All Courses

In this course, Professor Peter Pormann (University of Manchester) explores how medicine was practiced in the Medieval Arabic world. In the first module, we look at the Baghdad translation movement of the 9th century. We then turn to consider how...

In this course, Professor Martyn Hammersley (The Open University) explores the concept of objectivity within sociology and social research. In the first lecture, we think about the development of the concept from the early twentieth century and...

In this course, Professor Eileen Barker (London School of Economics) explores the characteristics of New Religious Movements (NRMs) and their relationship to wider society. In the first lecture, we look at terminologies associated with new...

In this course, Professor Derek Raine (University of Leicester) explores kinematics, which is the motion of objects without considering the forces that cause them to move. In the first mini-lecture, we discuss speed and velocity, looking in...

In this course, Professor Sharon Marshall (University of Exeter) explores Ovid’s Heroides. In the first module, we think about the relationship between Ovid’s version of the myths of Penelope, Briseis and Dido, and the ‘original’ versions found in...

In this course Prof. Sabine Flitsch introduce biomolecules. What do we mean when we say ‘biomolecule’, and what kinds of biomolecules exist? Modern research spans biomolecules of all sorts, and we introduce: (i) the classes of biomolecules that...

In this course, Professor Gayle Letherby (University of Plymouth) explores ideas and methods associated with feminist social research. In the first lecture, we consider feminist critiques of traditional sociological research. In the second...

In this course, Dr Sharon Marshall (University of Exeter) explores Ovid’s Ars Amatoria. The course is structured around five critical questions, and in each case Dr Marshall provides a summary of recent scholarship pertaining to the question, as...

This course explores the political philosophy of John Locke (1632-1704), oriented around the Liberalism section of the Government and Politics A-Level specification. We begin in the first module by outlining his life and works, before moving on to...

In this course, Dr Sally Frampton (University of Oxford) explores how surgery developed in the 19th-century. In the first three modules, we look at how surgeons in the 19th-century sought to tackle the three issues of pain, bleeding, and...

In this course, Dr Ema Sullivan-Bissett (University of Birmingham) explores the limits of knowledge (scepticism). In the first module, we contrast normal incredulity to philosophical scepticism, and examine various ways to remove grounds for...

In this course, Professor Mark Greengrass (University of Sheffield) explores the French Wars of Religion. In the first module, we consider whether the Wars of Religion are a period or a problem, thinking in particular about the key characteristics...

In this course, Professor John Lennard explores John Ford’s 17th-century tragedy, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore. The course begins by thinking about john Ford himself, about whom we know very little, and his literary output, before moving on to explore...

In this course, Professor John Cottingham (University of Reading) explores the cosmological argument. In the first module, we introduce the a posteriori and inductive methods involved in cosmological arguments for God’s existence, and outline...