Free Philosophy Classes

Online College Courses in Philosophy

Free philosophy classes let you study what some of the great thinkers in the history of the Earth have thought and written about without having the pressure of a classroom environment. When people imagine philosophy and philosophers, they naturally picture deep thinkers, profound theories, and imponderable questions. Philosophy is an intimidating subject to many people. But men such as Plato and Aristotle--and all the scholars and academics who've followed them--were people just like you and I. We've all asked the same questions.

Free Online Philosophy Courses

You can find a huge number of philosophy subjects and coursework to study online. Below are just some of the courses you can take to learn the basic questions the great philosophers have studied, sharpen your thinking skills, and gain insight into the human condition. Below is just a small sampling of the college course material available online.

Two Concepts of Freedom explores how the concept of freedom changes from one society to the next, as well as how freedom changes according to ones place in society. This 20-hour intermediate course discusses what various philosophers have written on the subject of freedom over the centuries.

Rhetoric is a free course from MIT about the critical thinking and original analysis. To be a philosopher, you must be able to think clearly and incisively. Rhetoric has been a subject studied by students of philosophy for generations. This course should help you improve not just as a thinker, but as a student moving forward in other college classes. One of its goals is to improve a student's writing and speaking abilities.

Relativism, Reason, and Reality discusses the gray area of morality and the relativism of cultural moral frameworks. You'll explore subjects such as whether morality is relative to cultures, whether rationality is relative to cultural norms, and whether there's a coherent form of relativism for one's self. This class tries to make sense of these questions and begin to answer a few of them.

What Is a Person? gets to one of the core questions concerning humanity, especially modern humans. This 15-hour masters course questions whether a person and a human being is the same concept. What Is a Person also discusses how a persona and the broader concept of personhood make up an individual. The course ends with a discussion of whether free will is what determines what it is to be a person.

What Is Emotion? takes a look at the concept of emotional states and whether they are the same as bodily feelings. This is a discussion of why people react the way they do to certain events and how logic and emotion interact in personal decision making.

The Mystery of Imagination is another Open University course which discusses humans' capacity for imagination and whether philosophy can define imagination in a meaningful way. This creative and thoughtful aspect of the human mind is one of the least defined aspects of philosophy, so this 15-hour advanced class lets you tackle one of the mysteries of human philosophy.

Philosophy Classes Online for Free

If you've ever wondered about the meaning of life, but never had the guts (or money) to step foot in a philosophy class, you can start to study the great thinkers and great minds of the past on your computer at home--and for free. Don't be afraid to expand your horizons and ponder the imponderable mysteries of the universe.