Best Humanities & Social Science courses
The 154 Humanities & Social Science courses programmers recommend to each other on Hacker News, ranked by how many people recommended each one, how strongly, in how many separate threads and over how many years (192 recommendations, 2006 to October 2026). 76 of them are free. How ranking works.
Justice (Michael Sandel)
Harvard University · beginner · free
Commenters call it an amazing, extremely well presented introduction to moral reasoning and ethics, and say they recommend it repeatedly.
How to Listen to and Understand Great Music
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call it an excellent, accessible introduction to classical music that is rich in detail yet fun to follow.
Personality and its Transformations (Jordan Peterson)
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters call it a densely packed, truly amazing synthesis of psychology, mythology and philosophy, and one says it was transformative for them.
A Brief History of Humankind
Coursera · beginner · free
Commenters describe it as a fun, enriching course, with one calling it the best enrichment course they had taken.
The Peloponnesian War
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call it one of the best lecture series they have listened to, praising the lecturer's energy and the lessons about democratic failure.
Maps of Meaning
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters call the lectures transformative and recommend them as a way to see everyday human behavior through the lens of ancient mythology, though one notes the reasoning requires critical listening.
Great World Religions: Hinduism
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters say it is well put together and gives an academically grounded, deep look at how religion shapes Indian social life, with one calling it highly recommended for anyone wanting the good, bad and ugly of Hinduism.
Power and Politics
Yale University · beginner · free
Commenters call it an excellent zoom-out into global politics and an amazing lecture series that teaches a lot.
Rick Roderick lectures
rickroderick.org · intermediate · free
Commenters call the lectures incredible and recommend them as a clear antidote to attacks on postmodernist thinkers.
Introduction to Human Language (John McWhorter)
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call McWhorter's course informative and entertaining, praising its coverage of language evolution and the brain's handling of spoken and written language.
Language: A to Z
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call it highly recommended and incredibly fascinating for anyone interested in language, and note it is part of a fixed-cost subscription.
Effective Communication
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters say it changed how they think, write, and speak, and one says it was good enough to listen to twice.
The Unanswered Question (Leonard Bernstein)
YouTube · beginner · free
Commenters recommend it as an entertaining, deep route into the philosophy of music and the basic vocabulary of music theory, such as intervals, scales, and chords.
The Story of Human Language
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call it an engaging introduction to language history and say they learned a lot and were fascinated throughout.
Moralities of Everyday Life
Yale University · free
Commenters describe it as a psychology course that reads more like anthropology, with comparative culture questions they found engaging.
Out of Your Mind (Alan Watts)
Alan Watts · beginner
Commenters describe the lectures as amazing and highly recommend them, while noting Watts's books are wordier and less engaging than the spoken talks.
Law School for Everyone
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters describe it as a very clear and coherent introduction to law and say it is a good fit for laypeople wanting a first-year-law overview.
History 5 The Making of Modern Europe, 1453 to the Present
UC Berkeley · beginner · free
Commenters recommend it as a free, listenable university history lecture series that works well as audio during a commute.
Listening to Music
Yale University · beginner · free
Commenters recommend it as a free introduction for listeners who want to understand the technical side of music.
The Modern and the Postmodern
Coursera · freemium
One commenter says they enjoyed it even without doing the essays and peer review, and says they went on to take a related course.
Language Families of the World
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters recommend it as an entertaining overview of all of the world's languages, with one calling it a survey of what languages exist and what features different families share.
Biblical Series (Jordan Peterson)
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters recommend it as a way for intellectually inclined readers to grasp the deeper meaning of biblical stories that they find confusing or dismissive when read literally.
Godel, Escher, Bach lectures
MIT OpenCourseWare · beginner · free
Commenters say it is free and gives a deeper understanding of the book, though one notes the lectures are very non-technical.
Roman Architecture (Diana Kleiner)
Coursera · beginner · free
Commenters call Kleiner's video lectures thorough, well explained, and eye-opening, especially on how much Romans relied on concrete.
Great Ideas of Philosophy
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters describe it as a favorite lecture series and praise The Great Courses lecture sets as high-standard.
