I had a look at this MOOC last year as part of an ignorance self-awareness project, and ended up being charmed into working through the whole thing. I would definitely recommend it for people who (a) like watching videos of charismatic philosophy professors, and (b) haven’t had an equivalent introductory line of study. I doubt the median Less Wrong reader would find it remotely taxing, (I started it about six weeks into the presentation and still managed to complete it on time), but it’s very useful for categorising and naming a lot of concepts you might only have nascent or patchy understanding of.
The two instructors are very entertaining and experienced educators. Both are reputable academics on LW-inclined subjects, such as epistemology and practical ethics. Maybe it’s because I’ve been out of bricks-and-mortar universities for a long while, but I find it a bit strange when experts in a field sit down and teach introductory courses.
I ended up watching the videos at 1.5x speed, with the effect that I don’t know what Ram Neta’s voice actually sounds like. I found this to be “animated conversation” speed, and given the material isn’t rocket science, you’re unlikely to miss anything.
It is worth mentioning that the course is very much built around the first half of the specified textbook. I picked up the fourth edition (1991) on Abe Books for a couple of quid. It doesn’t seem particularly out of date, (syllogisms haven’t really changed much since 1991). If you prefer text, it may be worth your while to pick up a copy and work through that instead, or in addition.
I had a look at this MOOC last year as part of an ignorance self-awareness project, and ended up being charmed into working through the whole thing. I would definitely recommend it for people who (a) like watching videos of charismatic philosophy professors, and (b) haven’t had an equivalent introductory line of study. I doubt the median Less Wrong reader would find it remotely taxing, (I started it about six weeks into the presentation and still managed to complete it on time), but it’s very useful for categorising and naming a lot of concepts you might only have nascent or patchy understanding of.
The two instructors are very entertaining and experienced educators. Both are reputable academics on LW-inclined subjects, such as epistemology and practical ethics. Maybe it’s because I’ve been out of bricks-and-mortar universities for a long while, but I find it a bit strange when experts in a field sit down and teach introductory courses.
I ended up watching the videos at 1.5x speed, with the effect that I don’t know what Ram Neta’s voice actually sounds like. I found this to be “animated conversation” speed, and given the material isn’t rocket science, you’re unlikely to miss anything.
It is worth mentioning that the course is very much built around the first half of the specified textbook. I picked up the fourth edition (1991) on Abe Books for a couple of quid. It doesn’t seem particularly out of date, (syllogisms haven’t really changed much since 1991). If you prefer text, it may be worth your while to pick up a copy and work through that instead, or in addition.