Free Philosophy Resources Online

Courses I Have Viewed in Full

Justice, Harvard University with Michael Sandel Availaible at: http://www.justiceharvard.org/ Texts Studied: Utilitarianism (JS Mill); Anarchy, State and Utopia (Robert Nozick); Second
Treatise of Government (John Locke); Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (Immanuel Kant); A Theory of Justice (John Rawls); Politics (Aristotle); After Virtue (Alasdair Macintyre) Probably the best course to view in order to gain an introduction to philosophy as it focuses on Ethics/Political Philosophy (in my opinion the best branch to study in order to get into the subject) and is covered with near perfection by Michael Sandel, an excellent speaker and comedian who engages the students so thoroughly with the lectures that it can best be described as a Socratic education. The material covered is all interesting and Sandel expertly interweaves it with issues both timely and timeless; Justice provides an excellent introduction to the texts and helps provide a grounding for a more serious study of the authors. Highly recommended for all.

Introduction to Philosophy and Ethics, YouTube with Richard Brown Available at: http://www.youtube.com/user/consciousnessonline
Texts Studied: None. Another great course for the person looking to get into the subject, Brown's course looks at the history of ideas in order to introduce them, looking at the Pre-Socratics, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume and Kant. Brown is a lecturer with a real talent for explaining difficult ideas and his format with PowerPoint slides containing notes is very useful. What I am including is officially two as his 'Ethics' course features unique lectures, but I am placing them together as one due to lectures they have in common; the ethics side of the course looks at historically important theories in normative ethics such as Moral relativism, Aristotelian virtue ethics, Kantian deontology and Utilitarianism. On the downside, Brown is quite a dry lecturer and there is no way to access or get a summary of the lectures outside of the videos themselves. Recommended for all.

Death, Yale University with Shelley Kagan Available at: http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-176 Texts Studied: Phaedo (Plato), A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality (John Perry),
The Death of Ivan Illyich (Leo Tolstoy) Yale's Death, along with Harvard's Justice, is the best free online course on philosophy. The course covers everything that you could possibly ask it to: dualism vs materialism; whether or not the soul is immortal; personal identity theory; if and why death is bad; and finally suicide. As opposed to Sandel's neutral Socratic approach, Kagan uses, and perfects the lecture method, accepting only a few questions during the semester in his analysis of the arguments. Kagan is open about his beliefs and the whole course is effectively an argument for them, drawing upon great thinkers and ideas throughout history in the process. Kagan is an entertaining lecturer and the course is a delight to

watch. Highly recommended for all.

Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature, Yale University with Tamar Gendler Available at: http://oyc.yale.edu/philosophy/phil-181 Texts Studied: The Republic (Plato); Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle); Enchridion (Epictetus),
Utilitarianism (JS Mill); Groundwork (Immanuel Kant); The Trolley Problem (JJ Thomson); Moral Luck (Thomas Nagel); Introduction to Philosophy (Louis Pojman); Leviathan (Thomas Hobbes); A Theory of Justice (John Rawls); Anarchy, State and Utopia (Robert Nozick) Along with Death, Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature is the other course run by the philosophy department to available on Open Yale Courses. The course looks at ethics and political philosophy and compares the conclusions drawn in famous texts with those of influential psychologists. The course presents the ideas clearly and is a refreshing look at philosophy's relation to other subjects. Highly recommended for all who are interested in psychology.

Introduction to Political Philosophy, Yale University with Stephen B. Smith Available at: http://oyc.yale.edu/political-science/plsc-114 Texts Studied: Apology (Plato); Crito (Plato); The Republic (Plato), The Politics (Aristotle); The
Prince (Nicolo Machiavelli); Leviathan (Thomas Hobbes); Second Treatise of Government (John Locke); Discourse on the Origin of Inequality (Jean Jacques-Rousseau); The Social Contract (JeanJacques Rousseau); Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocquesville) Unlike Death and Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature, Political Philosophy is run by the Political Science department. Still, the course does cover political philosophy and offers great introductions to the texts that it studies. This course is more of an exposition of ideas in specific texts rather than a look at the ideas themselves but Smith does a good job of explaining them well and occasionally does make reference to third author commentaries. Recommended only for those studying the specific texts.