Moral Philosophy (PHIL 181)
Yale University · beginner · free
Commenters recommend it as a useful survey of how philosophers have addressed meaning and flourishing, with one pointing to the lecture on detachment and another urging viewers to watch the whole series.
Ancient Greek History (Donald Kagan)
Yale University · intermediate · free
Commenters describe it as useful background for reading Thucydides and Homer, and one calls the lectures fascinating.
The Philosopher's Toolkit
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters say it explains the concepts behind each model clearly and is easy to understand for someone with no prior philosophy background.
Buddhism and Modern Psychology
Coursera · beginner · free
Commenters describe it as mind-blowing and point to its experiments on perception, such as the visual blind spot demonstrations.
Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science - Part 1
edX · beginner
Commenters call it an excellent course on the philosophy of this period, with one noting it is a strong treatment of the Warring States-era texts.
Game Theory and Nuclear Proliferation (William Spaniel)
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters call it an academic, rigorous treatment of nuclear policy that goes beyond random internet commentary.
Ancient Egypt (Bob Brier)
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters describe it as mind-blowing and point to its lessons on how ancient Egyptians portrayed neighboring peoples.
Moral Politics
Coursera · free
Commenters point to it as a free route into moral philosophy as applied to politics, and one commenter links George Lakoff's moral politics lecture as a starting point.
Positive Psychology
Harvard University · beginner
Commenters call it a great course with a great teacher and point to its lectures as a good entry into the field.
Hannibal
Stanford University · beginner · free
Commenters describe the downloadable Stanford lecture on Hannibal as great, and note that the lecturer took part in a student expedition across the Alps with a real elephant.
Three Views of Hell
The Narrow Path · intermediate · free
A commenter calls it a highly recommended, far more detailed treatment of the biblical texts on hell than they could give in a forum reply.
Yoga Sutras and Sāṁkhya lecture on Īśvara (Edwin Bryant)
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters call it a fantastic lecture that corrects the common claim that Sāṁkhya is atheistic, by explaining Patanjali's theistic treatment of Īśvara.
Sāṁkhya Kārikās lectures (Edwin Bryant)
Rutgers University · intermediate · free
One commenter highly recommends the lectures, saying Bryant usually explains the difficult terminology in a really easy way, and suggests starting with the Yoga Sūtras first.
Language Families of Africa
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
The commenter calls it an excellent introduction, noting that McWhorter is an expert on African languages and that his coverage is strong from an introductory standpoint.
Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters describe it as a game-changer that sharpened their reasoning and debate skills and was immediately applicable in professional and personal communication.
Popular Linguistics (John McWhorter)
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call McWhorter an engaging, highly entertaining lecturer whose language lectures are very informative.
Philosophy Lectures (Michael Sugrue)
YouTube · free
Commenters call the lectures phenomenal and say Sugrue's knowledge and graceful tying together of the history of philosophy inspired them to study the subject.
The Historical Jesus
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
A commenter says they found the course better than Ehrman's books and that it changes how you approach historical evidence in general.
The Making of Modern Ukraine (Timothy Snyder)
YouTube · beginner · free
One commenter strongly recommends the series as a whole and singles out the lecture on Ukrainization, famine, and terror in the 1920s-1930s.
Ancient History (Gregory Aldrete)
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter says they heartily recommend Aldrete's Great Courses lectures to anyone at all interested in ancient history.
Archaeology of the Phoenician City of Motya
Coursera · beginner
One commenter says they took the course, found it amazing, and praises the teacher as really great.
Indigenous Canada
Coursera · beginner · free
Commenters describe it as an excellent, widely acclaimed, free introduction to Indigenous Canada and recommend it to anyone wanting to learn more.
Machiavelli in Context
The Great Courses · intermediate
One commenter calls it amazing and says it makes the point that The Prince is not Machiavelli's biggest work, which is Discourses on Livy.
Visualizing Japan, 1850s-1930s
edX
A commenter says they highly recommend it to anyone interested in historical illustrations, calling it a wonderful course.
