Explore Philosophy, Religion & Belief
From the meaning of life to moral dilemmas: explore the questions philosophers and thinkers have pondered for centuries. Our daytime, evening and weekend courses cover a wide range of subjects. Join a class to encounter ethics and existentialism, memory and the mind, or discover the paradoxes and politics of the modern world.
Choosing your course
Many of our courses are delivered online. For more information about our live online courses, please see our guide to online learning.
Expert tutors
Our classes are taught by experienced, professional tutors with a wide range of specialisms in philosophy, from ethics to political philosophy, and from Eastern philosophies to psychoanalysis to name just a few. Many of our tutors also teach at London universities and bring their expertise from other academic disciplines, for example art, literature and politics. Please refer to specific course outlines for individual tutor biographies.
Studying at City Lit
Philosophy courses are offered in a range of formats and lengths - from a single day to a twelve-week course, during the day, in the evening and at weekends. Courses can be studied singly or in combination with other courses as your interests and learning develop in new directions. A number of our past philosophy students have gone on to study philosophy at university at degree and masters level.
Find a course
Browse our range of philosophy courses in London and online below to choose your perfect option: both complete beginners and returning students are equally welcome at City Lit.
- A taste of philosophy
Course start date: Sat 11 Dec 2021 (and 3 other dates)Location on this date: Online (other locations are available)
Have you ever wondered what philosophy is? What do philosophers talk about? Can they tell you the meaning of life or is it just jargon and navel gazing? Come along and find out.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - Being in the world: Heidegger's philosophyCourse start date: Mon 10 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
“The being of 'being' is itself not a being”. Questioning the meaning of ‘Being’ lies at the root of Heidegger’s critique of the ‘crisis’ of Western culture that his philosophy sought to overcome.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £134.00 - Being and beauty: the philosophy of Japanese aestheticsCourse start date: Mon 10 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
Not something apart from everyday life but intrinsic to it, beauty in Japanese thought does not entail perfection but the surprise of imperfect and transient being.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £30.00 - The great philosophersCourse start date: Mon 10 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
Explore the ideas of major philosophers from Plato to Sartre. How does Western philosophy differ from religion
and science? What problems have the great philosophers tried to solve?
.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £239.00 Concession £105.00 - Understanding the modern worldCourse start date: Mon 10 Jan 2022 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online (other locations are available)
Explore the ideas of four key thinkers whose ideas have vitally shaped our world. Examine their views on morality, meaning, the role and status of women, human nature, political and economic injustice and much more.
NB: No class on 7/03/2022 and 14/03/2022.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £79.00 - Modern political philosophy: ideas and ideologies in the 21st centuryCourse start date: Tue 11 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
What are the key philosophical ideas behind the issues and debates of today? This is an opportunity to explore in more depth the concepts and ideologies that are shaping the politics of the 21st century. NB: No class on 08/03/2022.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £179.00 Senior fee £179.00 Concession £79.00 - Philosophy and memoryCourse start date: Tue 11 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
What is memory? How does memory impact our sense of self and time? Why does memory often go wrong? If our memory is unreliable, can it provide knowledge of our personal past? What is collective memory? This course explores memory from philosophical and psychological perspectives.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £105.00 - Bioethics, animals and the environment: moral questions for the modern worldCourse start date: Thu 13 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
This course invites you to take a closer look at ideas and debates in three major fields of practical ethics that emerged as independent disciplines in the second half of the last century: biomedical ethics, animal ethics, and environmental ethics.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £105.00 - Where is the future? An introduction to the philosophy of timeCourse start date: Thu 13 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
Time is a familiar and fundamental part of our lives - we count down the minutes until lunch, we schedule meetings, we set alarms - and yet few subjects have proven as mysterious and elusive. This course will explore some of the key questions that have preoccupied philosophers and scientists for thousands of years.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £89.00 Concession £39.00 - Introduction to moral philosophyCourse start date: Tue 21 Sep 2021 (and 1 other date)
Location on this date: Online (other locations are available)
What’s the right thing to do? But what does ‘right’ actually mean? And what reason do I have to do it? Join us as we grapple with these fundamental questions. No class on Tues 26th October.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £219.00 Senior fee £175.00 Concession £96.00 - Mirror on the wall: an introduction to philosophy through artCourse start date: Sat 15 Jan 2022
Location on this date: Online
This course rearranges the cultural kitchen – placing Picasso beside Plato, Rubens beside Rousseau and Monet beside Montaigne – to ask questions of universal urgency: the value of pleasure, the limits of judgement and what it means to be human.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £63.00 Concession £35.00 - Indian philosophy in a nutshellCourse start date: Mon 7 Feb 2022
Location on this date: Online
From mysticism to materialism, Indian philosophy is as diverse as its European counterpart, covering a wide range of thought about the nature of reality and with a distinctive concern for human spiritual liberation.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £30.00 - The philosophy of Hannah Arendt: where are we when we think?Course start date: Sat 12 Feb 2022
Location on this date: Online
“ … the thinking activity belongs among those energeiai [activities] which, like flute-playing, have their ends within themselves and leave no tangible outside end product in the world we inhabit.”.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £26.00 - Explore the philosophy of religionCourse start date: Wed 23 Feb 2022
Location on this date: Online
This course will provide an introduction to philosophical methods, definitions of terminology, and a broad overview of the history of philosophy of religion.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £79.00 Senior fee £79.00 Concession £35.00 - Chinese Buddhist philosophy in a nutshellCourse start date: Mon 7 Mar 2022
Location on this date: Online
"Every blade of grass, tree, pebble, and particle of dust is perfectly endowed with buddha nature …” — Zhanran. “If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha” — Linji.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £69.00 Senior fee £69.00 Concession £30.00
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