Open Yale Courses, the initiative that makes video lectures of Yale College courses available for free online, added seven new courses to its website today.

The courses range from philosophy and cognitive science professor Tamar Gendler’s “Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature” to history professor Paul Freedman’s “The Early Middle Ages” and courses in African American history and organic chemistry. They bring the total number of classes on Open Yale Courses to 42.

Since its launch in December 2007, Open Yale Courses has attracted internet users from around the world seeking access to videos, transcripts, syllabi and class assignments for the popular introductory courses posted to its website. The greatest number of foreign students who view the site come from China, followed by the United Kingdom, Canada, South Korea, Germany, Brazil, India, Russia, Australia, and Taiwan, according to a press release from the Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications.

The following courses are now available on Open Yale:

· AFAM 162: “African American History: From Emancipation to the Present,” taught by Jonathan Holloway

· AMST 246: “Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald,” taught by Wai Chee Dimock

· CHEM 125b: “Freshman Organic Chemistry II,” taught by J. Michael McBride

· ECON 252: “Financial Markets–2011,” taught by Robert Shiller

· G&G 140: “Atmosphere, Ocean, and Environmental Change,” taught by Ronald Smith

· HIST 210: “The Early Middle Ages, 284-1000,” taught by Paul Freedman

· PHIL 181: “Philosophy and the Science of Human Nature,” taught by Tamar Gendler