Paradise Lost
edX · beginner · free
Commenters say it helped them interpret the poem, with one saying it revealed political nuances like free will, tyranny, and civil liberty that they had missed.
Classical Sociological Theory
Coursera · beginner
One commenter loved it for introducing the ideas of eight sociological thinkers through insightful pictures and references to interesting source material.
Jonathan Biss on Beethoven's Piano Sonatas
Coursera
One commenter calls it fantastic and points to it as a strong pick among Coursera options.
Philosophy Lecture Series (David Kyle Johnson)
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter, who bought the courses while looking for stimulating material during a work slump, says they have been stimulating and highly recommends David Kyle Johnson's courses.
ADHD: The 30 Essential Ideas Everyone Needs to Know
YouTube · beginner · free
Commenters recommend Barkley's ADHD videos for teaching them a lot, especially the point that ADHD is primarily an emotional disorder.
Deep Psychology of Intimate Relationships
RelationshipSchool.net · mixed
One commenter, who studied relationship material with their spouse without religious counseling, calls it a "masters degree" in building a rock solid partnership.
The Art of Debate
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter recommends it very highly to anyone wanting to make stronger arguments, after critiquing the logic of an article.
The Meaning of Life: Perspectives from the World's Great Intellectual Traditions
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
The commenter says they cannot highly recommend it enough and found it extremely easy to listen to, with a wide range of traditions covered.
Philip Zelikow's History Course
Coursera · free
Commenters call it the most useful class they have taken online or in person and praise Zelikow's engaging personality.
The History of Ancient Egypt
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter, who knew little about Egyptian history, found Bob Brier an amazing lecturer whose engaging delivery inspired further reading and museum visits.
Food: A Cultural Culinary History
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter strongly recommends it as one of their favorite listening experiences of the year, especially for anyone interested in what 'authentic' food really means.
Emotions (Jordi Vallverdú)
Coursera · free
One commenter calls it an amazing course on emotions, noting it is rare to find a worthwhile course on the subject.
Einstein's Revolution
edX · intermediate · free
Commenters call it a wonderful course for anyone interested in Einstein's ideas, philosophy, and their social and science history.
Modern World History
Coursera · free
One commenter ranks it among the best of more than a dozen MOOCs they have taken and says it is highly recommended.
Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
A commenter calls it an excellent introduction to how the legal system works, and how it interprets the Constitution over time.
Analogy as the Core of Cognition
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters point to it as a strong recommendation for understanding how concepts and words connect through analogy, tying into discussions of clichés and language.
The Sound of English
BBC Learning English · intermediate · free
One commenter, a Spanish speaker living in London, calls it the best online material for improving English pronunciation and says practicing along with it works.
Building Great Sentences: How to Write Like the Pros
The Great Courses · intermediate · paid
Commenters point to its concrete advice on compacting sentences with multiple dependent clauses, which one says is especially useful for technical writing, and note the audio version works well for a commute.
Virgil's Aeneid (Susanna Braund)
Stanford University · intermediate · free
Commenters call it a really good course on the Aeneid, and one remembers it as brilliant.
The Mysterious Etruscans
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters describe it as an engaging, academic-but-watchable lecture series they particularly liked, fitting the 'high-quality edutainment' style of The Great Courses.
Terrorism and Counterterrorism: Comparing Theory and Practice
Coursera · intermediate · free
Commenters mention it as a recommended Coursera course, pointing to Edwin Bakker's expertise as the instructor and to the link between theory and practice.
Death (PHIL 176)
Yale University · intermediate · free
Commenters point to it as a free Yale lecture series that explores the question of what personal identity is, using the mind-swap and torture thought experiments.
Myth in Human History
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
The commenter calls it a great course that covered common themes in creation myths across cultures.
Story of Civilization
YouTube · beginner · free
Commenters call it an excellent course and say it is being watched as a group, with one citing its treatment of ancient hunter-gatherer societies.
Writing with Flair
Udemy · paid
A commenter recommends it as a resource for learning writing as a craft, noting it is worth waiting for a sale.
