Courses

Explore Chinese history and culture from the perspective of the individual through philosophical texts, literary works, and art.

An exploration of the magnetic and ambivalent character of Shylock in William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice.

Examine how cultures of the ancient world defined themselves through literature and how their vision of literature contributes to our understanding of civilization, culture, and literature today.

Learn the music and cultural impact of three canonical operas from the 1800s: Les Huguenots, Das Rheingold, and Otello.

Explore the impact of the conquest dynasties and the world of the Ming.

Gain an understanding of history, museum studies, and curation by looking at, organizing, and interpreting art, artifacts, scientific curiosities, and the stuff of everyday life.

Embark on a global journey to explore the past, present, and future of world literature.

Learn how early American politics informed the U.S. Constitution and why its promise of liberty and equality has yet to be fully realized.

Learn about China’s origins, its integral early thinkers, and competing states and schools of thought.

This introduction to moral and political philosophy is one of the most popular courses taught at Harvard College.

Learn how to read William Shakespeare's plays through his biography, Elizabethan and Jacobean history, and modern performance.

Traces Albert Einstein’s engagement with relativity, quantum mechanics, Nazism, nuclear weapons, philosophy, the arts, and technology.

Explore acts of storytelling in Shakespeare’s Othello alongside world-class artists who interpret Othello’s story in new forms and contexts today.

Join Harvard faculty in this online course to discover the physical history of the Jewish bible.

Examine how great modern writers capture the intricacies of our globalized world and how their works circulate within that world to find their own audiences.

Explore China’s imperial period, with a focus on the Song dynasty and the role of the exam system in government.

An overview of divination systems, ranging from ancient Chinese bone burning to modern astrology.

Learn about the Qin and Han dynasties, and how Buddhism and ideas of self-realization influenced the medieval period.

An exploration of the haunting figure at the heart of one of William Shakespeare’s most famous plays.

Explore the birth of modern China with a focus on the time between the fall of the Qing and the end of World War II.

Learn how the Manchus conquered the Qing and established the last of the imperial dynasties.

This introduction to moral and political philosophy is one of the most popular courses taught at Harvard College.

An introduction to the study of bioethics and the application of legal and ethical reasoning.

Why should we care about Confucius? Explore ancient Chinese philosophy, ethics, and political theory to challenge your assumptions of what it means to be happy, live a meaningful life, and change the world.

Gain a foundational knowledge of American constitutional democracy while crafting your own civic voice and identity.

An exploration of the dynamics of contemporary China using the tools of close reading, discussion, and analysis.

Explore the reunification of China under the Tang with a focus on aristocratic culture — from poetry to calligraphy to literature.

Develop skills in digital research and visualization techniques across subjects and fields within the humanities.

Learn how global warming impacts human health, and the ways we can diminish those impacts.

Explore what makes cities energizing, amazing, challenging, and perhaps humanity’s greatest invention.