No introduction. Only deep dive.
Philosophy Portal courses offer the most extensive and comprehensive philosophy course experiences online, providing meticulous, book-length dissections of the greatest minds of modern Philosophy including Hegel, Nietzsche, Lacan and Marx. No "introductory summary" here, we dive into a thorough analysis of the text itself.
Join a community, not just a classroom.
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The rigour of academia. The freedom of the internet.
Eschewing the monotonous video format of standard online courses, we provide a structured learning journey that mirrors the university's quality of teaching without the stifling institutional pressures, with a digital freedom of tone.
No philosophy degree required. Intellectual curiosity is enough.
Our community is open to all backgrounds. Whether you are a philosophy aficionado or a curious newcomer without a massive philosophical background, you will find a thriving, friendly environment where genuine criticality and deep coverage meet.
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The courses catalogue
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Find the key to modern logic
The Science of Logic course is designed to open a window into how Hegel’s philosophical reinvention can mature your intellectual growth and self-reflexion. This class aims to provide a detailed introduction to this work and sense-make the science of logic in relation to your personal/professional life.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Objectivity of discourse, The foundations of Logic updated to Modern world in relation to subjective desire for knowing and freedom, The Logic of Life and Death itself, How does a Philosopher embodies the relationship between language and life, The nature and truth of the logical unfolding of stories
What is society and freedom for Marxism?
Led by Marxist theorist Chris Cutrone, this seminar explores the philosophical and political foundations of Marxism through a critical examination of society, contradiction, capitalism, and the unfinished project of emancipation. Rather than treating Marxism as a fixed doctrine, the course approaches it as an open question about the possibilities and failures of modern freedom.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : The nature of social contradiction, The relationship between philosophy and politics, The legacy of Lenin and Critical Theory, The question of whether capitalism remains the defining contradiction of contemporary society, The meaning of Marxism today and the possibilities for social transformation in the future
What is Christianity becoming in the internet age?
This course brings together philosophers, theologians, psychoanalysts, cultural theorists, and contemporary Christian thinkers to explore the future of faith in an age of transition. Drawing from thinkers such as Paul Tillich, Slavoj Žižek, Peter Rollins, Thomas Altizer, René Girard, and contemporary radical theology, the course examines Christianity not merely as a historical religion but as an evolving framework for confronting meaning, suffering, desire, community, and transcendence.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : The relationship between Christianity and modernity, The crisis of religious institutions, The emergence of post-religious spirituality, The role of Christianity in contemporary culture, The possibility of renewing religious life beyond traditional forms.
Can Plato still speak to us in the postmodern world?
This course explores the resurgence of metaphysical thinking in contemporary philosophy and asks whether the deepest questions about reality, being, truth, God, and existence can ever truly be abandoned.
Guided by philosopher Dylan Shaul, participants journey through ancient, modern, and postmodern philosophy to understand why metaphysical questions continue to reappear in the work of influential contemporary thinkers such as Alain Badiou, Slavoj Žižek, Quentin
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 :
A model for civilisational transition
Led by Michel Bauwens, founder of the P2P Foundation and one of the world's leading theorists of the commons, this course explores how societies evolve, why civilizations rise and decline, and how new forms of cooperation emerge during periods of systemic crisis. The course examines the historical role of the commons, the emergence of peer production, and the potential for new economic and political institutions beyond the traditional opposition between market and state.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Macro-history, Systems theory, Complexity science, Peer-to-peer networks, Commons-based governance, Contributive Economy, Cosmo-Localism
The unconscious psyche and power
Discover the unconscious forces behind ideology, political identity, activism, and the psychological dynamics of contemporary capitalism. Moving beyond conventional political analysis, the course investigates the distinction between genuine political engagement and activism, the psychological effects of platform capitalism, and the unconscious dynamics that sustain contemporary left-right political identities.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : The foundations of psychoanalytic theory, The nature of clinical structures and their relevance to contemporary political life, How desire, fantasy, identification, and enjoyment operate within political movements, ideological commitments, and collective behavior.
