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.
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 22 Apr 2023 (and 1 other date)Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John GoffHave 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.Full fee £10.00 Senior fee £10.00 Concession £10.00 - Philosophy and psychoanalysisCourse start date: Tue 25 Apr 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Join this course to consider the philosophical origins of Freud's theories and to explore the ideas of later thinkers who were influenced by him.Full fee £259.00 Senior fee £207.00 Concession £130.00 - Philosophy and the selfCourse start date: Tue 25 Apr 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Ariel KernbergWho am I? Is there such a thing as “my true self”? These and related questions will be looked at from various philosophical 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 £239.00 Concession £120.00 - German Idealism from Kant to Hegel: the beginnings of continental philosophyCourse start date: Mon 15 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Christopher HornerGerman philosophers created the most ambitious and imaginative systems of thought of modern times against the backdrop of revolution and war. This creative and speculative beginning to modern continental philosophy is an exciting intellectual adventure.Full fee £169.00 Senior fee £169.00 Concession £85.00 - Japanese philosophyCourse start date: Mon 15 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John GoffJapanese philosophy extends well beyond Zen, with several philosophical traditions including that of the modern Kyoto School. Developing distinct cultural, aesthetic and political concepts, Japanese philosophers offer a rich field of thought.Full fee £239.00 Senior fee £191.00 Concession £120.00 - Philosophy and the meaning of lifeCourse start date: Mon 15 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Oliver JosiahSome philosophers have insisted that philosophy should explain the meaning of our existence. What does it mean for us to be? And how then should we live? This course examines some seriously philosophical answers.
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 £120.00 - Contemporary readings of the bibleCourse start date: Sat 20 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ann JeffersThis study day will present and examine three contemporary approaches to reading the Bible. Feminism, post-colonial and ecological debates have had much to contribute to recent interpretative trends of the Bible. We will examine three clusters of biblical narratives, each one focusing on one of the contemporary issues. This will be done through the literary study of a number of biblical texts.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Witchcraft in the modern world: 1900 to the presentCourse start date: Sat 27 May 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
From Wicca to the Satanic Panic, and from The Wizard of Oz to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this course looks at why the modern world now has so many competing ideas about what witchcraft is.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - An introduction to critical thinkingCourse start date: Wed 31 May 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Louis TsangIt is all too easy to read and spread information from social media and the internet. But does this mean we can draw useful conclusions from the information we are exposed to? The course provides essential tools for us to be good thinkers in this information age.
This course will be delivered online. See the ‘What is the course about?’ section in course details for more information.Full fee £109.00 Senior fee £109.00 Concession £55.00 - Being and empathy: the philosophy of Edith SteinCourse start date: Sat 3 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John GoffThis course aims to make Stein’s thought more familiar by examining her contribution to a philosophical-phenomenological understanding of faith and religion.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - The Socratic philosophers: PlatoCourse start date: Mon 5 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: John GoffPlato’s philosophy is the foundation of Western thought. It remains essential to a philosophical understanding the human condition.
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 £35.00 - How do we perceive time?Course start date: Mon 5 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Online
Tutors: Anita KasabovaDo we perceive time or the passage of events? Einstein famously considered time – or the distinction between past, present, and future – as an illusion. We will reflect on how we experience time, discussing the roles of memory, emotion, and narrative.
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 £55.00 Concession £35.00 - Philosophy of religionCourse start date: Sat 10 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Philosophy of religion is where philosophical methods meet far-reaching religious doctrines. Join this introductory course to explore some of the big questions that go to the very essence of what it means to be human.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00 - Being and beauty: the philosophy of Japanese aestheticsCourse start date: Thu 15 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: John GoffNot 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.Full fee £89.00 Senior fee £71.00 Concession £45.00 - Satan and the Devil: a cultural eye view through texts, images and traditionsCourse start date: Sat 17 Jun 2023
Location on this date: Keeley Street
Tutors: Ann JeffersThe figure of Satan/devil has pervaded many centuries of the cultural imagination of the Western world. The course will examine the literary and iconographic sources for this enduring phenomena and will ask why ideas about the devil have continued to both frighten and fascinate and why its long-lasting association with sexuality and deceit continues to make it an attractive theme in contemporary culture.Full fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
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