Courses Spring Term 2027
Term begins Monday 18th January
2026-27 Courses will be taking place online and we have grouped them per term. Please contact the tutor for further details as to how exactly their courses will operate. Registration fees will standardly be £135 unless otherwise stated (some shorter courses will be offered at lower fees). Tutors also have the discretion to offer a concessionary reduction of £20. In other respects, the details given at enrolment apply.
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MON 1-3pm: 10 weeks starting 18th January:
Problems in Philosophy
Jane O’Grady
Is morality relative to each culture or cultural group, rather than being objective and universal? Are moral actions those that promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number? What is happiness? What are the pros and cons of Identity Politics? Do you think that computers can think? Are you an illusion? Would a hog that had all your memories be you, or does this question even make sense? What does it mean to say that you know something? What is truth? The course will consist in debating philosophical questions and thought experiments of this sort, including ones that you suggest.
Cost: £135 (10 weeks)
Email: janeogrady101[at]gmail.com
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MON 7-9pm: 8 weeks starting 25th January:
Contemporary German Philosophy
Keith Barrett
This course will offer an introduction to four major German philosophers: Theodor Adorno (1903 – 1969); Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975); Hans Georg Gadamer (1900 – 2002); and Jurgen Habermas (1929 – 2026). We will study their most important works and the explore the positions for which they are known in the major intellectual debates that animated their careers.
Cost: £100 (8 weeks)
Email:keith[at]londonschoolofphilosophy.org
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TUE 11am-1pm: 10 weeks starting 19th January:
Renaissances: Beyond Florence
Anja Steinbauer
How did the intellectual revolution of the Renaissance reshape Europe? This course follows the spread and transformation of Renaissance ideas beyond Italy, examining Erasmus, Thomas More, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Bruno, Milton and others as participants in a changing conception of humanity, knowledge, freedom and political life. We will investigate continuing Renaissance philosophical influences and ask how its questions about authority, interpretation, education and imagination continue to shape our world and our thinking.
Cost: £135 (10 weeks)
Email:anja[at]philosophynow.org
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TUE 1.30pm-3pm: 10 weeks starting 19th January:
20thC Political and Social Philosophy Reading Group
Anja Steinbauer
Cost: Free (10 weeks)
Email:anja[at]philosophynow.org
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TUE 6-8pm: 10 weeks starting 19th January:
History of Western Philosophy part 2
Jane O’Grady
This course gives a chronological survey of some the great Western philosophers who have formulated, and tried to solve, enduring puzzles – what reality is, who we are, how we should live. Part 2 (this term) is on the Enlightenment — from Spinoza to Hegel. See course outline 2 for more details)
Cost £135 (10 weeks)
Email:janeogrady101[at]gmail.com
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WED 11am-1pm: 10 weeks starting 20th January:
Political Philosophy
This course will look at some of the great ‘modern’ political philosophers (modern philosophy is conceived of as spanning the 17th century to the 19th century), covering key works by Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Marx, and Mill. It will then look at contemporary debates on political authority, democracy, liberalism, distributive justice, and markets and capitalism. All are welcome to join, though some previous study of philosophy would be helpful.
Sam Fremantle
Cost £135 (10 weeks)
Email:sam[at]londonschoolofphilosophy.org
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THURS: 11am-1pm: 10 weeks starting 21st January:
Close Readings in Philosophy: Zhuangzi
Anja Steinbauer
This term we read the Zhuangzi, focusing primarily on the Inner Chapters, with selected passages from the Outer Chapters. Working from A. C. Graham’s translation (with opportunities to consider the original Chinese for those who wish), we explore Zhuangzi’s world of butterfly dreams and happy fish. One of philosophy’s most playful and elusive texts, the Zhuangzi will help us explore how stories, humour, paradox and shifting perspectives reshape what seem just the old hat questions about knowledge, language, freedom and the good life.
These seminars are devoted to the slow reading of major philosophical works. Rather than surveying a thinker’s ideas or offering an historical overview, we work carefully through the text itself, examining its arguments, literary form, conceptual vocabulary and philosophical assumptions. Participants are encouraged to grapple with the work in all its difficulty, allowing ideas to emerge through sustained engagement with the original text.
Email:anja[at]philosophynow.org
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THURS: 1.30pm-3pm: 10 weeks starting 21st January:
Kant Reading Group
Anja Steinbauer
Cost: Free (10 weeks)
Email:anja[at]philosophynow.org