Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, 'without any gaps.' The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition. www.historyofphilosophy.net
HoP 438 - Don't Give Up Pope - Catholic Reformation
How the Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation created a context for philosophy among Catholics, especially in Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
2/4/2024 • 18 minutes, 26 seconds
HoP 437 - Jennifer Rampling on Renaissance Alchemy
An expert on Renaissance alchemy tells us how this art related to philosophy at the time... and how she has tried to reproduce its results!
1/21/2024 • 34 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 436 - Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores - Robert Fludd
Our last figure of the English Renaissance undertakes daring investigations of chemistry, medicine, agriculture, and cosmology – and gets accused of magic and Rosicrucianism.
1/7/2024 • 19 minutes, 29 seconds
HoP 435 - Metal More Attractive - William Gilbert and Magnetism
The cosmological and methodological implications of breakthroughs in the understanding of magnetism and electricity at the turn of the 17th century.
12/24/2023 • 17 minutes, 54 seconds
HoP 434 - The Eye Sees Not Itself But By Reflection - Theories of Vision
Changing ideas about eyesight, light, mirror images, and refraction – and the skeptical worries they may have inspired.
12/10/2023 • 20 minutes
HoP 433 - Nature’s Mystery - Science in Renaissance England
How scientists of the Elizabethan age anticipated the discoveries and methods of the Enlightenment (without necessarily publishing them).
11/26/2023 • 19 minutes, 58 seconds
HoP 432 - If This Be Magic, Let It Be an Art - John Dee
Science, intrigue, exploration, angelic seances! It's the life and thought of Elizabethan mathematician and magician John Dee.
11/12/2023 • 21 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 431 - Calvin Normore on Scholasticism
A discussion of the history and philosophical significance of scholasticism from medieval times to early modernity, and even today.
10/29/2023 • 29 minutes, 54 seconds
HoP 430 - I’ll Teach You Differences - British Scholasticism
The evolution of Aristotelian philosophy from John Mair in the late 15th century to John Case in the late 16th century.
10/15/2023 • 21 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 429 - She Uttereth Piercing Eloquence - Women’s Spiritual Literature
How women’s writing in England changed from the early fifteenth century, the time of Margery Kempe, to the late sixteenth century, the time of Anne Lock.
10/1/2023 • 24 minutes, 48 seconds
HoP 428 - Weird Sisters - Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Witchcraft
How Macbeth reflects the anxieties and explanations surrounding witchcraft and witch-hunting in early modern Europe.
9/17/2023 • 25 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 427 - Brave New World - Shakespeare’s Tempest and Colonialism
Can Shakespeare’s Tempest be read as a reflection on the English encounter with the peoples of the Americas?
9/3/2023 • 22 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 426 - A Face Without a Heart - Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Individualism
How the Renaissance turn towards individual identity is reflected in Shakespeare's most famous play.
7/23/2023 • 20 minutes, 44 seconds
HoP 425 - Patrick Gray on Shakespeare
We're joined by Patrick Gray to discuss Shakespeare's knowledge of philosophy, his ethics, and his influence on such thinkers as Hegel.
7/9/2023 • 37 minutes, 10 seconds
HoP 424 - Hast Any Philosophy In Thee? - William Shakespeare
How should we approach Shakespeare’s plays as philosophical texts? We take as examples skepticism and politics in Othello, King Lear, and Julius Caesar.
6/25/2023 • 17 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 423 - Heaven-Bred Poesy - Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser
We begin to look at Elizabethan literature, as Sidney argues that poetry is superior to philosophy, and philosophy is put to use in Spenser’s "Fairie Queene".
6/11/2023 • 24 minutes, 58 seconds
HoP 422 - The World’s Law - Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker defends the religious and political settlement of Elizabethan England using rational arguments and appeals to the natural law.
5/28/2023 • 23 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 421 - With Such Perfection Govern - English Political Thought
The evolution of ideas about kingship and the role of the “three estates” in 15th and 16th century England, with a focus on John Fortescue and Thomas Starkey.
5/14/2023 • 20 minutes, 28 seconds
HoP 420 - No Place Will Please Me So - Thomas More
What is the message of the famous, but elusive, work "Utopia", and how can it be squared with the life of its author?
5/7/2023 • 22 minutes, 7 seconds
HoP 419 - Write Till Your Ink Be Dry - Humanism in Britain
Humanism comes to England and Scotland, leading scholars like Thomas Eylot and Andrew Melville to rethink philosophical education.
4/23/2023 • 22 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 418 - Diarmaid MacCulloch on the British Reformations
A leading expert on the history of the Reformation joins us to explain the very different stories of England and Scotland in the 16th century.
4/9/2023 • 29 minutes, 39 seconds
HoP 417 - To Kill a King - The Scottish Reformation
John Knox polemicizes against idolaters and female rulers, while the humanist George Buchanan argues more calmly for equally radical political conclusions.
3/26/2023 • 19 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 416 - God’s is the Quarrel - The English Reformation
The historical context of English philosophy in the sixteenth century, with particular focus on Thomas Cranmer, and the role of religion in personal conscience and social cohesion.
3/12/2023 • 26 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 415 - The Tenth Muse - Marie de Gournay
Marie le Jars de Gourney, the “adoptive daughter” of Montaigne, lays claim to his legacy and argues for the equality of the sexes.
2/26/2023 • 18 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 414 - Henrik Lagerlund on Renaissance Skepticism
No doubt that we're in good hands with interview guest Henrik Lagerlund, who brings his expertise in the history of skepticism to bear on the French Renaissance.
2/12/2023 • 24 minutes, 14 seconds
HoP 413 - Don’t Be So Sure - French Skepticism
The sources and scope of the skepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches.
1/29/2023 • 21 minutes, 6 seconds
HoP 412 - Not Matter, But Me - Michel de Montaigne
In his “Essays” Montaigne uses his wit, insight, and humanist training to tackle his favorite subject: Montaigne.
1/15/2023 • 20 minutes, 42 seconds
HoP 411 - Pen Pals - Later French Humanism
Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and Guillaume du Vair grapple with history and the events of their own day.
1/1/2023 • 17 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 410 - Ann Blair on Jean Bodin’s Natural Philosophy
A chat with Ann Blair about the "Theater of Nature" by Jean Bodin, and other encyclopedic works of natural philosophy.
12/18/2022 • 30 minutes, 44 seconds
HoP 409 - One to Rule Them All - Jean Bodin
The polymath Jean Bodin produces a pioneering theory of political sovereignty along the way to defending the absolute power of the French king.
12/4/2022 • 26 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 408 - Constitutional Conventions - the Huguenots
Protestant French thinkers like François Hotman and Theodore Beza propose a radical political philosophy: the king rules at the pleasure of his subjects.
11/20/2022 • 24 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 407 - Maria Rosa Antognazza on Early Modern Toleration
An interview on the nature of religious tolerance, and the forms it took during the Reformation and in the thought of early modern thinkers like Locke and Leibniz.
11/6/2022 • 30 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 406 - Believe at Your Own Risk - Toleration in France
Even as wars of religion in France prompt calls for toleration, hardly anyone makes a principled case for freedom of conscience… apart from Sebastian Castellio.
10/23/2022 • 17 minutes, 47 seconds
HoP 405 - Divide and Conquer - the Spread of Ramism
The methods of Peter Ramus sweep across Europe, winning adherents and facing stiff opposition in equal measure.
10/9/2022 • 19 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 404 - Robert Goulding on Peter Ramus
A chat with Ramus expert Robert Goulding on the role of mathematics in Ramist philosophy.
9/25/2022 • 26 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 403 - Make It Simple - Peter Ramus
Peter Ramus scandalizes his critics, and thrills his students and admirers, by proposing a new and simpler approach to philosophy.
9/11/2022 • 20 minutes, 37 seconds
Bonus Episode: Don’t Think for Yourself, Chapter 1
Peter reads the first chapter of his new book Don’t Think for Yourself: Authority and Belief in Medieval Philosophy, available from University of Notre Dame Press. Pre-order with the code 14FF20 from undpress.nd.edu, to get a 20% discount!
8/14/2022 • 45 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 402 - Life is Not Enough - Medicine in Renaissance France
Challenges to Galenic medical orthodoxy from natural philosophy: Jean Fernel with his idea of the human’s “total substance,” and the Paracelsans.
7/31/2022 • 20 minutes, 10 seconds
HoP 401 - Word Perfect - Logic and Language in Renaissance France
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Julius Caesar Scaliger fuse Aristotelianism with humanism to address problems in logic and literary aesthetics.
7/17/2022 • 23 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 400 - Philosophy Podcasters
Peter chats with the hosts of three great philosophy podcasts: Elucidations, Hi-Phi Nation, and the Unmute Podcast.