Dante's Divine Comedy (Alessandro Barbero)
YouTube · beginner · free
One commenter recommends it for covering Dante's personality and life alongside the historical context, which they say makes the poem's later cantos easier to appreciate.
Nyāya Sūtras lectures (Edwin Bryant)
Rutgers University · intermediate · free
Commenters call Bryant's lectures highly recommended and say he explains difficult terminology in an easy way, though they suggest starting with the Yoga Sūtras first.
Lenin
The Socialist Program
One commenter recommends it as a recent class from The Socialist Program that they would suggest alongside two books on Lenin, without much further detail.
CopyrightX
Harvard University · mixed · free
One commenter recommends it as a free way to gain insight into the legislative side of copyright law.
Bach and the High Baroque
The Great Courses · paid
One commenter calls it a great series on Bach and praises the lecturer's courses overall.
Timothy Snyder lecture on Russian history
YouTube · intermediate · free
One commenter points to it as a taste of the historical pattern they argue underlies current Russian behavior toward Ukraine and the US.
The History of the Bible (Bart Ehrman)
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters point to Ehrman's Great Courses lecture as a good scholarly guide to the history and development of biblical books such as Revelation.
The Roman Empire
Amazon Prime Video · beginner · free
One commenter calls it an excellent lecture series that is free to watch on Prime.
A History of Freedom
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter lists it alongside another Great Courses favorite as a lecture series they really liked.
The Other Side of History
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter says they enjoyed the deep dive into daily life through history, which helped them see the common threads all humans share.
Accent makeover classes
Unknown
One commenter says they have heard good things about accent makeover classes and suggests paying for a non-native speaker to take one.
Real Zen for Real Life
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter calls it pretty approachable and says it helped a topic finally click.
Consciousness Lectures (Jeffrey Kaplan)
YouTube · beginner · free
Commenters call it an excellent, more efficient introductory resource than dense philosophy readings on consciousness.
Great Masters: Beethoven
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters recommend it to people with little musical knowledge who have a mild interest in Beethoven, praising Greenberg's teaching as fun, educational, and passionate.
Archaeology
The Great Courses · beginner
A commenter calls the archaeology course fantastic and points to it as long-form content available on Kanopy.
24.231 Moral Problems and the Good Life
MIT OpenCourseWare · intermediate · free
One commenter suggests it as a next step after reading Plato and Aristotle on ethics, as a way to go deeper into the field.
Toki Pona
YouTube · beginner · free
A commenter points to it as a lecture series on Toki Pona from a channel they vouch for, saying "I second the recommendation."
Anthropology
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenter says it satisfied their passing interest in anthropology and calls the provider's anthropology courses good quality taught by renowned US professors.
Early Middle Ages
Yale University · intermediate · free
One commenter finished it and recommends it, contrasting the lecture-based Open Yale Courses with short-video MOOCs.
How to Listen to and Understand Opera
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters say Greenberg's lectures are engaging and full of historical anecdotes that make opera easier to appreciate.
Moralities
Coursera · beginner · free
One commenter lists it among "some great free courses on Coursera" for learning moral and life philosophy, as an alternative to blog posts.
Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter listened to it via Audible and said they loved it, using it as an example of enjoyable non-technical listening.
Philosophy of Science
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter found it unexpectedly eye-opening and says free trial codes make it easy to access.
The Dead Sea Scrolls
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters point to it as a solid, affordable introduction to the scrolls that avoids conspiracy theories and reflects the real scholarly debate.
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter suggests it as a starting point for learning philosophy and says it has good material for adult learners, with other reading to branch out to afterward.
America before 1776
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter suggests it as a way to build a broader foundation in the early colonies, and notes it works well as listening during chores.
Big History
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters point to the series as the kind of well-regarded course that led Bill Gates and Khan Academy to build a standalone Big History project from it.
Music as a Mirror of History
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter, recommending music history reading to someone new to music, says they enjoyed Greenberg's Great Courses series and names this title among his good ones.
Big Five Personality Traits (Jordan Peterson)
YouTube · beginner · free
One commenter calls it a great video lecture series for anyone who wants to learn more about the Big Five traits.
