Philosophy
Philosophy from the Pre-Socratics to the present day, via Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, and others.
Philosophy
Metaethics: Do Moral Reasons Exist?
In this course, Professor James Lenman (University of Sheffield) explores one of the key questions in meta-ethics: do objective moral reasons exist? After a brief discussion of what we mean when we talk about reasons, we spend the bulk of ...
Prof. James Lenman
Sheffield University
Philosophy
Virtue Ethics
In this course, Dr Iain Law (University of Birmingham) thinks about virtue ethics, one of the three major normative ethical theories alongside utilitarianism and Kantian deontological ethics. We begin in the first module by providing a broad introduction ...
Dr Iain Law
Birmingham University
Philosophy
Classics
Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics
In this course, Professor Anthony Price (Birkbeck College, London) explores Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics. In the first module, we explore the central concept of eudaimonia, or happiness, in Aristotle's ethics, before turning in the second module to the concept of egocentricity:...
Prof. Anthony Price
Birkbeck College, London
Philosophy
Kant: Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
In this course, Professor Adrian Moore (University of Oxford) explores Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals through eight key questions. In particular, we think about the fundamental difference between the three main strands of moral philosophy (consequentialism, deontology and...
Prof. Adrian Moore
Oxford University
Philosophy
Spinoza: Ethics
In this course, Professor Susan James (Birkbeck, University of London) discusses Spinoza's Ethics, widely considered to be his magnum opus. In the first module, we think about Spinoza's ontological framework, including his remarkable claim that there is only one substance,...
Prof. Susan James
Birkbeck College, London
Philosophy
Utilitarianism
Utilitarianism is the belief that the right action is the one that maximises happiness. The philosophy theory has its origins in the hedonism of Aristippus and Epicurus, though reached its most well-known form in the writings of Jeremy Bentham and...
Dr Claire Benn
Van Leer Jerusalem Institute