7/3/2022 • 1 hour, 30 seconds
HoP 399 - Seriously Funny - Rabelais
In his outrageous novel about Pantagruel and Gargantua, Rabelais engages with scholasticism, humanism, medicine, the reformation, and the querelle des femmes.
6/19/2022 • 21 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 398 - Pearls of Wisdom - Marguerite of Navarre
A Renaissance queen supports philosophical humanism and produces literary works on spirituality, love, and the soul.
6/5/2022 • 24 minutes, 14 seconds
HoP 397 - Do As the Romans Did - French Humanism
We begin to look at philosophy in Renaissance France, beginning with humanists like Budé and the use of classical philosophy by poets du Bellay and Ronsard.
5/22/2022 • 22 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 396 - Lorraine Daston on Renaissance Science
Comets! Magnets! Armadillos! In this wide-ranging interview Lorraine Daston tells us how Renaissance and early modern scientists dealt with the extraordinary events they called "wonders".
5/8/2022 • 35 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 395 - Music of the Spheres - Johannes Kepler
Johannes Kepler fuses Platonist philosophy with a modified version of Copernicus’ astronomy.
4/24/2022 • 25 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 394 - Best of Both Worlds - Tycho Brahe
Responses to Copernicus in the 16th century, culminating with the master of astral observation Tycho Brahe.
4/10/2022 • 22 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 393 - The World Doesn’t Revolve Around You - Copernicus
How revolutionary was the Copernican Revolution?
3/27/2022 • 28 minutes, 13 seconds
HoP 392 - John Sellars on Lipsius and Early Modern Stoicism
John Sellars returns to the podcast to discuss Lipsius' work on Seneca and the early modern Neo-Stoic movement.
3/12/2022 • 30 minutes, 6 seconds
HoP 391 - Everything is Mine and Nothing - Lipsius and the Revival of Stoicism
Justus Lipsius draws on Seneca and other Stoics to counsel peace of mind in the face of political chaos, but also writes a work on how such chaos can be avoided.
2/27/2022 • 21 minutes, 19 seconds
HoP 390 - Born to Be Contrary - Toleration in the Netherlands
Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.
2/13/2022 • 26 minutes, 56 seconds
HoP 389 - The Acid Test - Theories of Matter
Schegk, Taurellus, Gorlaeus, and Sennert revive atomism to explain chemical reactions, the composition of bodies, and the generation of organisms.
1/30/2022 • 19 minutes
HoP 388 - Just Add Salt - Paracelsus and Alchemy
Paracelsus adapts the tradition of alchemical science for use in medicine, and in the process overturns the scientific theories of Aristotle and Galen.
1/16/2022 • 22 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 387 - Helen Hattab on Protestant Philosophy
An interview with Helen Hattab on the scope and impact of scholastic philosophy among Protestants.
1/2/2022 • 31 minutes, 41 seconds
HoP 386 - Perhaps Not Wrong - Cornelius Agrippa
Was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa a dark magician, a pious skeptic, or both?
12/19/2021 • 21 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 385 - I Too Can Ask Questions - Protestant Scholasticism
In a surprise twist, some Protestant thinkers embrace the methods of scholasticism, and even find something to admire in the work of Catholic authors like Aquinas.
12/5/2021 • 19 minutes, 39 seconds
HoP 384 - We Are Not Our Own - John Calvin
John Calvin's views on predestination and the limits of human reason.
11/21/2021 • 22 minutes, 35 seconds
HoP 383 - Slowly But Surely - Huldrych Zwingli
The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.
11/7/2021 • 23 minutes, 58 seconds
HoP 382 - No Lord but God - the Peasants’ War and Radical Reformation
Faced with massive political upheaval and the rise of the Anabaptists, Luther argues for a socially conservative version of the Reformation.
10/24/2021 • 23 minutes, 47 seconds
HoP 381 - More Lutheran than Luther - Philip Melanchthon
Luther’s close ally Melanchthon uses his knowledge of ancient philosophy and rhetoric in the service of the Reformation.
10/10/2021 • 21 minutes, 47 seconds
HoP 380 - Take Your Choice - Erasmus vs Luther on Free Will
Erasmus clashes with Martin Luther over the question whether our wills are free or enslaved to sin.
9/26/2021 • 23 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 379 - Lyndal Roper on Luther
How radical was Luther? We find out from Lyndal Roper, who also discusses Luther and the Peasants' War, sexuality, anti-semitism, and the visual arts.
9/12/2021 • 29 minutes, 53 seconds
HoP 378 - Faith, No More - Martin Luther
How Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone and his attack on the Church relate to the history of philosophy.
8/1/2021 • 27 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 377 - One Way or Another - Northern Scholasticism
Trends in Aristotelian philosophy in northern and eastern Europe in the fifteenth century, featuring discussion of the “Wegestreit” and the nominalist theology of Gabriel Biel.
7/18/2021 • 21 minutes, 44 seconds
HoP 376 - Books That Last Forever - Erasmus
The “learned piety” of Desiderius Erasmus, the greatest figure of northern humanism.
7/4/2021 • 25 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 375 - Paul Richard Blum on Nicholas of Cusa
Learned ignorance, coincidence of opposites and religious peace: Paul Richard Blum discusses the central ideas of Nicholas Cusanus.
6/20/2021 • 28 minutes, 7 seconds
HoP 374 - Opposites Attract - Nicholas of Cusa
The radical negative theology of Nicholas of Cusa, and his hope of establishing peace between the religions of the world.
6/6/2021 • 27 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 373 - Lords of Language - Northern Humanism
Rudolph Agricola, Juan Luis Vives and other humanist scholars spread the study of classical antiquity across Europe and mock the technicalities of scholastic philosophy.
5/23/2021 • 26 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 372 - Strong, Silent Type - the Printing Press
The impact of the printing press on the history of philosophy, and its role in helping to trigger the Reformation.
5/9/2021 • 22 minutes, 33 seconds
HoP 371 - European Disunion - Introduction to the Reformation
How humanism and scholasticism came together with the Protestant Reformation to create the philosophy of 15-16th century Europe.
4/25/2021 • 25 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 370 - Ingrid Rowland on Rome in the Renaissance
For our finale of the Italian Renaissance series we're joined by Ingrid Rowland, to speak about art, philosophy, and persecution in Renaissance Rome.
4/11/2021 • 27 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 369 - The Harder They Fall - Galileo and the Renaissance
Did Galileo’s scientific discoveries grow out of the culture of the Italian Renaissance?
3/28/2021 • 23 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 368 - Boundless Enthusiasm - Giordano Bruno
Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.
3/14/2021 • 23 minutes, 28 seconds
HoP 367 - Brian Copenhaver on Renaissance Magic
Our guest Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.
2/28/2021 • 34 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 366 - The Men Who Saw Tomorrow - Renaissance Magic and Astrology
Ficino, Pico, Cardano, and other Renaissance thinkers debate whether astrology and magic are legitimate sciences with a foundation in natural philosophy.
2/14/2021 • 23 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 365 - Spirits in the Material World - Telesio and Campanella on Nature
Was the natural philosophy of Bernardino Telesio and Tommaso Campanella the first modern physical theory?
1/31/2021 • 20 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 364 - Guido Giglioni on Renaissance Medicine
An interview with Guido Giglioni, who speaks to us about the sources and philosophical implications of medical works of the Renaissance.
1/17/2021 • 27 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 363 - Man of Discoveries - Girolamo Cardano
The polymath Girolamo Cardano explores medicine, mathematics, philosophy of mind, and the interpretation of dreams.
1/3/2021 • 20 minutes, 36 seconds
HoP 362 - Just What the Doctor Ordered - Renaissance Medicine
Connections between philosophy and advances in medicine, including the anatomy of Vesalius.
12/20/2020 • 20 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 361 - The Measure of All Things - Renaissance Mathematics and Art
The humanist study of Pythagoras, Archimides and other ancient mathematicians goes hand in hand with the use of mathematics in painting and architecture.
12/6/2020 • 22 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 360 - Dag N. Hasse on Arabic Learning in the Renaissance
An interview with Dag Nikolaus Hasse on the Renaissance reception of Averroes, Avicenna, and other authors who wrote in Arabic.
11/22/2020 • 25 minutes, 35 seconds
HoP 359 - There and Back Again - Zabarella on Scientific Method
Jacopo Zabarella outlines the correct method for pursuing, and then presenting, scientific discoveries.
11/8/2020 • 21 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 358 - Of Two Minds - Pomponazzi and Nifo on the Intellect
Pietro Pomponazzi and Agostino Nifo debate the immortality of the soul and the cogency of Averroes’ theory of intellect.
10/25/2020 • 22 minutes, 10 seconds
HoP 357 - David Lines on Aristotle's Ethics in the Renaissance
An interview with David Lines on the role of Aristotle in Renaissance ethics.
