Humanities Courses

Reimagine global health problems with some of the leading global health thinkers and actors through a case-based biosocial framework.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Combine literary research with data science to find answers in unexpected ways. Learn basic coding tools to help save time and draw insights from thousands of digital documents at once.

Explore the Maoist period of China, from the Communist Party to the death of Mao and the reopening of China.

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

Build a viable, valuable tech venture that can profitably scale in this course from Harvard Business School (HBS) Online.

Power and Influence for Positive Impact, a Harvard Business School (HBS) Online course, helps individuals develop their own power to gain influence and make an impact.

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.

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

Learn about the forces in American politics that seek to influence the electorate and shift the political landscape.

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

Learn how American women created, confronted, and embraced change in the 20th century while exploring ten objects from Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library.

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

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

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

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

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

An overview of modern Chinese history, including the fall of the Qing and the end of imperial China.

Learn how businesses thrive and grow while simultaneously solving some of the world's biggest challenges in this course from Harvard Business School (HBS) Online.

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.