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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Philosophy by The University of Edinburgh

4.7
stars
9,093 ratings

About the Course

This course will introduce you to some of the main areas of research in contemporary philosophy. Each module a different philosopher will talk you through some of the most important questions and issues in their area of expertise. We’ll begin by trying to understand what philosophy is – what are its characteristic aims and methods, and how does it differ from other subjects? Then we’ll spend the rest of the course gaining an introductory overview of several different areas of philosophy. Topics you’ll learn about will include: Epistemology, where we’ll consider what our knowledge of the world and ourselves consists in, and how we come to have it; Philosophy of science, where we’ll investigate foundational conceptual issues in scientific research and practice; Philosophy of Mind, where we’ll ask questions about what it means for something to have a mind, and how minds should be understood and explained; Political Philosophy, where we'll investigate whether we have an obligation to obey the law; Moral Philosophy, where we’ll attempt to understand the nature of our moral judgements and reactions – whether they aim at some objective moral truth, or are mere personal or cultural preferences, and; Metaphysics, where we’ll think through some fundamental conceptual questions about free will and the nature of reality. The development of this MOOC has been led by the University of Edinburgh's Eidyn research centre. To accompany 'Introduction to Philosophy', we are pleased to announce a tie-in book from Routledge entitled 'Philosophy for Everyone'. This course companion to the 'Introduction to Philosophy' course was written by the Edinburgh Philosophy team expressly with the needs of MOOC students in mind. 'Philosophy for Everyone' contains clear and user-friendly chapters, chapter summaries, glossary, study questions, suggestions for further reading and guides to online resources. Please click "Start Here" and navigate to the "Optional Reading" page for more information....

Top reviews

LT

Sep 1, 2015

I thoroughly enjoyed this course and find that it encouragingly sets some directions, and of course, raises my excitement for further study into some of the different fields of philosophy. Thank you.

CC

Oct 7, 2015

Great explanations that is broken down with examples for understanding. Quizzes test for your understanding of the topic rather than just the textbook explanations. Challenging and thought revoking.

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26 - 50 of 2,120 Reviews for Introduction to Philosophy

By Marco

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Jul 9, 2020

Very informative and well organised course materials. I recommend this course to learners interested in understanding the fundamental issues in the field of philosophical enquire.

By Juan C M P

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Nov 17, 2020

¡Excelente curso! Vale la pena darle un vistazo. Siempre he creido que en un mundo donde cada vez la reflexión y el pensar se subestiman, menos humanos somos. Puedo decir que la filosofía es el acto humano por excelencia. El cuestionarse y formularse cosas es una de las facetas mas humanas que atañe la gran mayoria de las cosas que rodean nuestra vida. Una vida con filosofia es una vida enriquecedora y una forma de crecer. Agradezco la oportunidad que ha brindado la University of Edinburgh y Coursera para que las personas tengan acceso a este gran curso.

By Robert O M T

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Mar 15, 2019

Es un curso dinámico que te brinda una variedad de temas a lo largo de cada semana de clases, de los cuales el estudiante puede elegir libremente el tema de su mayor interés; además, considero que los profesores están capacitados para dictar cada clase. Sugiero y agradeceré puedan continuar con una segunda parte del curso, enfocándose en temas más relacionados entre ellos.

By May B

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Jun 15, 2020

I had never taken a philosophy course before until now, as someone in my 30s. I found the course to be fascinating, and the lecturers were all great. I especially found the lecture on free will really thought-provoking. The course has really opened my mind up to new ways of thinking. Thank you!

By Phoebe W

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Jul 27, 2020

The course itself was extremely interesting and I have walked out of it with a solid understanding of basic philosophy. I found the iPhone app to be riddled with glitches and had multiple issues where quizzes were not logged as completed which was quite frustrating.

By logan j

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Aug 3, 2017

I felt as though this class was rather superficial although I loved the content. I felt that the women in the last few weeks were really competent and explained their material very well. Dr. Matthew Chrisman I thought was like many who study philosophy, pretty much like a sophist, can sound super intelligent but I feel that he lacks the ability to explain properly. The questions after his section I felt were out of left field.

By louise c

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Aug 24, 2015

The course content is very superficial. The pass mark is very high for a course I had taken because of a mild interest. You have to get 80% to pass. One unit in particular was very confusing. It took me 7 attempts to pass it as I had no idea what the first question was about and there was no guidance as to what I was doing wrong.

By Kaavya M

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Jun 19, 2020

This course outlined topics in many separate categories, but its clarity of ideas was not well communicated. Diagrams and images within videos would have been extremely useful as well. My only other critique is that Week 1 contains lessons that are extremely unnecessary and obvious. Otherwise, interesting course!

By María P M

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Jun 24, 2020

Excelente curso. Plantea varias situaciones en donde el pensamiento filosófico ha demostrado ser sumamente importante de una manera simple y entretenida. Los profesores hablan muy claro y muestran un conjunto de puntos de vistas completos que te van haciendo pensar sobre diversos temas, y te abren la mente a ideas nuevas e interesantes.

By Lorie M N E

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Jul 26, 2020

I highly recommend this course for those individuals who would like to challenge themselves intellectually in every aspect and subject matter. This course gave me a lot of knowledge. Thank you Coursera and Thank you to the University of Edinburgh.

By Eren K

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Nov 12, 2023

Thanks to this course, I understood very well the philosophical topics and discussions that include important and current debates in the course called Analytical Philosophy Studies, which is the introduction to philosophy.