10/11/2020 • 26 minutes, 26 seconds
HoP 356 - I’d Like to Thank the Lyceum - Aristotle in Renaissance Italy
Aristotle’s works are edited, printed, and translated, leading to new assessments of his thought among both humanists and scholastics.
9/27/2020 • 23 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 355 - Town and Gown - Italian Universities
The blurry line dividing humanism and scholastic university culture in the Italian Renaissance.
9/13/2020 • 22 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 354 - Greed is Good - Economics in the Italian Renaissance
Leon Battista Alberti, Benedetto Cotrugli, and Poggio Bracciolini grapple with the moral and conceptual problems raised by the prospect of people getting filthy rich.
7/26/2020 • 25 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 353 - The Good Place - Utopias in the Italian Renaissance
Tommaso Campanella’s “The City of the Sun” and other utopian works of the Italian Renaissance describe perfect cities as an ideal for real life politics.
7/12/2020 • 22 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 352 - The Teacher of Our Actions - Renaissance Historiography
Bruni, Poggio, Machiavelli, and Guicciardini explore political ideas and historical method in works on Roman and Italian history.
6/28/2020 • 22 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 351 - Quentin Skinner on Machiavelli
Leading Machiavelli scholar Quentin Skinner joins Peter to discuss morality, history, and religion in the Prince and the Discourses.
6/14/2020 • 35 minutes, 29 seconds
HoP 350 - The Sentence - Machiavelli on Republicanism
Peter celebrates reaching 350 episodes by explaining a single sentence in Machiavelli's "Discourses."
5/31/2020 • 23 minutes, 56 seconds
HoP 349 - No More Mr Nice Guy - Machiavelli
Machiavelli’s seminal work of political advice, "The Prince," tells the ruler how to be strong like a lion and cunning like a fox.
5/17/2020 • 20 minutes, 42 seconds
HoP 348 - The Sweet Restraints of Liberty - Republicanism and Civic Humanism
Did “civic humanism” really make republicanism a newly dominant political theory in the Italian Renaissance?
5/3/2020 • 20 minutes, 36 seconds
HoP 347 - Bonfire of the Vanities - Savonarola
The prophetic preacher Girolamo Savonarola attacks pagan philosophy and puts forward his own political ideas, before coming to an untimely end.
4/19/2020 • 18 minutes, 58 seconds
HoP 346 - Cecilia Muratori on Animals in the Renaissance
An interview with Cecilia Muratori, an expert on the surprisingly modern ideas about non-human animals that emerged in the Renaissance.
4/5/2020 • 30 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 345 - What a Piece of Work is Man - Manetti and Pico on Human Nature
Pico della Mirandola and Giannozzo Manetti praise humans as the centerpiece of the created world. But what about the other animals?
3/22/2020 • 21 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 344 - The Count of Concord - Pico della Mirandola
Pico della Mirandola argues for the harmony of the ancient authorities, draws on Jewish mysticism, and questions the value of humanist rhetoric.
3/8/2020 • 20 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 343 - As Far as East from West - Jewish Philosophy in Renaissance Italy
Jewish philosophers in Renaissance Italy, focusing on Leone Ebreo’s Dialogues of Love, the Averroism of Elijah del Medigo, and Italian Kabbalah.
2/23/2020 • 23 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 342 - Denis Robichaud on Plato in the Renaissance
An interview with Denis Robichaud on how, and why, Plato was read in the Italian Renaissance.
2/9/2020 • 30 minutes, 4 seconds
HoP 341 - True Romance - Theories of Love
Ficino describes a “Platonic” love purified of sexuality, prompting a debate carried on by Pico della Mirandola, Pietro Bembo, and Tullia d’Aragona.
1/26/2020 • 31 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 340 - Footnotes to Plato - Marsilio Ficino
Marsilio Ficino’s revival of Platonism, with a focus on his proofs for the soul’s immortality in his magnum opus, the Platonic Theology.
1/12/2020 • 24 minutes, 1 second
HoP 339 - I’d Like to Thank the Academy - Florentine Platonism
The blossoming of Renaissance Platonism under the Medici, who supported the scholarship of Poliziano, Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola.
12/29/2019 • 21 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 338 - All About Eve - the Defense of Women
Refutation of misogyny in Moderate Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella.
12/15/2019 • 20 minutes, 49 seconds
HoP 337 - More Rare Than the Phoenix - Italian Women Humanists
Cassandra Fedele, Isotta Nogarola, and Laura Cereta seek fame and glory through eloquence and learning.
12/1/2019 • 20 minutes, 33 seconds
HoP 336 - We Built This City - Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan's political philosophy, epistemology, and the refutation of misogyny in her "City of Ladies".
11/17/2019 • 20 minutes, 35 seconds
HoP 335 - Sabrina Ebbersmeyer on Emotions in Renaissance Philosophy
An interview with Sabrina Ebbersmeyer about the relation of emotion to reason and the body, and panpsychism, in the Renaissance.
11/3/2019 • 29 minutes, 17 seconds
HoP 334 - Chance Encounters - Reviving Hellenistic philosophy
The rediscovery of Epicurus, Lucretius, and Sextus Empiricus spreads challenging ideas about chance, atomism, and skepticism.
10/20/2019 • 21 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 333 - Difficult to Be Good - Humanist Ethics
Humanists from Bruni and Valla to Pontano and Castiglione ask whether ancient ethical teachings can still help us learn how to live.
10/6/2019 • 22 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 332 - Jill Kraye on Humanism
Jill Kraye returns to the podcast to discuss the nature of humanism, its relation to scholasticism, and its legacy.
9/22/2019 • 38 minutes, 6 seconds
HoP 331 - Literary Criticism - Lorenzo Valla
Lorenzo Valla launches a furious attack on scholastic philosophy, favoring the resources of classical Latin.
9/8/2019 • 20 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 330 - Republic of Letters - Italian Humanism
Coluccio Salutati and Leonardo Bruni combine eloquence with philosophy, taking as their model the refined language and republican ideals found in Cicero.
7/28/2019 • 19 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 329 - Greeks Bearing Gifts - Byzantine Scholars in Italy
Bessarion and George Trapenzuntius, rival scholars from the Greek east who helped inspire the Italian Renaissance.
7/14/2019 • 19 minutes, 15 seconds
HoP 328 - Old News - Introduction to the Italian Renaissance
A first look at the themes and figures of philosophy in the Italian Renaissance.
6/30/2019 • 20 minutes, 17 seconds
HoP 327 - Michele Trizio on Byzantine and Latin Medieval Philosophy
The series on Byzantium concludes as Michele Trizio discusses the mutual influence of Byzantium and Latin Christendom.
6/16/2019 • 24 minutes
HoP 326 - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - the Later Orthodox Tradition
When the Byzantine empire ended in 1453, philosophy in Greek did not end with it. In this episode we bring the story up to the 20th century.
6/2/2019 • 25 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 325 - Platonic Love - Gemistos Plethon
Was Gemistos Plethon, the last great thinker of the Byzantine tradition, a secret pagan or just a Christian with an unusual enthusiasm for Platonism?
5/19/2019 • 23 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 324 - United We Fall - Latin Philosophy in Byzantium
Thomas Aquinas finds avid readers among Byzantines at the twilight of empire, and is used by both sides of the Hesychast controversy.
5/5/2019 • 20 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 323 - Through His Works You Shall Know Him - Palamas and Hesychasm
Gregory Palamas and the controversy over his teaching that we can go beyond human reason by grasping God through his activities or “energies”.
4/21/2019 • 18 minutes, 42 seconds
HoP 322 - Do the Math - Science in the Palaiologan Renaissance
Mathematics and the sciences in Byzantium, focusing on scholars of the Palaiologan period like Blemmydes and Metochites.
4/7/2019 • 20 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 321 - Judith Herrin on Byzantium and Islam
Historian Judith Herrin joins us to talk about competition and mutual influence between Islam and Byzantium.
3/24/2019 • 32 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 320 - People of the South - Byzantium and Islam
Intellectual exchange between Christians and Muslims, and the later flowering of Syriac literature including the philosopher Bar Hebraeus.
3/10/2019 • 20 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 319 - Georgia on My Mind - Petritsi and the Proclus Revival
The Neoplatonist Proclus gets mixed reviews from Christians, as Nicholas of Methone refutes him but the Georgian philosopher Ioane Petritsi helps to revive his thought.
2/24/2019 • 18 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 318 - Oliver Primavesi on Greek Manuscripts
Peter's Munich colleague Oliver Primavesi tells us how Greek manuscripts are used to establish the text of authors like Aristotle.
2/10/2019 • 36 minutes, 1 second
HoP 317 - Made by Hand - Byzantine Manuscripts
Without handwritten copies produced by Byzantine scribes, we would know almost nothing about ancient philosophy. How and why were they made?
