The Art of Living: A Free Stanford Course Explores Timeless Questions

What is a lib­er­al edu­ca­tion? And how can it help you live a more authen­tic and pur­pose­ful life? They are time­ly and time­less ques­tions that get answered by The Art of Liv­ing, a team-taught course pre­sent­ed to Stan­ford fresh­men. The first lec­ture (above) address­es these ques­tions head on. And the remain­der of the course (17 videos) puts the ini­tial think­ing into prac­tice, using great works of lit­er­a­ture and phi­los­o­phy to explore what it means to live a well-lived life. Socrates, Pla­to, Shake­speare, Kierkegaard, Niet­zsche, and Toni Mor­ri­son all guide the way. Taught by Lanier Ander­son, Ken­neth Tay­lor and Joshua Landy, the Stan­ford course puts you in a posi­tion to address “fun­da­men­tal and endur­ing ques­tions about what it means to be human.” Whether you work in busi­ness, sci­ence or the arts, you will get some­thing big out of the class.

You can find The Art of Liv­ing in its entire­ty here. Or find the course list­ed in the Phi­los­o­phy Sec­tion of our col­lec­tion, 4,000+ Free Movies Online: Great Clas­sics, Indies, Noir, West­erns, Doc­u­men­taries & More.