This is a series led by Todd McGowan introducing the core of Lacan and Lacanian psychoanalysis, as well as a series introducing you to three different clinical orientations in contemporary psychoanalysis. By bringing together philosophy, psychoanalysis, and clinical practice, the course provides a unique opportunity to understand not only what Lacan thought, but why psychoanalytic structure remains essential for understanding subjectivity, identity, relationships, and contemporary culture.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Including desire, the unconscious, the Symbolic, the Imaginary, and the Real—while also examining how different psychoanalytic traditions understand the formation of the self, psychological conflict, and human development.
Discovery, development, and contemporary thinking on the unconscious psyche
The course focuses on not only Freud, in the clinical discovery of the unconscious, but also Lacan, in the development of the original Freudian theory with philosophy and linguistics, and Žižek, as an example of the contemporary philosophical use of the discovery of the unconscious for our knowing today.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Understand Your Unconscious Motivations, Beyond Conscious Self-Awareness, Decode Desire, Explore the Alien Within, The Invisible Architecture of the Mind, The Philosophy of Desire, The Unconscious and Human Freedom, Why We Don't Know Ourselves, Thinking After Freud, The Revolution of Psychoanalysis, Understanding the Human Condition, A New Map of the Psyche, The Hidden Logic of Human Behavior, From Freud to Lacan to Žižek
Thinking dialectical form for our time
This course on Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit aims to use Hegel to understand the development of your own consciousness. The Phenomenology of Spirit is not simply a history of ideas. It is a map of how human beings move from immediate experience, to self-awareness, to reason, to spirit, and ultimately to a deeper understanding of themselves and reality.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Stages of consciousness, self-consciousness, rationality, spirituality, religion and absolute knowing, The various forms of the Absolute Idea, The World Spirit.
Story of a Heart: what does it mean to really be alive in this world?
Nietzsche’s classic Thus Spoke Zarathustra is often described as an anti-Bible Bible, and the figure of Zarathustra often described as an anti-Christian Christ, a text that speaks directly to and from the heart (“a book for all and none”). What does this bleeding heart still have to say to us in the 21st century?
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Overman, Will to Power, Eternal Recurrence, God is Dead, Master-Slave Morality, Active vs. Passive Nihilism, Perspectivism.
Theory connecting identity and its construction to a disorienting ontology qua sexual real
In this course based on Alenka Zupančič’s acclaimed work What Is Sex?, you will explore one of the most provocative and original theories of sexuality in contemporary philosophy. The course goes beyond the traditional opposition between conservatism (“sex is a natural essence”) and constructivism (“sex is a social construct”) to explore what the Lacanian tradition calls the Real of sex: something that resists all our attempts at definition and identification.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Sexuation, The Real of Sex, Desire and Lack, Jouissance (Enjoyment Beyond Pleasure), The Incomplete Subject, Contradiction as a Creative Force, Beyond Nature vs. Culture, Psychoanalysis and the Human Condition, Hegel, Lacan, and Dialectical Thinking, Sex and Ontology
Core writings from the controversial psychoanalyst
This course is an in-depth exploration of Écrits, Jacques Lacan’s major and notoriously difficult work. Along the way, you will discover how Lacan engages with Freud, Kant, Hegel, and contemporary thinkers to develop a radically new vision of the human condition.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : The Unconscious Structured as Language, The Formation of the Subject, Desire and Lack, The Symbolic, the Imaginary, and the Real, The divided subject, The Mirror Stage, The relationship between psychoanalysis, politics, and society, The transition from Kant to Hegel and then to Lacan, Contemporary interpretations of Lacan inspired in particular by Žižek.
