Online philosophy courses
Study from anywhere in the world with an online short course.
Our short online courses in philosophy include online courses with live-time sessions, flexible online courses, and day and weekend schools.
Credit earned from some of these courses is transferable towards our Certificate of Higher Education – a part-time undergraduate course in which you study a main subject discipline, but also undertake study in other academic subjects.
Browse below to find the online philosophy course for you.
Upcoming courses
Online - flexible • Short courses
Explore how we know what we know in this introduction to epistemology, the theory of knowledge. Examine core questions about truth, belief and certainty, and develop your own philosophical thinking along the way.
- Mon 19 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
Reasoning enables us to acquire knowledge, to persuade others and to evaluate their arguments. But only if we reason well. We shall be learning how to recognise, evaluate, construct and analyse arguments, and how to recognise common fallacies.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
Explore big moral questions through the ideas of Aristotle, Kant, Hume and Mill. This course introduces key ethical theories and applies them to real-life issues like animal rights and euthanasia, with space for reflection and discussion.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
This course introduces key issues in the philosophy of science, including debates about the nature of the scientific method, theories of confirmation, the demarcation of science from non-science, the rationality of theory change, and scientific realism.
- Wed 21 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
Political philosophy contains some of the greatest writings in the Western intellectual tradition. This online course introduces you to the central questions concerning the state, by means of classical and contemporary texts.
- Mon 26 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Online - flexible • Short courses
An introduction to metaphysics, the most general investigation of reality. It has been at the centre of philosophy since the beginning of the Western tradition in ancient Greece, and many of its concerns are the same as those of Plato and Aristotle.
- Wed 28 Jan 2026 – 10 Apr 2026
Also available:
Philosophy
Short courses, summer schools and postgraduate courses in philosophy and ethics at the University of Oxford.MSt in Practical Ethics
A highly interdisciplinary course focusing on the application of rigorous philosophical analysis to real-life ethical problems