1/27/2019 • 24 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 316 - Just Measures - Law, Money, and War in Byzantium
Legal and economic thought in Byzantium: the sources of the law’s authority, the relation of church and civil law, just price, and just war.
1/13/2019 • 22 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 315 - Wiser Than Men - Gender in Byzantium
The role of women in Byzantine society and the complex attitudes surrounding eunuchs: did they make up a “third gender”?
12/30/2018 • 20 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 314 - Katerina Ierodiakonou on Byzantine Commentaries
A chat about commentaries on Aristotle from Byzantium with guest Katerina Ierodiakonou.
12/16/2018 • 30 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 313 - Queen of the Sciences - Anna Komnene and her Circle
Princess Anna Komnene makes good use of her political retirement by gathering a circle of scholars to write commentaries on Aristotle.
12/2/2018 • 20 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 312 - Past Masters - Byzantine Historiography
The larger meaning of history in the chronicles written by Michael Psellos, Michael Attaleiates, Anna Komnene, and Niketas Choniates.
11/18/2018 • 19 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 311 - The Elements of Style - Rhetoric in Byzantium
Psellos and other experts in rhetoric explore how this art of persuasion relates to philosophy.
11/4/2018 • 19 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 310 - Purple Prose - Byzantine Political Philosophy
Byzantine political thought from the time of Justinian down to the Palaiologos dynasty wrestles with the nature and scope of imperial power.
10/21/2018 • 23 minutes, 50 seconds
HoP 309 - Hooked on Classics - Italos and the Debate over Pagan Learning
The trial of John Italos and other signs of Byzantine disquiet with the pagan philosophical tradition.
10/7/2018 • 19 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 308 - Dominic O'Meara on Michael Psellos
Dominic O'Meara speaks to Peter about Michael Psellos, focusing especially on his political philosophy.
9/23/2018 • 31 minutes, 50 seconds
HoP 307 - Consul of the Philosophers - Michael Psellos
Michael Psellos and his attitude towards pagan philosophy and the political life.
9/9/2018 • 17 minutes, 20 seconds
Bonus Episode - Glenn Adamson on Material Intelligence
Peter's twin brother Glenn Adamson discusses the philosophical implications of craft.
8/11/2018 • 31 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 306 - Collectors’ Items - Photius and Byzantine Compilations
Photius, “the inventor of the book review,” and other Byzantine scholars who preserved ancient learning.
7/29/2018 • 19 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 305 - Andrew Louth on John of Damascus
Peter is joined by Andrew Louth for a discussion of John of Damascus and his theological use of philosophy.
7/15/2018 • 29 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 304 - Behind Enemy Lines - John of Damascus
John of Damascus helps to shape the Byzantine understanding of humankind and the veneration of images, despite living in Islamic territory.
7/1/2018 • 19 minutes, 39 seconds
HoP 303 - Don’t Picture This - Iconoclasm
Is it idolatry to venerate an icon of a saint, or of Christ? The dispute leads the Byzantines to ponder the relation between an image and its object.
6/17/2018 • 21 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 302 - On the Eastern Front - Philosophy in Syriac and Armenian
Eastern Christian philosophy outside of Constantinople, focusing on translation and exegesis in the languages of Syriac and Armenian.
6/3/2018 • 21 minutes, 5 seconds
HoP 301 - The Empire Strikes Back - Introduction to Byzantine Philosophy
We begin to look at the third tradition of medieval philosophy, in which the heritage of classical antiquity is preserved and debated by the Byzantines.
5/20/2018 • 23 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 300b - The Relevance of Medieval Philosophy Today
Peter King, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, and Russ Friedman discuss their approaches to medieval philosophy, and its contemporary relevance.
5/6/2018 • 1 hour, 13 minutes, 6 seconds
HoP 300a - The Relevance of Ancient Philosophy Today
Rachel Barney, Christof Rapp, and Mark Kalderon join Peter to discuss the importance of ancient philosophy for today's philosophers.
4/22/2018 • 1 hour, 21 minutes, 29 seconds
HoP 299 - Robert Pasnau on Substance in Scholasticism
Bob Pasnau joins Peter to discuss ideas about substance from Aquinas down to the time of Locke, Leibniz and Descartes.
4/8/2018 • 30 minutes, 5 seconds
Africana Philosophy Announcement
New paperbacks and a new series!
4/6/2018 • 2 minutes, 17 seconds
HoP 298 - Renaissance Men - Ramon Llull and Petrarch
The Renaissance ideals of humanism and universal science flourish already in the medieval period, in the works of Petrarch and Ramon Llull.
3/25/2018 • 21 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 297 - The Prague Spring - Scholasticism Across Europe
New ideas and and new universities in Italy and greater Germany including Vienna and Prague, where Jan Hus carries on the radical ideas of Wyclif.
3/11/2018 • 20 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 296 - Morning Star of the Reformation - John Wyclif
John Wyclif refutes nominalism and inspires the Lollard movement, which anticipated Reformation thought with its critique of the church.
2/25/2018 • 19 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 295 - The Most Christian Doctor - Jean Gerson
Jean Gerson’s role in the political disputes of his day, the spread of lay devotion and affective mysticism, and the debate over the Romance of the Rose initiated by Christine de Pizan.
2/11/2018 • 20 minutes, 44 seconds
HoP 294 - Isabel Davis on Sexuality and Marriage in Chaucer
Peter is joined by Isabel Davis to discuss marriage, sex and chastity in Chaucer, focusing on the Wife of Bath's speech.
1/28/2018 • 31 minutes, 49 seconds
HoP 293 - The Good Wife - Gender and Sexuality in the Middle Ages
Medieval attitudes towards homosexuality, sex and chastity, and the status of women. Authors discussed include Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, and Chaucer.
1/14/2018 • 23 minutes, 24 seconds
HoP 292 - Say it With Poetry - Chaucer and Langland
Philosophical themes in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” and “Troilus and Criseyde,” as well as Langland’s “Piers Plowman.”
12/31/2017 • 20 minutes, 3 seconds
HoP 291 - Alle Maner of Thyng Shall be Welle - English Mysticism
Julian of Norwich’s Shewings and the Cloud of Unknowing lay out challenging paths to knowledge of, and union with, God.
12/17/2017 • 18 minutes, 48 seconds
HoP 290 - Martin Pickavé on Emotions in Medieval Philosophy
Martin Pickavé returns to the podcast to talk about theories of the emotions in Aquinas, Scotus and Wodeham.
12/3/2017 • 29 minutes, 14 seconds
HoP 289 - A Wing and a Prayer - Angels in Medieval Philosophy
Be surprised by how many philosophical problems arise in connection with angels (how many can dance on the head of a pin is not one of them).
11/19/2017 • 20 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 288 - Men in Black - The German Dominicans
Dietrich of Freiberg, Berthold of Moosburg, John Tauler and Henry Suso explore Neoplatonism and mysticism.
11/5/2017 • 19 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 287 - Down to the Ground - Meister Eckhart
The scholastic and mystic Meister Eckhart sets out his daring speculations about God and humankind in both Latin and German.
10/22/2017 • 18 minutes, 37 seconds
HoP 286 - On the Money - Medieval Economic Theory
Changing ideas about money, just price, and usury, up to the time of Buridan, Oresme, and Gregory of Rimini.
10/8/2017 • 21 minutes, 35 seconds
HoP 285 - Dominik Perler on Medieval Skepticism
The medievals were too firm in their beliefs to entertain skeptical worries, right? Don't be so sure, as Peter learns from Dominik Perler.
9/24/2017 • 28 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 284 - Seeing is Believing - Nicholas of Autrecourt’s Skeptical Challenge
The debate between Nicholas of Autrecourt and John Buridan on whether it is possible to achieve certain knowledge.
8/13/2017 • 22 minutes, 4 seconds
HoP 283 - Jack Zupko on John Buridan
Peter speaks to Jack Zupko about John Buridan's secular and parsimonious approach to philosophy.
7/30/2017 • 32 minutes, 22 seconds
HoP 282 - Portrait of the Artist - John Buridan
The hipster’s choice for favorite scholastic, John Buridan, sets out a nominalist theory of knowledge and language, and explains the workings of free will.
7/16/2017 • 20 minutes, 29 seconds
HoP 281 - Monica Green on Medieval Medicine
An interview with Monica Green reveals parallels between medicine and philosophy in the middle ages.
7/2/2017 • 37 minutes, 26 seconds
HoP 280 - Get to the Point - Fourteenth Century Physics
Ockham, Buridan, Oresme and Francis of Marchia explore infinity, continuity, atomism, and the impetus involved in motion.
