The term philosophy, as every introductory course first explains, means the love of wisdom. And as the oldest intellectual discipline, philosophy has proven that the love of wisdom can withstand the worst human history can throw at it. Civilizations may rise and fall, but sooner or later we always find ways to get back to philosophizing. The current coronavirus pandemic, the most frightening global event most of us have seen in our lifetimes, doesn’t quite look like a civilization-ender, though it has forced many of us to change the way we live and learn. In short, we’re doing much more of it online, and a new collection of educational videos free online is keeping philosophy in the mix.
“In order to aid philosophy professors during the pandemic as they transition from in-person to online teaching, Liz Jackson (ANU) and Tyron Goldschmidt (Rochester) created a spreadsheet of videorecorded philosophy classes and lectures,” writes Daily Nous’ Justin Weinberg. At the time of Weinberg’s post on Monday, the spreadsheet, available as an open Google document, contained more than 200 videos, a number that has since more than doubled to 457 and counting.
You’ll find an abundance of introductory courses to the entire subject of philosophy as well as to subfields like logic and ethics, and also specialized lecture series on everything from Hume and Nietzsche to Stoicism and metaphysics to death and the problem of evil.
Weinberg adds that “anyone can add their own videos or ones that they know about,” so if you’re aware of any video philosophy courses that haven’t appeared on the spreadsheet yet, you can contribute to this ongoing effort in at-home philosophy by inserting them yourself. Even as it is, Jackson and Goldshmidt’s course collection offers more than enough to give yourself a rich philosophical education in this time of isolation — or, if you’re a philosophy professor yourself, a way to enrich any remote teaching you have to do right now. Putting as it does so close at hand lectures by such figures previously featured here on Open Culture as Nigel Warburton, Michael Sandel, Peter Adamson, and the inimitable Rick Roderick, it reminds us that the love of wisdom is best expressed in a variety of voices.
In addition to the spreadsheet, can find many more philosophy videos in our collection, Free Online Philosophy Courses.
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Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles and the video series The City in Cinema. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
Excellent material. Indebted to the processors. What an experience!
Highly rated, very highly rated! What an experience to hear these professors.
Deeply indebted to you
Dr. K. Shankar
I use an ad blocker and have written before to ask how much I need to contribute to have you stop bugging me for using my ad blocker. I do contribute to other on line sites that do not keep flashing “you are a bad boy” pages in my face.
Please advise of what it might cost.
I do enjoy your site.
Thanks
Please contact me if need be…