Humanities and culture courses
Humanities and culture 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 humanities and culture 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 humanities and culture today!
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,...
Andrew Urban
Creator & interviewer, Front Up (SBS TV) Channel Host, World Movies Channel Presenter, Movies This Week, Ovation & World Movies Channels Founder and editor A career journalist, Hungarian born...
Featured Articles
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History. See the future. It’s in the past. It was at dusk on 15th October 1764 when Edward Gibbon, sitting amidst the ruins on the Capitoline Hill at Rome, first conceived the idea of writing about the decline and fall of the city. His classic work which emphasised the negative effects of autocracy, barbarism and religion, has long dominated views of the Roman Empire. More recently, historians have questioned Gibbon’s ‘good’ and ‘bad’ periods, or suggested other socio-economic... View History Course: The Decline of the Roman Empire.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Aristotle was the polymath of the Ancient world he wrote on: ethics, politics, mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, anatomy, biology, cosmology, poetry, drama, rhetoric. The enduring nature of his profound thought and fundamental insights into ethics, politic and the arts makes his philosophy as relevant now as it has been throughout Western history. This course will provide an in-depth study of all of... View Philosophy Course: Aristotle - Ancient Wisdom.
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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.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Astra Taylor (2019) quipped that 'Democracy may not exist but we will miss it when it’s gone': a timely remark as the discussion grows concerning the ‘crisis of democracy’ in the current world situation. During this course, we will study the philosophical and historical roots of democratic systems; why they emerge and why they falter. We will discuss the core elements that make a democracy ‘democratic’... View Philosophy Course: Democracy.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Spinoza was one of the towering philosophers of the 17th century, described by Bertrand Russell as "the noblest and most lovable of all the great philosophers". His work investigates some of the deepest questions of philosophy. He made significant contributions to understanding the human mind, the emotions, moral philosophy and politics. In this introductory course, we will focus on Spinoza’s ideas and... View Philosophy Course: Spinoza.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Improve your understanding of the philosophy of time and learn to discuss key concepts relating to time with confidence. In this course we consider many approaches to understanding the issue of time and what it means for us in our everyday existence. We use philosophy, chronobiology, psychology, neurobiology and the arts in our investigations. During the course, we will discuss: objective and subjective... View Philosophy Course: Philosophy of Time.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Machiavelli’s influence on modern political theory cannot be overstated. The Prince, his most famous work, provides an interesting lens for examining modern politics and is perhaps more relevant than ever. The term ‘Machiavellian intelligence’ refers to the principles of his political philosophy and the idea that success in politics can be secured by manging behaviours and manipulating social groups. In... View Philosophy Course: Machiavelli and Political Philosophy.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. This course on the philosophy of religion examines religious experience while borrowing from different schools of thought, including psychology, anthropology, sociology, phenomenology and political theory. Religion is central to the personal lives of many people. It is integrated in the cultural heritage of every people, and understanding it is crucial to understanding the human condition. We will delve... View Philosophy Course: Philosophy of Religion.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Join us for a beginner’s course in Existentialism – consider and discuss human existence in a social and supportive environment. Existentialism is concerned with the drama of human existence. In this course we explore: the quest for a meaningful life, realisation of human potential, ‘authentic’ life, existential ‘angst’, human freedom, and the absurdity of existence. This course introduces all of these... View Philosophy Course: An Introduction to Existentialism.
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Philosophy. Study the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. What is history? A possible definition is: History is change over time. But what kind of change are we talking about? Given that history is everything that has happened, what kind of selection processes are used to ‘make history’? Aristotle believes that what is important is not “the thing which has happened, but rather what might have happened…and may happen again”. In other words, history must... View Philosophy of History Course: Herodotus to The History Channel.