6/18/2017 • 20 minutes, 49 seconds
HoP 279 - Quadrivial Pursuits - the Oxford Calculators
Bradwardine and other thinkers based at Oxford make breakthroughs in physics by applying mathematics to motion.
6/4/2017 • 21 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 278 - Sara Uckelman on Obligations
Sara Uckelman soundly defeats Peter in the medieval logical game of "obligations."
5/21/2017 • 43 minutes, 17 seconds
HoP 277 - Trivial Pursuits - Fourteenth Century Logic
The scholastics discuss the ambiguity of terms, the nature of logical inference, and logical paradoxes, and play the game of “obligations.”
5/7/2017 • 19 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 276 - Back to the Future - Foreknowledge and Predestination
Scotus, Ockham, and Bradwardine ask how we can be free if God knows and chooses the things we will do in the future.
4/23/2017 • 20 minutes, 33 seconds
HoP 275 - Keeping it Real - Responses to Ockham
Walter Burley flies the flag for realism against Ockham and other nominalists.
4/9/2017 • 20 minutes, 4 seconds
HoP 274 - Susan Brower-Toland on Ockham's Philosophy of Mind
An interview with Susan Brower-Toland covering Ockham's views on cognition, consciousness, and memory.
3/26/2017 • 29 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 273 - What Do You Think? - Ockham on Mental Language
How the language of thought relates to spoken and written language, according to William of Ockham.
3/12/2017 • 21 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 272 - A Close Shave - Ockham’s Nominalism
Ockham trims away the unnecessary entities posited by other scholastics.
2/26/2017 • 20 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 271 - Do As You’re Told - Ockham on Ethics and Political Philosophy
William of Ockham on freedom of action and freedom of thought.
2/12/2017 • 19 minutes, 17 seconds
HoP 270 - Render unto Caesar - Marsilius of Padua
In his book Defender of the Peace, Marsilius of Padua develops new theories of representative government, rights, and ownership.
1/29/2017 • 22 minutes, 17 seconds
Democracy and the History of Philosophy
Peter muses on recent political events in light of the history of philosophy.
1/21/2017 • 13 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 269 - Our Power is Real - The Clash of Church and State
Giles of Rome and Dante on the rival claims of the church and secular rulers.
1/15/2017 • 19 minutes, 22 seconds
HoP 268 - To Hell and Back - Dante Alighieri
Italy’s greatest poet Dante Alighieri was also a philosopher, as we learn from his Convivio and of course the Divine Comedy.
1/1/2017 • 20 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 267 - After Virtue - Marguerite Porete
Marguerite Porete is put to death for her exploration of the love of God, The Mirror of Simple Souls.
12/18/2016 • 20 minutes, 22 seconds
HoP 266 - Tom Pink on the Will
A conversation with Tom Pink about medieval theories of freedom and action.
12/4/2016 • 32 minutes, 3 seconds
HoP 265 - Time of the Signs - the Fourteenth Century
An introduction to philosophy in the 14th century, focusing on two big ideas: nominalism and voluntarism.
11/20/2016 • 20 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 264 - Giorgio Pini on Scotus on Knowledge
Peter hears about Duns Scotus' epistemology from expert Giorgio Pini.
11/6/2016 • 30 minutes, 33 seconds
HoP 263 - One in a Million - Scotus on Universals and Individuals
Scotus explains how things can share a nature in common while being unique individuals.
10/23/2016 • 24 minutes, 18 seconds
HoP 262 - On Command - Scotus on Ethics
Scotus argues that morality is a matter of freely choosing to follow God’s freely issued commands.
10/9/2016 • 21 minutes, 37 seconds
HoP 261 - To Will or Not to Will - Scotus on Freedom
Scotus develops a novel theory of free will and, along the way, rethinks the notions of necessity and possibility.
9/25/2016 • 20 minutes, 10 seconds
HoP 260 - Once and for All - Scotus on Being
Duns Scotus attacks the proposal of Aquinas and Henry of Ghent that being is subject to analogy.
9/11/2016 • 20 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 259 - Richard Cross on Philosophy and the Trinity
Medieval discussions of the Trinity charted new metaphysical territory, as we see in this interview with Richard Cross.
7/31/2016 • 26 minutes, 5 seconds
HoP 258 - Here Comes the Son - The Trinity and the Eucharist
Philosophy is pushed to its limits to provide rational explanations of two Christian theological doctrines.
7/17/2016 • 20 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 257 - Martin Pickave on Henry of Ghent and Freedom
An interview with Martin Pickavé on voluntarism in Henry of Ghent.
7/3/2016 • 27 minutes, 26 seconds
HoP 256 - Frequently Asked Questions - Henry of Ghent
Henry of Ghent, now little known but a leading scholastic in the late 13th century, makes influential proposals on all the debates of his time.
6/19/2016 • 20 minutes, 48 seconds
HoP 255 - Andreas Speer on Medieval Aesthetics
Does medieval art tell us anything about medieval theories of aesthetics? Peter finds out from Andreas Speer.
6/5/2016 • 32 minutes, 41 seconds
HoP 254 - Love, Reign Over Me - The Romance of the Rose
Sex, reason, and religion in Jean de Meun’s completion of an allegory of courtly love, the Roman de la Rose.
5/22/2016 • 22 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 253 - Let Me Count the Ways - Speculative Grammar
The “modistae” explore the links between language, the mind, and reality.
5/8/2016 • 21 minutes, 1 second
HoP 252 - Neverending Story - the Eternity of the World
Aquinas, Bonaventure, and the so-called “Latin Averroists” take up the question of whether the universe has always existed, and settle once and for all which comes first, the chicken or the egg.
4/24/2016 • 22 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 251 - Masters of the University - “Latin Averroism"
Did Siger of Brabant and Boethius of Dacia, who have been called “Latin Averroists” and “radical Aristotelians,” really embrace a doctrine of “double truth”?
4/10/2016 • 23 minutes, 27 seconds
HoP 250 - Q&A
Peter answers listener questions on the nature of philosophy and the podcast series.
3/27/2016 • 41 minutes, 17 seconds
HoP 249 - Paris When it Sizzles - the Condemnations
Two rounds of condemnations at Paris declare certain philosophical teachings as heretical. But what were the long term effects?
3/13/2016 • 21 minutes, 27 seconds
HoP 248 - Scott MacDonald on Aquinas
Scott MacDonald joins Peter to discuss Thomas Aquinas' views on human knowledge.
2/28/2016 • 28 minutes, 6 seconds
HoP 247 - Onward, Christian Soldiers - Just War Theory
Aquinas follows medieval legal thinkers in defining the conditions under which war may be justified, and proposes his famous doctrine of double effect.
2/14/2016 • 21 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 246 - What Pleases the Prince - The Rule of Law
Natural law and political legitimacy in thirteenth century thinkers up to and including Thomas Aquinas.
1/31/2016 • 24 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 245 - What Comes Naturally - Ethics in Albert and Aquinas
Natural and supernatural virtue and happiness in Thomas Aquinas and his teacher, Albert the Great.
1/17/2016 • 20 minutes, 56 seconds
HoP 244 - Everybody Needs Some Body - Aquinas on Soul and Knowledge
Thomas Aquinas makes controversial claims concerning the unity of the soul and the empirical basis of human knowledge.
1/3/2016 • 19 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 243 - The Ox Heard Round the World - Thomas Aquinas
An introduction to Thomas Aquinas, his views on faith and reason, and his famous “five ways” of proving God’s existence.
12/20/2015 • 22 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 242 - Therese Cory on Self-Awareness in Albert and Aquinas
Therese Cory tells Peter what Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas thought about self-awareness.
12/6/2015 • 33 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 241 - The Shadow Knows - Albert the Great’s Metaphysics
Albert the Great’s theory of being and his attempt to explain what changes in the human mind when we come to see God in the afterlife.
11/22/2015 • 18 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 240 - Animal, Vegetable, Mineral - Albert the Great’s Natural Philosophy
Albert the Great earns his nickname “universal doctor” by devoting himself to the whole of nature, from geology and botany to the study of human nature.
11/8/2015 • 20 minutes, 18 seconds
HoP 239 - Catarina Dutilh Novaes on Medieval Logic
Was medieval logic "formal"? Peter finds out from Catarina Dutilh Novaes.
10/25/2015 • 33 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 238 - Binding Arbitration - Robert Kilwardby
Robert Kilwardby is infamous for his ban on teaching certain philosophical ideas at Oxford, yet made contributions in logic and on the soul.
10/11/2015 • 21 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 237 - Begin the Beguine - Hadewijch and Mechthild of Magdeburg
Two Beguine authors, Hadewijch and Mechthild of Magdeburg, deploy the tropes of courtly love in vernacular writings about their mystical experiences.
9/27/2015 • 21 minutes, 58 seconds
Indian Philosophy Announcement!