Chinese Thought: Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Science - Part 2
edX · beginner · freemium
The only commenter simply calls it an excellent course, with no further detail.
The Mind is Flat
FutureLearn · beginner
The commenter calls it great and says the course complemented the book well, even though the platform itself was unremarkable.
World War I Military Economy and Technology Lecture Series
YouTube · intermediate · free
One commenter points to it as a series of 24 lectures that goes into the technology and economics of the war, with the later lectures covering the period discussed in the thread.
Imperial Russia lecture series
YouTube · intermediate · free
One commenter points to it as a source with substantial insight into the Imperial Russian economy and industry, in support of a debate about pre-revolutionary growth.
The Norman Conquest of England
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter says they just finished it and found the professor's account of how Norman and Old English merged to give English its large vocabulary worth passing along.
Great Utopian and Dystopian Works of Literature
The Great Courses · mixed · paid
Commenters point to it as a good pick for the HN crowd and praise the professor as excellent.
Zaliznyak's Lectures on the Russian Language
YouTube · mixed · free
One commenter recommends them to Russian speakers interested in language history, praising Zaliznyak for spreading the scientific view against popular folk etymology.
Introduction to Psychology
Coursera · beginner · freemium
Commenters say it delivers the concepts they keep coming back to in everyday life and avoids unfalsifiable statements.
Crash Course Philosophy
YouTube · beginner · free
One commenter points to it as a high-school-level starting point for the epistemology debate, alongside the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Rationality (Steven Pinker)
Harvard University · intermediate · free
Commenters point to its depth (about 20 hours of video and a structured syllabus) compared with most MOOCs, and to learning the subject from a leading thinker on it.
The Rise of the Bolsheviks
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter recommends it as useful background for understanding Russian revolutionary history, pairing it with a similar course on Mao's China.
Mao's China
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter recommends it as context for the rise of Mao in China, alongside a lecture series on the Bolsheviks.
Philosophy 185 - Heidegger
UC Berkeley · advanced · free
Commenters suggest working through Being and Time while listening to Dreyfus's lectures as a way to get a handle on Heidegger, and note the AI connection.
The Science of Meditation
Coursera · beginner · free
One commenter suggests skimming its lectures, saying it touches on the link between mindfulness and modern understanding of the mind, and on how much of life is narrating outcomes rather than deciding them.
Leading Non-Violent Movements for Social Change
Harvard University · mixed
One commenter calls it an excellent course and points to its instructor, Srdja Popovic, whose Otpor! experience they cite as the basis for its value.
Hans Rosling's Lectures
YouTube · beginner · free
Commenters point to it as a data-driven look at how population growth changes as countries get wealthier.
Big History
Big History Project · beginner · free
One commenter recommends it as a great overview of the entire history of our being, placing it alongside nand2tetris as another good course.
Lecture on the History of the Scots Language
YouTube · intermediate · free
Commenters call it a great lecture on Scots and note it is delivered in Scots, which one found understandable with focus.
Introduction to Western Classical Music
Coursera · beginner · free
Commenters point to it as the place to start for anyone without musical background, and one calls the Yale Coursera course on this subject the most amazing Coursera course they ever took.
Ethics (Wi Phi)
Khan Academy · beginner · free
A commenter recommends it simply as a series on ethics from Khan Academy, without giving a detailed reason.
Contract Law (Charles Fried)
Harvard Law School · beginner · free
One commenter calls it a very good class that is easy to understand, listing it among the best MOOCs they have taken.
New Testament History and Literature
Yale University · beginner · free
One commenter points to it as a good non-book option for learning New Testament scholarship, alongside scholars like Ehrman and Crossan.
International Law MicroMasters
edX · mixed
Commenters call it a series of excellent edX courses on international law, pointing to it as a starting point for the subject.
The Odyssey of Homer
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
The commenter calls it a fantastic lecture series that they personally found enlightening, especially on the ways Greek society differed from modern society.
International Humanitarian Law
edX · beginner · free
Commenters describe it as an excellent MOOC for anyone wanting to learn about international humanitarian law.