Learn the essence and the consequences of Hegel’s political philosophy.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Hegel's concept of freedom?, Why is the state important for Hegel?Property, Contract, Wrongdoing and punishment, Moral intention, Conscience, The limits of subjective morality, Ethical Life, The Family in Hegel's Political Philosophy, The State as the Highest Expression of Freedom, Recognition and Social Relations in Hegel
Truth of religion is Christianity, truth of Christianity is atheism
A nine-session course on thinking about Christianity and religion through an approach informed by the transcendental turn and speculative dialectical analysis, including in-depth analysis of Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Lacan, Altizer, Žižek and Rollins.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : West’s Christian legacy, Modernist turn to secular atheism, Atheist transgression, Nietzsche’s Death of God and the Eternal Return, Nietzsche’s Death of God and the Eternal Return, Church of the Contradiction, Psychoanalytic Theology, Radical Theology
Lack-excess as the creative tension of modern philosophy
A ten-session course that delves into the philosophical intersections between Gilles Deleuze and Jacques Lacan, focusing on the dynamic interplay of lack and excess as central themes in their works
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Lacan vs Deleuze, Lack◇Excess, Rhizomatic analysis, Body without Organs (BwO), Oedipal myth critique,Micropolitics of desire., Difference between psychoanalysis and schizoanalysis, Deleuzian approach to the unconscious, Understanding the machine of desire.
From philosophy to the critique of political-economy
Explore the early works of Marx (primarily from the 1840s) as a key foundational transition from the thought of the post-Idealist Young Hegelians, and into the struggles of Marxist political-economy.
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Situating Marx’s practical politics in philosophical relationship to Hegel, Thinking about how the historicity of Hegel and Marx thought is conditioned by the political struggles of their time, Left and right-wing political orientations, Socialist political-economy, Dialectic of labour and capital, The struggles and problems that birthed the Marxist tradition.
This course is inspired by Cutrone’s two major works (Sublation Press): The Death of the Millennial Left (2023), and Marxism and Politics (2024).
🕓 : 10 hours
Key notions 📚 : Millennial Left, Contemporary capitalist politics with a focus on how "socialist unity” might be possible today, The unresolved questions and problems internal to Marxist political-economy.
Full courses professors
Students’ testimonials
-
In 2024, I took Philosophy Portal's Philosophy of Right course and participated in the Rosy Cross conference. The content and delivery of the course are extremely professional. Cadell provides lectures to help you understand the Philosophical content. I tried to read the Philosophy of Right on my own before the course and it was very hard. Only by doing this course did I begin to understand what Hegel was saying in the book. The other important point is that Cadell is not just a normal lecturer you find in a college, he is genuinely passionate and lives Philosophy. You can see this in the effort he puts into the courses and the care he has for his students. If anyone is considering taking a Philosophy portal course, I would highly recommend it.
-
I came across Cadell Last's project while researching Lacan's relevance for contemporary Christian theology. His Christian Atheism course happened to coincide with a particular interest of mine. I hesitated slightly at the cost, but am so glad I took the plunge. Each 'lecture' is around 3 hours long, followed by about 2 hours of Q&A. Cadell's style is careful, creative, and comes across as driven by a really authentic scholarly curiosity and desire to develop a diverse community of inquiry. I very much look forward to engaging with other courses already available on Philosophy Portal and with Cadell's future explorations.
-
Philosophy Portal provides unique opportunities to work through complex classic texts (Lacan, Nietzsche, Hegel,...) led by an experienced guide and embedded in a thriving online community. In addition, there's the opportuinity to distill what you got from the cours into an article for the course's anthology - published as a book available through Amazon. It's a transformational experience which comes highly recommended!
-
Cadell is an excellent teacher, incredibly well-prepared, excited to discuss ideas, and produces masses of content for the eager participant to pick and choose from.
I agree with other reviewers that the lectures are long, complex, and cover vast amounts of material, so attending class requires a lot of commitment and endurance from its attendees. However, everything is recorded, so on the off-chance you can scrape out a few hours to return to the material, it's always there. -
Cadell's ability to clearly articulate profound and obscure concepts to bring them out to light is truly remarkable. His involvement with the course and his own personal life examples enriches the content of these concepts and makes them deeply relevant to everyday life.