New feed for Philosophy in India: http://hopwag2.podbean.com/feed/
9/19/2015 • 4 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 236 - None for Me, Thanks - Franciscan Poverty
Bonaventure and Peter Olivi respond to critics of the Franciscan vow of poverty, in a debate which produced new ideas about economics and rights.
8/9/2015 • 21 minutes, 53 seconds
HoP 235 - Juhana Toivanen on Animals in Medieval Philosophy
Medieval ideas about what animals do and do not have in common with humans, and how we should treat them.
8/2/2015 • 24 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 234 - Your Attention Please - Peter Olivi
Peter Olivi proposes that awareness occurs not through passively being affected by things, but by actively paying attention to them.
7/26/2015 • 23 minutes, 49 seconds
HoP 233 - Stairway to Heaven - Bonaventure
Bonaventure argues that human knowledge depends on an illumination from God.
7/19/2015 • 22 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 232 - Charles Burnett on Magic
Charles Burnett tells Peter about the role of magic in medieval intellectual life.
7/12/2015 • 30 minutes, 58 seconds
HoP 231 - Origin of Species - Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon extols the power of science based on experience and uses a general theory of "species" to explain light and vision.
7/5/2015 • 22 minutes, 48 seconds
HoP 230 - A Light That Never Goes Out - Robert Grosseteste
Translator, scientist and theologian Robert Grosseteste sheds light on the cosmos, human understanding, and the rainbow.
6/28/2015 • 19 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 229 - Do the Right Thing - Thirteenth Century Ethics
The scholastics explore Aristotle’s ethical teaching and the concept of moral conscience.
6/21/2015 • 19 minutes, 24 seconds
HoP 228 - It's All Good - The Transcendentals
Philip the Chancellor introduces the transcendentals, a key idea in medieval metaphysics and aesthetics.
6/14/2015 • 23 minutes, 28 seconds
HoP 227 - Stayin’ Alive - Thirteenth Century Psychology
John Blund and William of Auvergne draw on Aristotle and Avicenna to argue that the soul is immaterial and immortal.
6/7/2015 • 21 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 226 - Full of Potential - Thirteenth Century Physics
Richard Rufus and anonymous commentators on Aristotle explore the nature of motion, time, infinity and space.
5/31/2015 • 22 minutes, 7 seconds
HoP 225 - No Uncertain Terms - Thirteenth Century Logic
The terminist logicians William of Sherwood and Peter of Spain classify the various ways that language can relate to the world.
5/24/2015 • 23 minutes, 28 seconds
HoP 224 - Kent Emery on Institutions of Learning
Kent Emery joins Peter to discuss the effects of monastic and university culture on medieval philosophy.
5/17/2015 • 28 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 223 - Straw Men - The Rise of the Universities
The emergence of universities in Paris, Oxford, Bologna and elsewhere provide the main setting for medieval philosophy in the 13th century and beyond.
5/10/2015 • 22 minutes, 4 seconds
HoP 222 - Rediscovery Channel - Translations into Latin
Greek and Arabic sources are rendered into Latin in a translation movement that will revolutionize medieval philosophy.
5/3/2015 • 23 minutes, 44 seconds
HoP 221 - Leading Light - Hildegard of Bingen
The life, visions, political intrigues and scientific interests of Hildegard of Bingen.
4/26/2015 • 22 minutes, 22 seconds
HoP 220 - Caroline Humfress on the Roots of Medieval Law
A discussion about Roman law and its reception in the medieval period, with ancient law expert Caroline Humfress.
4/19/2015 • 34 minutes, 29 seconds
HoP 219 - Law and Order - Gratian and Peter Lombard
Gratian and Peter Lombard help bring scholasticism to maturity by systematizing law and theology.
4/12/2015 • 22 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 218 - Two Swords - Early Medieval Political Philosophy
The “Investiture Contest” between church and state and the first major work of medieval political philosophy, John of Salisbury’s Policraticus.
4/5/2015 • 22 minutes, 13 seconds
HoP 217 - Andrew Arlig on Parts and Wholes
Andrew Arlig joins Peter to discuss medieval discussions of mereology (the study of parts and wholes).
3/28/2015 • 29 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 216 - One of a Kind - Gilbert of Poitiers on Individuation
Gilbert of Poitiers proposes a unique way to explain how each individual is the individual it is.
3/22/2015 • 22 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 215 - The Medieval Podcasters
In this special episode, Peter chats with the hosts of the History of the Crusades, History of Byzantium, and British History podcasts.
3/15/2015 • 1 hour, 1 minute, 11 seconds
HoP 214 - The Good Book - Philosophy of Nature
As early medieval science blossoms, Bernard Silvestris and Alan of Lille personify Nature in their philosophical prose-poems.
3/8/2015 • 19 minutes, 13 seconds
HoP 213 - On the Shoulders of Giants - Philosophy at Chartres
The controversial role of Chartres in the philosophical Renaissance of the twelfth century.
2/27/2015 • 22 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 212 - Like Father, Like Son - Debating the Trinity
Discussion, debate and denunciation of philosophical attempts to explain the Trinity in Abelard, Richard of St Victor and Bernard of Clairvaux.
2/22/2015 • 22 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 211 - Learn Everything - the Victorines
Hugh of Saint Victor and other scholars of the same abbey combine secular learning with spirituality.
2/15/2015 • 23 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 210 - John Marenbon on Peter Abelard
John Marenbon returns to the podcast to discuss Abelard's views on necessity and freedom..
2/8/2015 • 27 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 209 - It’s the Thought that Counts - Abelard’s Ethics
Peter Abelard sets out an innovative ethical theory that identifies intentions as the core of moral life.
2/1/2015 • 21 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 208 - Get Thee to a Nunnery - Heloise and Abelard
Peter Abelard and Heloise prove themselves to be fascinating thinkers as well as star-crossed lovers.
1/25/2015 • 19 minutes, 13 seconds
HoP 207 - All or Nothing - The Problem of Universals
Abelard and other logicians of the 12th century argue over the status of universals: are they words or things?
1/18/2015 • 23 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 206 - Eileen Sweeney on Anselm
Anselm expert Eileen Sweeney discusses his approach to philosophy and the devotional aspect of his works.
1/11/2015 • 24 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 205 - Somebody's Perfect - Anselm's Ontological Argument
The most famous argument in medieval philosophy is Anselm's proof of God's existence. But how is it supposed to work?
1/4/2015 • 19 minutes, 39 seconds
HoP 204 - A Canterbury Tale - Anselm's Life and Works
Anselm offers more than his famous ontological argument, including a subtle account of human freedom.
12/28/2014 • 19 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 203 - Virgin Territory - Peter Damian on Changing the Past
Peter Damian takes up a question with surprising philosophical implications: can God restore virginity to a woman who has lost it?
12/21/2014 • 20 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 202 - Philosophers Anonymous - the Roots of Scholasticism
Little-known authors prepare the way for scholasticism with glosses on logic, metaphysical debate, and a poem about a cat.
12/13/2014 • 22 minutes, 51 seconds
HoP 201 - Stephen Gersh on Medieval Platonism
Stephen Gersh (who was Peter's doctoral advisor!) joins him to discuss
the sources and influence of Platonism in the Middle Ages.
12/5/2014 • 30 minutes, 50 seconds
HoP 200 - Jill Kraye and John Marenbon on Medieval Philosophy
We celebrate reaching episode 200 with a special double interview on the problem of defining medieval philosophy.
11/29/2014 • 38 minutes, 53 seconds
HoP 199 - Much Ado About Nothing - Eriugena's Periphyseon
Eriugena delves into the Greek tradition to produce his masterpiece of metaphysics and theology, the Periphyseon.
11/22/2014 • 22 minutes, 17 seconds
HoP 198 - Grace Notes - Eriugena and the Predestination Controversy
John Scotus Eriugena debates free will with his rival Gottschalk, arguing that God predestines the saved but not the damned.
11/16/2014 • 22 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 197 - Charles in Charge - The Carolingian Renaissance
Alcuin leads a resurgence of interest in philosophy and the liberal arts at the court of Charlemagne.
11/9/2014 • 20 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 196 - Arts of Darkness - Introduction to Medieval Philosophy
Peter launches the series of podcasts on philosophy in medieval Latin Christendom with a look ahead at what’s to come.
11/3/2014 • 20 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 195 - Anke von Kügelgen on Contemporary Islamic Thought
Anke von Kügelgen joins Peter to discuss developments over the last century or so, including attitudes towards past thinkers like Avicenna, Averroes and Ibn Taymiyya.
10/26/2014 • 44 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 194 - Iran So Far - After Ṣadrā
From Sabzawārī in the 19th century to Seyyed Hossein Nasr today, Iranian thinkers promote and respond to the thought of Mullā Ṣadrā.
