Adam Smith is perhaps the most widely read and best remembered of the philosophers of the Scottish Enlightenment, that 18th century outpouring of scientific and intellectual advancements. His work The Wealth of Nations, which outlined principles of the free market, is often considered the first ever comprehensive treatment of modern economics. Interested readers will find much to appreciate in...

Started in 1743 by no less of an Enlightenment personage than Benjamin Franklin, the American Philosophical Society (APS) has played an important role in American cultural and intellectual life for over 250 years. The APS "promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and community...

From time to time, all of us have wondered to ourselves any number of philosophical questions, ranging from "What is love?" to "How can we know what is true?" These are both very compelling questions, and most people probably would like to know a bit more about each one of these queries. Fortunately, the year 2005 saw the launch of this website, whose dictum is "You Ask. Philosophers answer."...

Hank and John Green's Crash Course video series provides learners of all ages with fun, engaging material on everything from psychology to literature to astronomy - all in a fast-paced ten minutes. Here readers will find the Crash Course: Philosophy series on YouTube, with 43 episodes on topics from Cartesian Skepticism to Metaethics. A few of these episodes focus on specific philosophers or...

Australia's Curtin University offers this EdX course dedicated to the history of universal human rights, along with critiques of this concept. This twelve week course, taught by a team of scholars from Curtin University's Centre for Human Rights Education, may appeal to instructors and students of philosophy, political theory, history, education, social work, and more. Topics explored in this...

Based at Boston University, the Gateway to Philosophy project provides users with access to papers presented at the World Congress of Philosophy, as well as other initiatives of a philosophical nature. The site is divided into five primary sections, including "Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy", "Existenz", and "Paideia". Visitors may wish to start their journey through the site by clicking...

It's pretty hard to argue with Professor Frank W. Elwell's list of great social theorists, as he brings together Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and other intellectual heavyweights on this site. The purpose of bringing together these luminaries and their writings is "to promote greater understanding of classical macro-social theory." A rather laudable cause indeed, and...

This OpenCourseWare offering from MIT begins fittingly, with an architectural detail of Libra the Scales from the Autun Cathedral in France. This course was originally taught in the fall of 2009 by Professor Julia Markovits, and the course is a seminar on "classic and contemporary work on central topics in ethics." Some of the questions addressed by these materials include "What makes our actions...

The National Indian Law Library (NILL) has worked for over three decades to bring together key resources for Native Americans and their advocates in the field of legal scholarship and service. Today it remains the only entity that offers a comprehensive vision of past and present tribal governmental documents from across the United States. The NILL is based in Boulder, Colorado and its website...

Open Yale Courses provides a unique opportunity for members of the general public to experience a stimulating classroom environment and learn about a diverse number of issues without stepping foot on the New Haven campus. Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature is one such course that allows interested readers to engage in the thought-provoking subfield of Philosophy, the Philosophy of Science....