I can truly recommend this and any other of his former or coming up courses knowing that if you put the time and effort to go though the teaching material, it could make a deep impact on you. -
Cadell breathes life into the grand texts of philosophy, making seemingly outdated works contemporary. The lectures do not merely deal with the text (which they do brilliantly) but go beyond the direct material in order to give a comprehensive understanding that grounds the material in modern thinking. This makes these mammoth philosophical texts accessible and allows the student to take them in their stride without compromising the time, patience and in-depth analysis needed to wrestle through them.
-
The best thing about participating in the Portal is the writing opportunities. My PhD program did not support scholarly writing very much beyond the dissertation, so to have active encouragement, peer review, and optional 1:1s with Cadell about formulating papers and research ideas has been invaluable.
-
Cadell Last is the deep dive of deep dives going straight into the detailed reading of important classical texts including exposition, passionate reading, and great community. Great way to fill in educational gaps or re-ignite your passion for philosophy.
-
Dr. Cadell Last's courses are of a tremendous caliber. I participated in the "Phenomenology of Spirit Course" and the "Thus Spoke Zarathustra Course" and I truly have nothing but the highest praise for Philosophy Portal.
-
Excellent courses, faculty and content quality. Highly recommended, especially if you a philosophy aficionado like me.
-
Philosophy Portal is simply outstanding! Definitely the best resource out there to help you deep-dive into philosophy, and emerge from it having tarried with 'actual knowing', and questioning 'negativity'.
-
Cadell is an amazing teacher, using analogies, stories and memes to highlight and explain deep philosophical thought.
-
Philosophy Portal is a unique emerging online university bringing its students to not only immerse themselves in deep and influential discourses in Western philosophy in an accessible way but also stimulating them to philosophise for themselves while at the same time enabling conversation and collaboration between its students.
-
Excellent and deep teaching and inspiring learning environment. Each class was both meticulous and thought provoking, but most of all engaging. Great vibe.
-
The courses Dr. Cadell Last offers are so in depth and thorough, unmatched not only online, but also when compared to institutional classes. While being very comprehensive, the subject material is at the same time made very accessible and relatable to one’s daily life. In this way, philosophy is brought to life. The conferences at the end of each course are both a wonderful way to demonstrate what students have personally learned from the course as well as a provide a bonding experience for the class; a dynamic, creative, and discursive space, which is so rare to find in educational spheres
-
This course was fantastic, primarily due to the passion and conviction of Cadell. He has "skin in the game" and this shines through every interaction he has with the course. These are not lectures from a bored philosopher going through the motions of delivering the same material semester after semester. These are conversations that are alive and present. Cadell's main drive is to connect your philosophical journey with your personal journey. I myself am a complete philosophical novice, so while I wasn't in a position to participate as heavily as others, I benefitted enormously from Cadell's skill in explaining complex material with extreme legibility. His use of clear and simple language, thoughtful summaries, and the right amount of repetition is invaluable in understanding the material.
Students’ testimonials
-
In 2024, I took Philosophy Portal's Philosophy of Right course and participated in the Rosy Cross conference. The content and delivery of the course are extremely professional. Cadell provides lectures to help you understand the Philosophical content. I tried to read the Philosophy of Right on my own before the course and it was very hard. Only by doing this course did I begin to understand what Hegel was saying in the book. The other important point is that Cadell is not just a normal lecturer you find in a college, he is genuinely passionate and lives Philosophy. You can see this in the effort he puts into the courses and the care he has for his students. If anyone is considering taking a Philosophy portal course, I would highly recommend it.
-
I came across Cadell Last's project while researching Lacan's relevance for contemporary Christian theology. His Christian Atheism course happened to coincide with a particular interest of mine. I hesitated slightly at the cost, but am so glad I took the plunge. Each 'lecture' is around 3 hours long, followed by about 2 hours of Q&A. Cadell's style is careful, creative, and comes across as driven by a really authentic scholarly curiosity and desire to develop a diverse community of inquiry. I very much look forward to engaging with other courses already available on Philosophy Portal and with Cadell's future explorations.