10/19/2014 • 22 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 193 - All for One and One for All - Muḥammad 'Abdūh and Muḥammad Iqbāl
Muḥammad 'Abdūh and Muḥammad Iqbāl challenge colonialism and the traditional religious scholars of Islam.
10/12/2014 • 23 minutes, 13 seconds
HoP 192 - The Stronger Sex - Women Scholars and Islam
Fatema Mernissi and others challenge the long-standing (but not complete) exclusion of women from the intellectual traditions of Islam.
10/6/2014 • 22 minutes, 41 seconds
HoP 191 - The Young Ones: Encounters with European Thought
18th and 19th century intellectuals in India and the Ottoman empire, from Shāh Walī Allāh to the Young Turks, continue Islamic traditions and grapple with European science.
10/3/2014 • 24 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 190 - Turkish Delights - Philosophy under the Ottomans
Kātib Çelebi defends cigarettes and coffee, in just one of several philosophical and religious debates in the Ottoman empire.
8/24/2014 • 22 minutes, 15 seconds
HoP 189 - Subcontinental Drift - Philosophy in Islamic India
Ideas spread to Mughal India from Iran, and prince Dārā Shikūh seeks to unite the wisdom of the Upanishads with the Koran.
8/17/2014 • 23 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 188 - Sajjad Rizvi on Mulla Sadra
Sajjad Rizvi talks to Peter about Mullā Ṣadrā's views on eternity, God's knowledge and the afterlife.
8/10/2014 • 30 minutes, 27 seconds
HoP 187 - Return to Sender - Mulla Sadra on Motion and Knowledge
Mullā Ṣadrā proposes that all things are like sharks: in constant motion.
8/3/2014 • 21 minutes, 21 seconds
HoP 186 - To Be, Continued - Mulla Sadra on Existence
Mullā Ṣadrā, greatest thinker of early modern Iran, unveils his radical new understanding of existence.
7/27/2014 • 22 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 185 - Follow the Leader - Philosophy under the Safavids
Philosophy in Safavid Iran, and a look back at earlier philosophy among Shiites.
7/20/2014 • 24 minutes, 23 seconds
HoP 184 - Robert Wisnovsky on Commentary Culture
Robert Wisnovsky joins Peter to discuss the enormous body of unstudied philosophical commentaries in the later Eastern Islamic world.
7/13/2014 • 30 minutes, 28 seconds
HoP 183 - Family Feud - Philosophy at Shiraz
The roots of the Safavid philosophical tradition in some rather ill-tempered debates at Shīrāz.
7/6/2014 • 22 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 182 - Aftermath - Philosophy and Science in the Mongol Age
Philosophy and science survive and even thrive through the coming of the Mongols.
6/29/2014 • 21 minutes, 44 seconds
HoP 181 - By the Book - Ibn Taymiyya
The controversial jurist Ibn Taymiyya sets forth an originalist theory of law and a searching criticism of the philosophers’ logic.
6/22/2014 • 21 minutes, 13 seconds
HoP 180 - Proof Positive - The Logical Tradition
Later Islamic logicians try to solve the Liar Paradox and take on the advances of Avicenna's logic.
6/16/2014 • 22 minutes, 33 seconds
HoP 179 - Mohammed Rustom on Philosophical Sufism
Peter is joined by Mohammed Rustom in a discussion about Sufi authors including Ibn 'Arabī and Rūmī
6/8/2014 • 37 minutes, 26 seconds
HoP 178 - Eyes Wide Shut - Rumi and Philosophical Sufism
The Persian poet Rūmī and mystical philosopher al-Qūnawī carry on the legacy of Sufism.
6/1/2014 • 22 minutes, 36 seconds
HoP 177 - To Be or Not to Be - Debating Avicenna’s Metaphysics
Avicenna’s distinction between essence and existence triggers a running debate among philosophers and theologians.
5/24/2014 • 21 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 176 - A Man for all Seasons - al-Tusi
Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s controversial career sees him adopt and then abandon Ismāʿīlism, team up with the Mongols, and offer a staunch defense of Avicenna.
5/18/2014 • 23 minutes, 19 seconds
HoP 175 - Bright Ideas - Illuminationism
The Illuminationists carry on Suhrawardī’s critique of “Peripatetic” philosophy and wonder if they will be reborn as giraffes.
5/11/2014 • 22 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 174 - Leading Light - Suhrawardi
Suhrawardī, founder of the Illuminationist (ishrāqī) tradition, proposes a metaphysics of light on the basis of his theory of knowledge by presence
5/4/2014 • 23 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 173 - For the Sake of Argument - Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
The hugely influential Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī weaves Avicenna and Islamic theology into complex dialectical treatments of time, God, the soul, and ethics.
4/27/2014 • 22 minutes, 48 seconds
HoP 172 - All Things Considered - Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi
Abū l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī makes up his own mind about physics and the soul, and along the way inaugurates a new style of doing philosophy.
4/19/2014 • 21 minutes, 22 seconds
HoP 171 - Golden Ages - The Later Eastern Traditions
An introduction to later developments in philosophical theology, sufism, and Illuminationism, focusing on the reception and critique of Avicenna.
4/13/2014 • 23 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 170 - Gad Freudenthal on Jewish Philosophy and Science
Leading scholar of medieval Jewish thought Gad Freudenthal joins Peter in a concluding episode on Andalusian thought.
4/6/2014 • 33 minutes, 5 seconds
HoP 169 - A Matter of Principles - Albo and Abravanel
Joseph Albo and Isaac Abravanel critique Maimonides’ attempt to lay down foundations for the Jewish law.
3/30/2014 • 22 minutes, 27 seconds
HoP 168 - Chariot of Fire - Kabbalah
The rich symbolism of the Zohar and the spiritual practices of Abraham Abluafia feature in the mystical movement known as Kabbalah.
3/23/2014 • 24 minutes, 1 second
HoP 167 - When Bad Things Happen to Good People - Suffering in Jewish Philosophy
The Book of Job provokes Saadia, Maimonides, Ibn Tibbon and Gersonides to reflect on why God allows suffering.
3/16/2014 • 22 minutes, 51 seconds
HoP 166 - Tamar Rudavsky on Gersonides and Crescas
Tamar Rudavsky joins Peter to talk about the two great medieval Jewish thinkers after Maimonides: Gersonides and Crescas.
3/9/2014 • 29 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 165 - Neither the Time Nor the Place - Hasdai Crescas
Ḥasdai Crescas shows Aristotelian physics who’s boss, by defending alternative conceptions of time, place and infinity.
3/2/2014 • 24 minutes, 1 second
HoP 164 - Man and Superman - Gersonides and the Jewish Reaction to Averroes
The super-commentator Gersonides and other Jews digest the ideas of Averroes.
2/23/2014 • 21 minutes, 54 seconds
HoP 163 - Burnt Offerings - The Maimonides Controversy
Maimonides’ works provoke a bitter dispute among Jews in France and Spain over the relation of philosophy to Judaism.
2/16/2014 • 22 minutes, 6 seconds
HoP 162 - Sarah Stroumsa on Maimonides
Maimonides as a "Mediterranean thinker": Peter is joined by Sarah Stroumsa.
2/8/2014 • 26 minutes, 56 seconds
HoP 161 - He Moves in Mysterious Ways - Maimonides on Eternity
Maimonides tries to settle the eternity of the world debate by declaring a draw.
2/2/2014 • 20 minutes, 47 seconds
HoP 160 - The Great Eagle - Maimonides
The great Jewish philosopher and legal scholar Maimonides, and the ideas in his Mishneh Torah and Guide for the Perplexed.
1/26/2014 • 20 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 159 - With All Your Heart - Ethics and Judaism
Baḥya Ibn Paquda and Maimonides explore the ethical dimension of the Jewish scriptures and legal tradition.
1/19/2014 • 20 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 158 - Born Under a Bad Sign - Freedom and Astrology in Jewish Philosophy
Abraham Ibn Ezra, Ibn Daud and Maimonides consider the philosophical implications of astrology as science flourishes in the Jewish culture of Andalusia.
1/12/2014 • 22 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 157 - Choosing My Religion - Judah Hallevi
Judah Hallevi argues that Judaism has a better claim to belief than philosophy, Christianity, or Islam.
1/5/2014 • 23 minutes, 35 seconds
HoP 156 - Sarah Pessin on Jewish Neoplatonism
Peter chats with Sarah Pessin about the Neoplatonism of Jewish philosophers such as Isaac Israeli, Ibn Gabirol, and Maimonides.
12/29/2013 • 30 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 155 - Matter over Mind - Ibn Gabirol
Neoplatonism returns in Ibn Gabriol, who controversially holds that everything apart from God has both matter and form.