Hubert Dreyfus lectures on Kierkegaard
YouTube · beginner · free
Commenters suggest it as a helpful entry point, saying the lectures give good context for a reader who struggled with Kierkegaard's texts directly.
Arthurian Myth and Legend
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenter calls it "excellent" and says the Great Courses history classes they've watched have been "pretty top notch."
Introduction to Latin
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
A current Latin learner calls it helpful and says it covers all the basics and set them up well for reading selections from The Gallic Wars.
Critical Thinking
Wi-Phi · beginner · free
A commenter lists it among audio and video resources that "seem good" for critical thinking, alongside Argument Ninja and The Great Courses.
Foundations (R.C. Sproul)
Ligonier Ministries · beginner
One commenter recommends it to anyone interested in systematic theology, describing it as applying critical thought and empiricism to the study of scripture.
Blended Learning
Coursera · beginner · free
One commenter highly recommends it for anyone interested in applying blended learning in schools, noting the variety of models, readings, videos, and school tours.
Jewish Intellectual History
The Great Courses · intermediate · paid
A single commenter recommends it as a lecture series for understanding the intellectual background to Zionism and modern Israel.
Lost Christianities
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter calls it a good series on early Christianity, pointing to it as a lecture-based companion to the thread on how Christianity became dominant.
How Great Science Fiction Works
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call it one of the best audio lectures on science fiction, valued for teaching the genre's history and techniques.
The Persian Empire
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter suggests it as a more detailed and accurate option than Dan Carlin's narrative-driven podcast on the same era.
History of the Ancient World: A Global Perspective
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter suggests it as a more detailed and accurate listen than Dan Carlin's narrative-driven podcasts on the same subject.
Greek and Persian Wars
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
A commenter calls The Great Courses more detailed and accurate than Dan Carlin's narrative podcasts and lists this series among the relevant ones on the subject.
Justice
edX · beginner · free
One commenter lists it among their all-star online courses in a thread about favorite online courses, with no further detail.
Body Language for Entrepreneurs
Udemy · paid
One commenter calls it a very good class on body language and notes how much nonverbal cues shape how others perceive us.
How Conversation Works
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter, in a thread about talking smart, lists it among Great Courses audio lecture series they found helpful for this subject.
Influence: Mastering Life's Most Powerful Skill
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
One commenter lists it among Audible Great Courses series that helped them with communication, alongside a course on effective communication skills.
Women's and Gender Studies
MIT OpenCourseWare · free
One commenter points to it as the place to go to learn about the long history of systemic oppression of women, in response to a thread disputing that history.
Polish First Year
University of Pittsburgh · beginner · free
One commenter calls it a great free course for anyone interested in learning Polish, and the comment also notes it is useful for someone curious about the language.
Science, Technology, and Society
MIT OpenCourseWare · free
One commenter recommends it as a starting point for anyone interested in the ethics of science and technology.
Social Psychology
Coursera · beginner · free
One commenter recommends it as a fascinating, free way to learn about ideas like the Fundamental Attribution Error.
No Excuses: Existentialism and the Meaning of Life
The Great Courses · beginner · paid
Commenters call it an excellent introduction to existentialism and highly recommend it.
Medieval Europe (HIST 210)
Yale University · beginner · free
One commenter calls Paul Freedman's lectures on the early Middle Ages "terrific" and offers the course as a random recommendation.
The Modern World: Global History since 1760
Coursera · beginner · free
A commenter recommends it, saying it changed how they view news by placing events in a longer historical context.
A History of the World since 1300
Coursera · beginner · free
One commenter recommends it alongside the Modern World course, valuing how the lectures give context for current events by drawing parallels with the past.
Cognitive Processes
MIT OpenCourseWare · intermediate · free
A commenter calls it one of MIT's definitive classes in cognitive psychology and says they took it as an undergraduate and found it a great class.
5.95J Teaching College-Level Science and Engineering
MIT OpenCourseWare · intermediate · free
One commenter calls it an excellent resource for anyone interested in education, pointing to the instructor's teaching techniques.