-
Philosophy Portal provides unique opportunities to work through complex classic texts (Lacan, Nietzsche, Hegel,...) led by an experienced guide and embedded in a thriving online community. In addition, there's the opportuinity to distill what you got from the cours into an article for the course's anthology - published as a book available through Amazon. It's a transformational experience which comes highly recommended!
-
Cadell is an excellent teacher, incredibly well-prepared, excited to discuss ideas, and produces masses of content for the eager participant to pick and choose from.
I agree with other reviewers that the lectures are long, complex, and cover vast amounts of material, so attending class requires a lot of commitment and endurance from its attendees. However, everything is recorded, so on the off-chance you can scrape out a few hours to return to the material, it's always there. -
Cadell's ability to clearly articulate profound and obscure concepts to bring them out to light is truly remarkable. His involvement with the course and his own personal life examples enriches the content of these concepts and makes them deeply relevant to everyday life.
I can truly recommend this and any other of his former or coming up courses knowing that if you put the time and effort to go though the teaching material, it could make a deep impact on you. -
Cadell breathes life into the grand texts of philosophy, making seemingly outdated works contemporary. The lectures do not merely deal with the text (which they do brilliantly) but go beyond the direct material in order to give a comprehensive understanding that grounds the material in modern thinking. This makes these mammoth philosophical texts accessible and allows the student to take them in their stride without compromising the time, patience and in-depth analysis needed to wrestle through them.
-
The best thing about participating in the Portal is the writing opportunities. My PhD program did not support scholarly writing very much beyond the dissertation, so to have active encouragement, peer review, and optional 1:1s with Cadell about formulating papers and research ideas has been invaluable.
-
Cadell Last is the deep dive of deep dives going straight into the detailed reading of important classical texts including exposition, passionate reading, and great community. Great way to fill in educational gaps or re-ignite your passion for philosophy.
-
Dr. Cadell Last's courses are of a tremendous caliber. I participated in the "Phenomenology of Spirit Course" and the "Thus Spoke Zarathustra Course" and I truly have nothing but the highest praise for Philosophy Portal.
-
Excellent courses, faculty and content quality. Highly recommended, especially if you a philosophy aficionado like me.
-
Philosophy Portal is simply outstanding! Definitely the best resource out there to help you deep-dive into philosophy, and emerge from it having tarried with 'actual knowing', and questioning 'negativity'.
-
Cadell is an amazing teacher, using analogies, stories and memes to highlight and explain deep philosophical thought.
-
Philosophy Portal is a unique emerging online university bringing its students to not only immerse themselves in deep and influential discourses in Western philosophy in an accessible way but also stimulating them to philosophise for themselves while at the same time enabling conversation and collaboration between its students.
-
Excellent and deep teaching and inspiring learning environment. Each class was both meticulous and thought provoking, but most of all engaging. Great vibe.
-
The courses Dr. Cadell Last offers are so in depth and thorough, unmatched not only online, but also when compared to institutional classes. While being very comprehensive, the subject material is at the same time made very accessible and relatable to one’s daily life. In this way, philosophy is brought to life. The conferences at the end of each course are both a wonderful way to demonstrate what students have personally learned from the course as well as a provide a bonding experience for the class; a dynamic, creative, and discursive space, which is so rare to find in educational spheres
-
This course was fantastic, primarily due to the passion and conviction of Cadell. He has "skin in the game" and this shines through every interaction he has with the course. These are not lectures from a bored philosopher going through the motions of delivering the same material semester after semester. These are conversations that are alive and present. Cadell's main drive is to connect your philosophical journey with your personal journey. I myself am a complete philosophical novice, so while I wasn't in a position to participate as heavily as others, I benefitted enormously from Cadell's skill in explaining complex material with extreme legibility. His use of clear and simple language, thoughtful summaries, and the right amount of repetition is invaluable in understanding the material.