Critical Thinking, YouTube with Jason J. Campbell Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7CD9978B8B5BC099 Texts Studied: None
A course intended to teach basic concepts related to critical thinking, but it is not very good at it. Campbell covers syllogism; the three forms of analogy; interwoven arguments; nonmonotonic logic; and logical reconstruction. Although Campbell is straightfoward and enthusiastic, he is not concise in his presentation of his ideas, and the ideas he presents are of little relevance to critical thinking. Not recommended except for the casual student of logic.

Courses I Have Viewed in Part

The Modern Intellectual Tradition, The Great Courses with Lawrence Cahoone Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/youngenicson/videos?view=0&flow=grid Texts Studied: None
The Modern Intellectual Tradition is one of the courses available for purchase by the company The Great Courses, but fortunately for pirates like me on a $0 budget, YouTube user youngenicson has uploaded it online, part of it anyway, with 21 of the 36 lectures available. Though incomplete, what we do have is very high quality viewing, with Cahoone proving to be one of the most engaging and informative lecturers around. The material itself is effectively a history of modern philosophy since Descartes but few express it with the clarity and concision of Cahoone. Highly recommended for all.

Introduction to Philosophy, Marist College with Gregory B. Sadler Available at: https://www.youtube.com/course?list=EC24E8CD3214E5C748 Texts Studied: Apology (Plato); Crito (Plato); Euthyphro (Plato); The Republic (Plato);
Metaphysics (Aristotle); Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle); Enchridion (Epictetus); Proslogion (Anselm); Summa Theologiae (Tomas Aquinas); Meditations (Rene Descartes); Groundwork (Immanuel Kant); Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard) Like Yale's Introduction to Political Philosophy, Marist's Introduction to Philosophy is more of an exposition of ideas in specific texts rather than a critique or discussion of them. Sadler presents the ideas with clarity and is quite knowledgeable about the topics, although he is unfortunately slow and dry in his teaching style. Recommended only for students of ancient ethics.

Televised Philosophy
Men of Ideas, BBC, 1978 with Bryan Magee Available at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6551B2451C4D4661
Bryan Magee's Men of Ideas is a series of 15 interviews that he conducted with 15 of the world's most influential living thinkers of the time who each present their ideas. The names he manages to obtain are truly staggering: the likes of WVO Quine, Hilary Putnam, AJ Ayer and Noam Chomsky each get a 45 minute interview with philosophy's Carl Sagan. Unfortunately only 10 of the interviews are uploaded but the series is not interconnected, so it is not so great a loss as in the case of Lawrence Cahoone's The Modern Intellectual Tradition. These interviews are a treat to watch and amongst the best introductions to the thinkers who expound their ideas in them. Highly recommended for all.

The Great Philosophers, BBC, 1984 with Bryan Magee

Bryan Magee's sequel series to the classic Men of Ideas, The Great Philosophers is for all practical purposes a course on the history of philosophy, with a focus upon the thinkers themselves as opposed to traditions or schools. Unlike a course however, The Great Philosophers is, like Men of Ideas, a series of interviews with world leading scholars on the philosophers being looked at, this

means that the people speaking about them incredibly knowledgeable but Magee as the interviewer is able to give them a common connection you will find in a course. The thinkers' ideas are expressed in decent detail and in plain English and offer the same sort of enjoyment as Men of Ideas. Highly recommended for all.

Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness, Channel Four, 2000 with Alain de Botton Available from: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7857933243B7D31B
Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness is a TV adaptation of Alain de Botton's simultaneously published book The Consolations of Philosophy. De Botton manages to condense the ideas of the 270 page book into a 130 minute documentary and the content it covers comes from a diverse range of authors on a topic all can relate to happiness. The ideas are a little simplified, but the content itself is still interesting nonetheless and an entertaining series by any standard. Recommended for all.

