The Great Courses

Logic is intellectual self-defense against such assaults on reason and also a method of quality control for checking the validity of your own views. But beyond these very practical benefits, informal logic—the kind we apply in daily life—is the gateway to an elegant and fascinating branch of philosophy known as formal logic, which is philosophy’s equivalent to calculus. Formal logic is a breathtakingly versatile tool. Much like a Swiss army...

Discover the origin of Earth's great variability in air temperature, and learn how it also explains the seasons. Search for the highest and lowest temperatures on the planet, and the locations with the greatest difference between highs and lows. Along the way, encounter the deadliest weather on Earth.

In late 1776, the rebellion of the American colonists appeared to be heading for dismal failure. Here, uncover the dramatic events that were the pivot point of the war. Learn how George Washington, in two critical battles, undertook bold actions to surprise and outwit the British, saving and revitalizing the revolutionary movement.

Take a closer look at three emergency department cases-a urinary tract infection, a broken leg, and a bellyache-with a twist. How were these diagnoses determined? Not through expensive tests or advanced imaging, but through paying attention to the story, even when it isn't truthful.

Swing down to the Caribbean to sample the flavor of the islands. Start with a skirt steak in orange mojo sauce, and move on to an original jerk chicken recipe. Then hop over to the Yucatán for a unique twist on a traditional Mexican dish. Traditionally made with marinated pork, your cochinita pibil dish here is a barbeque halibut with fire-roasted salsa and tortillas.

Investigate positive polarity lighting-a bolt up to ten times more powerful than normal lightning-which accounts for five percent of cloud-to-ground strikes. Then hear life-saving tips on how to recognize when you are about to be hit by lightning and what you should instantly do.

Your body is in energy balance when your daily energy output is exactly balanced by the energy of the food you consume. In this lecture, you will learn about the caloric content of food and how to choose specific foods to help you adjust your energy balance for desired body composition.

Hello, World! Following tradition, write a program that produces this greeting as your first exercise in coding a computer program. Learn why Python is the ideal computer language for beginners and many others. After this lesson, follow the onscreen instructions for installing Python and the programming editor PyCharm.

Step back more than 30,000 years as you view some of the earliest known art in the world- a fabulous gallery of animals painted on the cave walls at Chauvet. These paintings tell us something profound about the Paleolithic mind and force us to reconsider our own ideas about "primitive" art.

Embrace everything you've learned about cooking with spices by taking a classic American dish--fried chicken--and using spices to give it unique cultural twists. You'll see how a mastery of spices is the key to creating Indian, Latin American, Chinese, and Mediterranean chicken dishes, each with its own captivating flavors and aromas.