Arts and humanities courses
Arts and humanities courses. We don’t just teach, we inspire.
Exploring the depths of culture, philosophy and history has never been so accessible. Learn from experts in the field and create an everlasting bond with some of the world’s most impactful reading material. Our comprehensive arts and humanities courses offered at the University of Sydney provide students with unending knowledge that touches our roots while building towards the future.
Don’t be intimidated by our knowledgeable faculty – they know their stuff but they also understand that everyone starts somewhere, which is why we welcome inquiring minds without prejudice. Step up to unleash your inner scholar and get energised by mind-stimulating discourse amongst like-minded peers. Meet friends, form opinions and come out of it with a cultural experience you won’t soon forget!
Sign up now for your very own inspiring experience. We offer groundbreaking opportunities to unlock your intellectual potential, turning everyday people into more thoughtful citizens able to appreciate their pasts and consider their futures more deeply. So say farewell to mundane education and open your world through art and humanities today! Learn arts and humanities in Sydney with arts and humanities courses from the University of Sydney – your premier provider of short courses in Sydney and online.
Featured courses
Meet your facilitators
Brian Brennan
Brian Brennan hold a Master’s degree with honours in Classical Studies and a Ph.D in Ancient History. He has specialised in the religious and cultural history of the Later Roman World,...
Kerry Sanders
Dr Kerry Sanders gained her PhD in Philosophy at the University of Sydney. She has taught topics including the philosophy of mind; ethics; critical thinking; political philosophy; contemporary...
Denise Stanley
Dr Denise Stanley is an artist, teacher, writer and musician all in a day’s work. She is an associate lecturer in Educational Psychology at the University of Sydney, and utilises arts-informed...
John Wells
Armed with a Diploma in Fine Art from Brighton College of Art and a Masters degree, John left Reading University to endeavour to realise another ambition and that was to be an actor. He acquired a...
Featured Articles
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History. See the future. It’s in the past. Ethiopia is one of the most fascinating countries in Africa - it has historic towns, some of which date back to the time of the Roman Empire or the Crusades, magnificent churches and the ruins of palaces. The Ethiopian monarchs claimed descent from Menelik I, whom it was believed was the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Join us as we explore the history and culture of the Ethiopian monarchy which lasted until 1974. Left behind were... View History Course: The Lost Kingdoms of Ethiopia.History Course: The Lost Kingdoms of Ethiopia
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...Course added to cart. Checkout now.Close this message$190 Limited inc GST -
Music. Learn, enjoy, appreciate. In this continuation of an ongoing course on German Music in the nineteenth century, we arrive at the formation of the Second German Empire under Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I. Remarkably, Richard Wagner appears to anticipate these historical events in the patriotic finale to his music drama The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, and Johannes Brahms confidently celebrates them with his choral Song of Triumph. Nevertheless, Brahms and Wagner continue to... View Music in the German Lands Course: 1866-1876.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Join us for this ten-week philosophy of media course, as we analyse the concept of ‘media’ and its definition. We will explore the types of ‘media’ from the invention of writing, through print media to telephone, radio, television, and finally the internet. During this course, we will focus on key philosopher Marshall McLuhan, who is considered by many to be the inventor of media philosophy in its... View Philosophy of Media Course.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Hegel is a towering figure in the history of philosophy. At the core of his social and political thought are the concepts of freedom, reason, and self-consciousness. In this course, we will look at how Hegel’s philosophy influenced areas of thought from Marx to Freud and even Frederic Nietzsche, right down to the identity politics of the present. We will discuss how Hegel took political theory in... View Philosophy Course: Hegel.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Thomas Hobbes is regarded as one of a handful of genuinely great political philosophers – his masterwork Leviathan (1651) changed history. The idea of a ‘social contract’ as the basis of political power is his most powerful contribution, eventually becoming the theoretical foundation of most contemporary societies. Hobbes is however a controversial philosopher in many ways. His understanding of humans as... View Philosophy Course: Introduction to Hobbes.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. This course examines the connection between money, debt and trust as the three foundations upon which human society is constructed. Join us as we explore the history of economic systems – as influenced by and also influencing – anthropology, human nature and religious social structures. For us to understand humanity, we must also understand how we secure and value things that we need and want. We will... View Philosophy Course: Philosophy of Money, Debt and Trust.
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Music. Learn, enjoy, appreciate. This new course begins in the Austrian capital of Vienna, where we explore the astonishing array of masterpieces produced by Franz Schubert in the final year of his short life. We then move on to Prussian Berlin and Saxon Leipzig, tracing the career of the gifted prodigy Felix Mendelssohn. In Leipzig, we also meet the talented young pianist Robert Schumann who slowly transforms himself into one of the most original of the new Romantic composers.... View Music in the German Lands Course: 1828-1843.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. This philosophy course explores the idea that art is not marginal to human concerns, but a key element in emotional, social and psychological life. Many philosophers have proposed that art is not only the highest human achievement but an essential realm which allows humans to imaginatively reconstruct themselves and the worlds they inhabit. From Greek tragedy to Postmodern conceptualism, we will explore... View Philosophy of Art Course: Introduction from Plato to the Postmodern.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. In this course, we will consider the literature of Dante and the role of sex and sin in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1387–1400). Together, we will enter into the strange world of the medieval mind, walking with angels and beasts. We will also consider the contribution of Islamic and Jewish philosophy; much of the science done in the Middle Ages comes from non-Christian thinkers. In the area of political... View Philosophy Course: The Late Middle Ages and Renaissance.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Aims This course aims to provide a broad introduction to the most important issues of our age, through the works of some of the best contemporary philosophers and thinkers. We will cover a range of contemporary issues including the latest works on ecology, genetics, religion, law, language, science and the human condition. Some of the philosophers and their works we will discuss include Timothy Morton’s... View Philosophy in the 21st Century Course: Ten Great Contemporary Thinkers.