By Sahara Z F

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Jun 28, 2020

It is an excellent course for anyone who is interested in knowing more about philosophy and philosophical questions. The lectures are short and very informative! I would highly recommend this course.

By Subhadip D

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Jan 28, 2022

This course is my first ever serious attempt to know Philosophy and it has been an excellent opportunity to know about different facets of modern Philosophy. I am curious to know more now! Thanks!

By David M

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May 20, 2021

"Introduction" may be too bold a word for this vast topic, but I thought it was loads of fun. I followed a couple of the referenced podcasts to ease my separation anxiety.

By VIBHOR S

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Sep 18, 2021

A perfect course for someone who needs to begin with with philosophy. Great teachers, it might feel slow for the first 2 weeks but the rest is too good.

By Aylet G S

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Mar 24, 2019

It is a worthwhile course that makes you reflect, it is full of complementary information and bibliography. Highly recommended.

By Riana G

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Jul 25, 2020

Truly brilliant professors that make the course easy and engaging.

By Darshna R

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Dec 3, 2019

Loved the course structure. They are thought-provoking and give an idea of how to approach questions from a philosophical point of view. The most important thing was that there is no right or wrong answer, but to question and even look back to the reason behind our question.

One thing which was not right was that some of the links in open access sections gave "404:Not Found". Please make sure all the links at least take us to the given study material. But nonetheless, the content is amazing.

By José L C

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Jun 19, 2019

Es una manera muy interesante de adentrarse al terreno filosófico puesto que se revisan temáticas vinculadas con la ética, moral, filosofía política, historia de la filosofía, epistemología, etc. Para un primer acercamiento es recomendable; la desventaja es el idioma de los artículos y el doblaje de sólo algunos temas.

By Zsuzsa S

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Sep 13, 2021

This is an excellent course, but done in a frustrating way: the option of having to complete only one out of the two modules per week seems like a good idea, but I was confused about how it will work when the student decideds to go for both. I wasn't sure how the grades will be worked out and, to be honest, I was dissapointed to see that although I did 100 on all, there was absolutely no reason for me to try to achive such outcome. I felt that the grading system was unfair, because many qestions demanded multiple correct answers yet only ONE point was given for each question. This means that if any one of the multiple possible correct answers was not marked OR if one answer was wrong but others were correct, the point for that question was not given, even if it was partially correct. Although the quizes can be done many times, when an answer is wrong, there is no explanation to why, and what would have been the correct answer so there was no way to learn from the mistakes. In order to correct them, one must either go back and listen to the whole thing over and over again OR start a quessing/eliminating game, which does not teach anything else but how to beat the system. Some of the lecturers accent and presentation style makes it very hard to understand the material.

By Fernando B A

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Jul 18, 2017

Very informative and interesting overall, I can certainly recommend it. Yet, the absence of loci to discuss ideas, asking questions, and sending feedback is a bit irritating. For example, I found an error in the tie-in book written for this course, yet found nowhere to report it. It was only through cross-checking the material that I was able to confirm it. I appreciated the selection of topics for this introduction, with the exception of the metaphysics lesson. Apparently, the time-travel thing was supposed to be a background idea to discuss metaphysical issues. However, it seems to have occupied almost the entirety of the discussion (fascinating as it may be). In that sense, it was a bit dislocated in the midst of the other lessons, which were broad outlines of major areas of contemporary philosophy. These are the two points that displeased me. I am not one for hot-headed discussions, but having nowhere to discuss complex ideas, in order to better understand them, made the experience poorer for me.

By Hrishikesh

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Jan 23, 2022

This could have been a very enjoyable and intriguing course. However, the difference in teaching styles between the weekly modules makes it hard to understand some of the topics. For example, I found the first week to be very engaging but cannot say the same about Week 3 (Should You Believe What You Hear?)

All the instructors are very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, but some talk too fast and could have explained some of the harder to understand topics better. Also, the forums don't seem to be visited by the instructors any longer. The modules themselves also seem to be have been reorganized from a previous version so some modules in the 4th week for example refer to the wrong week.

By GOH J Y

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Aug 17, 2015

Well. It really covers the basic and foundation of Philosophy. I myself, love quotes about life and all. As such, when it comes deep down to these, I didn't really enjoyed the course as much as I thought I'd. Nevertheless, this is a decent introductory course if you are looking to know a slice of Philosophy. Do take note that a lot of reference with regards to the past philosophers are introduced as well. You are basically fed with all their beliefs. But do take them as a pinch of salt. What matters the most are your thoughts and views. Keep them open!

By Robert C

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Aug 2, 2020

Not that bad of a course for anyone who wants a brief overview of just some of the topics of the discipline of philosophy; the professors, for the most part, were engaging throughout the video lectures although I felt that they definitely could've done a better job with summarizing certain concepts (not dragging on the lectures with more examples/scenarios), especially for the quizzes at the end of each lesson/module. Some of the concepts are a bit hard to grasp, but then again...it's philosophy.

By Shrey A

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Nov 2, 2020

Good course for someone who is beginner and someone who is there to explore different perspectives on some of the most thought provoking ideas of human and it's existence. However there isn't much you can do apart from watching an instructor and taking multiple choice quizzes (which often don't challenge you much) in this course. As I said it's a good course if you have no idea or insight about the topics.