This ten-week course examines the concept of ‘power’ in many aspects of human life, from personal empowerment to the oppressive power of others to control us. The making and maintenance of political power will be a central concern of the course. We will discuss figures such as Mussolini, whose Fascism conceived power as the privilege of the ‘elect few’. By contrast, anarchists advocate a stateless society based on self-governance, with voluntary, cooperative and communal...

Examine philosophy’s enduring engagement with art, from Plato and Aristotle to Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Marx and Postmodernism. Explore how art shapes emotion, society and imagination, and its power to critique, transform and redefine human life.

Delve into Heidegger’s radical ideas on existence, time, language, technology and truth. Through Being and Time, examine how his phenomenology reshapes our understanding of self, others and the modern world—and what it means to truly live.

Explore how film shapes and reflects our social myths, identities and beliefs. This course examines narrative, time, space and emotion in cinema—revealing how film creates meaning, challenges norms, and mirrors human hopes and fears.

Explore Shakespeare’s philosophy with a short course in Sydney and online. Analyse themes of love, power, truth and human nature in his plays, set against Montaigne’s scepticism and Machiavelli’s pragmatism.

Explore the meaning and power of music through a philosophical lens. This course examines music's emotional, cultural and political significance, from the Ancient Greeks to opera, jazz, pop and film music in the modern age.