thinking about the world and our place in its philosophy and religion. This course delves deeper into the problems of medieval philosophy. It also addresses critical issues concerning the age-old debate between faith and scientific beliefs, and also frequently asked questions such as:
● What kinds of disagreements exist between faith and other scientific beliefs?
● Is there a God that exists in a heavenly realm?
Features
● Platform: Coursera
● Language: English
● Flexible deadlines
● Earn a Certificate upon completion
● Duration: Approximately 24 hours to complete
● Credit: Audit for free
Benefit
Those who complete this online course will have a better understanding of the key issues at stake in the current debate between science and faith.
3. Ancient Philosophy: Plato & His Predecessors
Offered By College of Pennsylvania
This course is divided into two parts. Part I of the course covers Plato and his predecessors while Part II breaks down Aristotle and his successors. The courses trace philosophy’s origins in the Western tradition back to past Greek thinkers.
“Study of ancient Greek philosophy may come with a few challenges, especially in terms of research and writing papers in this field. Since its study begins with the presocratic philosophers, who were active in Ionia and are also credited as the first scientists. But the course will help you deal with this quite easily.” said Dr. Kylen, who works at papersowl.com, conducts research, and writes essays on this topic.
Features
● Platform: Coursera
● Financial aid is available
● Flexible deadlines
● Earn a Certificate upon completion
● Approximately 13 hours to complete
● Language – English
● Credit: Audit for free
Benefit
By studying some important models, you will start to think philosophically by yourself through online learning.
4. Philosophy And the Science of Human Nature
Offered by Yale College
This is one of the free online Philosophy courses that combines classic texts with cutting-edge research in cognitive science, physical sciences, and related fields from the Western philosophical tradition (including Plato and Hobbes, Kant, Aristotle, Epictetus, Mill, Rawls, and Nozick). Morality and Justice, Happiness and Flourishing, and Political Legitimacy and Social Structures are the three intertwined sets of topics for the course. It is one of Yale College’s open free online courses.
Features
● Platform- Yale College website
● Language- English
● No certificate available
● learn at your own pace.
● Beginner Level
● Approximately. 24 hours to complete
Benefit
Students will be able to clarify what they believe, and they can be stimulated to make valid inquiries regarding man’s behaviors and society.
5. Oxford’s Critical Reasoning for Beginners
Offered by Oxford University
The 100% online course explains that arguments consist of a set of premises that, linked together, lead to a conclusion. It outlines the technique to lay out an argument clearly, and eventually, the fundamental steps involved in assessing its strengths and weaknesses. It is a six-part series, which was recorded in 2009.
The University of Oxford’s website has both audio and video lectures on Critical Reasoning for Beginners similar to institutions like Harvard University.
Benefit
It helps improve your critical thinking skills and this assists in analyzing statements and ideas. This is a good skill you can use throughout your existence.
6. Introduction To Political Philosophy
Offered by Yale College
This free online Philosophy course provides a great introduction to political philosophy as it examines some of the major texts of ancient Greek philosophy and thinkers in the Western political tradition. The polis experience (Plato, Aristotle), the sovereign state (Machiavelli, Hobbes), constitutional government (Locke), and democracy (Rousseau, Tocqueville) are three broad themes that are central to understanding political theory.
Features
● Platform- Yale college website
● Language- English
● No certificate available
● It is available in video format on YouTube and iTunes
● To get more information on the course, including the syllabus, visit the Yale college website.
Benefit
Political theory helps us better understand the concepts that have shaped our politics, including freedom, equality, democracy, and justice.
7. The Modern and The Postmodern (Part 1&2)
Offered by Wesleyan University
The course investigates how, at the end of the 18th century, the concept of “the modern” emerged in European philosophy and literature. It also explains how being modern (or progressive, or hip) became one of the essential criteria for understanding and evaluating cultural change. Are we still in the modern era, or have we progressed to the postmodern era? Professors such as Satya Sundar Sethy from IIT, Madras also have significant experience in such concerns.
Features
● Platform- Coursera
● Flexible deadlines
● Earn a Certificate upon completion
● Language- English
● Credit – Audit for free
Benefit
Students can learn important things about where our own society’s intellectual framework comes from, or encounter some radically different alternatives.
8. Think Again I: How to Understand Arguments
Offered by Duke College
You will learn what an argument is in this free online philosophy course. When you understand the definition of argument, you’ll be able to tell when someone is making an argument and when they aren’t. Following that, you’ll learn how to break down an argument into its constituent parts, how to arrange them in a way that reveals their connections, and how to fill in gaps in an argument by introducing suppressed premises.
Features
● Platform: UCLA website
● Flexible deadlines.
● Earn a Certificate upon completion
● Beginner Level
● Duration: Approximately. 25 hours to complete
● Language- English
Benefit
It will help you develop or improve your evaluation and interpretation skills
Conclusion
Philosophy is one of the oldest fields of study, addressing fundamental issues in a man’s life such as existence, knowledge, faith, and moral foundations. It’s an imperative field with various unique courses for interested individuals. If you want to explore more about philosophy’s impact, you should enroll in one of the best online philosophy courses.
MOOC platforms have made studying philosophy online as engaging as being in a classroom, the lecturers assign projects, quizzes, and assignments and even have peer-to-peer interactive sessions online.
FAQs on Best Free Online Philosophy Courses
Discover a free English-taught online course on the origins of Western philosophy from Tsinghua University. On edX, you may find several philosophy and ethics courses from prestigious colleges all around the world. You may join and start studying right away because many online courses are self-paced.
Philosophy, which is defined as the love of wisdom, is the endeavor of trying to comprehend the universe in all of its facets. The four pillars of philosophy are logic, the history of philosophy, theoretical philosophy (metaphysics and epistemology), and practical philosophy (ethics, social and political philosophy, and aesthetics).
Studying philosophy improves your capacity for analysis and problem-solving. You may use it to assess ideas, definitions, claims, and issues. Your ability to arrange concepts and problems, handle ethical dilemmas, and glean the most pertinent facts from a sea of data has improved.
You need to be humble enough to acknowledge that your preconceived notions can be incorrect if you want to understand philosophy on your own. For a genuine chance to comprehend all the crucial philosophical ideas, approach the learning process with an open mind.
The three basic branches of philosophy are ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics.
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