Philosophy Podcasts
History of Philosophy without any Gaps with Peter Adamson Available from: http://www.historyofphilosophy.net/
History of Philosophy without any Gaps is, beyond any shadow of a doubt, the most ambitious and impressive philosophy podcast available online. Adamson covers philosophy's history with impressive detail, after 107 podcasts he has yet to reach even Augustine; a level of depth rivalled only by Frederick Copleston's 9 volume History of Philosophy. The content itself is fair and evenhanded, while also managing to be entertaining and humorous, with constant references to popculture and many witty jokes. Along with the regular podcasts by Adamson, the podcast also features interviews with scholars from King's College in London on the thinkers being covered, and these are equally interesting. This is simply required listening, should Adamson continue at the rate he is going at then History of Philosophy without any Gaps may well become the definitive source for the study of philosophy's history, across any medium. Highly recommended for all.

In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl

A discussion series that has been aired on BBC 4 weekly since 1998, In Our Time consists of a series of 40 minute conversations that Melvyn Bragg has with influential academics on fields of their expertise, and now it is available online. Although the podcast covers a wide range of disciplines, 91 of the 500 or so episodes have been dedicated to philosophy, and In Our Time is therefore one of the most comprehensive philosophy podcasts. The conversations are all enlightening and cover a broad range of thinkers in good detail. Highly recommended for all.

Philosophy Bites with Nigel Warburton & David Edmunds Available from: http://www.philosophybites.com/
The most popular philosophy podcast of all, Philosophy Bites is also one of the best. Each podcast

consists of Warburton and Edmunds having a 15-20 minute chat with an expert on a topic of their choosing, and generally provides a decent introduction to the topics. Philosophy bites is a great series for those who are on the go or looking for a very brief introduction to something that interests them, but steer clear if you're looking for an in depth academic analysis. Highly recommended for those who are struggling for time.

Partially Examined Life with M. Lisenmayer, S. Paskin, W. Alwan & D. Casey Available from: http://www.partiallyexaminedlife.com/
Philosophy Bites' rival in terms of popularity, Partially Examined Life is a discussion between four philosophers with PhDs who were going to pursue philosophy professionally but then thought better of it. The podcasts are quite long (about 90 minutes) and each goes into depth on a specific text. The podcast can be informative, but it is often quite drawn out the podcasters are not experts on the texts themselves. Recommended only for those with lots of spare time.

Other Philosophy Resources Online

Librivox Audio-library Available from: http://librivox.org/
Librivox is simply an astonishing resource an online library with a catalogue of over 5400 free domain audio-books, including most of the great texts of philosophy. Each page linking to the mp3 files provides links to free online e-texts, relevant Wikipedia articles and each recording is double checked by the many enthusiastic volunteers on the site. I simply can't praise this resource enough, for philosophy or not, Librivox is highly recommended for all.

Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy Online Encyclopaedia Available from: http://plato.stanford.edu/

A free, peer reviewed encyclopaedia with over 1300 entries, the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy is the definitive resource for general philosophical information. Each article is loaded with information and is written by a world leading expert on the topic, of which every one imaginable has been covered. The encyclopaedia is very scholarly and as such can be somewhat difficult to understand, but if one is prepared to make the effort that they will find here the most comprehensive encyclopaedia they could ever ask for. Highly recommended for all who are prepared to make the effort.

Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy Online Encyclopaedia Available from: http://www.iep.utm.edu/

Sitting right on the heels of the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy is the Internet Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Like Stanford's, the IEP is peer reviewed and has a wide range of articles, although it focuses more on the philosopher's themselves rather than their ideas. It is not quite so detailed as the SEP or as authoritative (though it comes very close in both) but is perhaps somewhat easier to

understand. Still, its best function is to be used as a comparison to SEP, making it a very useful resource if, for nothing else, to get another informed perspective on almost any issue you could want to know about. Highly recommended for all who are prepared to make the effort.

Squashed Philosophers Study Guide Available from: http://sqapo.com/

Squashed Philosophers is a series of abridged texts written by Glyn Hughes. It is quite a substantial project, covering dozens of philosophy's great texts and summarising them into relatively short writings. Squashed Philosophers does not come close to the authority of SEP or IEP, but can nonetheless be useful to study a text. Recommended for all who are struggling for time.