12/22/2013 • 23 minutes, 18 seconds
HoP 154 - The Philosophy of History - Ibn Khaldun
The historian Ibn Khaldūn applies the methods of philosophy to understand the rise and fall of political regimes.
12/15/2013 • 24 minutes, 19 seconds
HoP 153 - A Matter of Taste – Ibn Arabi and Mysticism
Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, collides with philosophy in the work of Ibn ʿArabī.
12/8/2013 • 25 minutes, 6 seconds
HoP 152 - Richard Taylor on Averroes
Averroes scholar Richard C. Taylor joins Peter to talk about Averroes' views on the relation between Islam and philosophy.
12/1/2013 • 29 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 151 - Single Minded - Averroes on the Intellect
Averroes defends the rather surprising notion that all of mankind shares a single intellect.
11/24/2013 • 23 minutes, 35 seconds
HoP 150 - Charles Burnett and Dag N Hasse on Arabic Latin Translations
A special 150th double interview episode on the transmission of philosophy from Arabic into Latin.
11/17/2013 • 39 minutes, 56 seconds
HoP 149 - Back to Basics - Averroes on Reason and Religion
An introduction to “the Commentator” Averroes, and his defense of philosophy in the Decisive Treatise.
11/9/2013 • 24 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 148 - Fantasy Island - Ibn Bajja and Ibn Tufayl
Intellect and alienation in Ibn Bājja and Ibn Ṭufayl, author of the philosophical desert island castaway tale “Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān.”
11/3/2013 • 23 minutes, 41 seconds
HoP 147 - Laying Down the Law – Ibn Hazm and Islamic Legal Theory
The development of Islamic law and jurisprudence (fiqh), and the many-sided output of the legal theorist Ibn Ḥazm.
10/27/2013 • 26 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 146 - Philosophy's Reign in Spain - Andalusia
The flowering of philosophy among Muslims and Jews in al-Andalus (Muslim-controlled Spain and Portugal).
10/20/2013 • 22 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 145 - Frank Griffel on al-Ghazali
Why did al-Ghazālī judge "the philosophers" to be apostates? Peter finds out from Frank Griffel.
10/13/2013 • 23 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 144 - Miracle Worker - al-Ghazali against the Philosophers
In his “Incoherence of the Philosophers,” al-Ghazālī attacks Avicenna’s theories about the eternity of the universe and insists on the possibility of miracles.
10/6/2013 • 22 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 143 - Special Delivery - al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazālī’s search for truth leads him to philosophy, Asharite theology, and ultimately the mystical tradition of Sufism.
9/29/2013 • 22 minutes, 27 seconds
HoP 142 - Dimitri Gutas on Avicenna
Peter talks to Dimitri Gutas about Avicenna's sources, philosophical methods, and influence.
9/22/2013 • 29 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 141 - Into Thin Air - Avicenna on the Soul
With his Flying Man argument, Avicenna explores self-awareness and the relation between soul and body.
9/15/2013 • 21 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 140 - By All Means Necessary - Avicenna on God
Avicenna’s proof of the Necessary Existent is ingenious and influential; but does it amount to a proof of God’s existence?
8/4/2013 • 23 minutes, 7 seconds
HoP 139 - By the Time I Get to Phoenix - Avicenna on Existence
Avicenna revolutionizes metaphysics with groundbreaking ideas about necessity and contingency, and his new distinction between essence and existence.
7/28/2013 • 20 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 138 - The Self-Made Man - Avicenna's Life and Works
Despite a tumultuous life, Avicenna manages to become the most influential of all medieval philosophers.
7/21/2013 • 22 minutes, 51 seconds
HoP 137 - God Willing – the Asharites
Al-Ash‘arī puts his stamp on the future of Islamic theology by emphasizing God’s untrammeled power and freedom.
7/14/2013 • 23 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 136 - Farhad Daftary on the Ismailis
Peter is joined by Farhad Daftary, a leading expert on the Shiite group known as the Ismā'īlīs.
7/7/2013 • 26 minutes
HoP 135 - Undercover Brothers – Philosophy in the Buyid Age
Miskawayh, al-‘Amiri, al-Tawhidi, the Brethren of Purity and Ismaili missionaries bring together philosophy with Persian culture, literature and Islam.
6/30/2013 • 26 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 134 - Balancing Acts - Arabic Ethical Literature
Drawing on Galen and Aristotle, philosophers from al-Kindi to Miskawayh compose ethical works designed us to achieve health in soul, as well as body.
6/23/2013 • 22 minutes, 22 seconds
HoP 133 - Strings Attached - Music and Philosophy
Peter turns DJ, with some actual music interspersed with discussion about theories of music in Arabic philosophical texts.
6/16/2013 • 28 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 132 - Eye of the Beholder - Theories of Vision
Ibn al-Haytham draws on the tradition of geometrical optics to explain the mystery of human eyesight.
6/9/2013 • 22 minutes
HoP 131 - Deborah Black on al-Farabi's Epistemology
Deborah Black joins Peter to talk about al-Farabi's innovations concerning knowledge and certainty.
6/2/2013 • 30 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 130 - State of Mind - al-Farabi on Religion and Politics
Al-Fārābī combines Islam and Greek sources to present the ideal ruler as a philosopher who is also a prophet.
5/26/2013 • 21 minutes
HoP 129 - The Second Master - al-Farabi
Peter begins to look at the systematic rethinking of Hellenic philosophy offered by al-Farabi, focusing on his logic and metaphysics.
5/19/2013 • 24 minutes, 7 seconds
HoP 128 - Aristotelian Society - the Baghdad School
A group of mostly Christian philosophers transpose the practices of antique Aristotelian philosophy to 10th century Baghdad.
5/12/2013 • 24 minutes, 1 second
HoP 127 - Peter E Pormann on Medicine in the Islamic World
A double dose of Peters, as Pormann joins Adamson to discuss medicine and philosophy in the Islamic world.
5/5/2013 • 26 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 126 - High Five - al-Razi
The doctor and philosopher Abu Bakr al-Razi sets out a daring philosophical theory involving five eternal principles: God, soul, matter, time and place.
4/28/2013 • 24 minutes, 33 seconds
HoP 125 - Reasoned Belief - Saadia Gaon
Saadia Gaon draws on Greek philosophy and Islamic theology to provide a rational account of Jewish belief.
4/21/2013 • 22 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 124 - The Chosen Ones - Judaism and Philosophy
The roots of Jewish philosophy in the Islamic world, focusing on the Rabbinic background in the Mishnah and Talmud, and the thought of early figures like Isaac Israeli.
4/14/2013 • 23 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 123 - Philosopher of the Arabs - al-Kindi
Al-Kindī uses Hellenic materials to discuss the eternity of the world, divine attributes, and the nature of the soul.
4/7/2013 • 22 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 122 - Founded in Translation - From Greek to Syriac and Arabic
Greek philosophy and science make their way into the Islamic world via Syriac and Arabic translations and interpretations.
3/30/2013 • 22 minutes, 54 seconds
HoP 121 - This is a Test - the Mutazilites
A first look at the philosophical contributions of Islamic theology (kalām) and its political context, focusing on the Muʿtazilites Abū l-Hudhayl and al-Naẓẓām.
3/24/2013 • 26 minutes, 15 seconds
HoP 120 - The Straight Path - Philosophy in the Islamic World
The rise of Islam creates a new context for philosophy not only among Muslims, but also Jews and Christians.
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3/16/2013 • 22 minutes, 53 seconds
HoP 119 - John Marenbon on Boethius
John Marenbon joins Peter to discuss Boethius' solution to the problem of divine foreknowledge.
3/10/2013 • 25 minutes, 53 seconds
HoP 118 - Fate, Hope and Clarity - Boethius
Boethius ushers in the medieval age with expert works on Aristotle, subtle treatises on theology, and the Consolation of Philosophy, written while he awaited execution.
3/3/2013 • 21 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 117 - Born Again - Latin Platonism
Apuleius, Victorinus, Martianus Cappella, Macrobius and Calcidius present and interpret Platonic teachings for readers of Latin.
2/24/2013 • 23 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 116 - Charles Brittain on Augustine's On the Trinity
In a final episode on Augustine, Charles Brittain joins Peter to discuss On the Trinity.
2/17/2013 • 26 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 115 - Me, Myself and I - Augustine on Mind and Memory
In On the Trinity Augustine explores the human mind as an image of God.
2/9/2013 • 21 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 114 - Sarah Byers on Augustine's Ethics
Peter speaks with Sarah Byers about the Stoic influence on Augustine's ethics and theory of action.
2/3/2013 • 29 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 113 - Heaven and Earth - Augustine’s City of God
In his City of God Augustine traces the histories and philosophical underpinnings of two “cities,” one devoted to worldly glory, the other to heavenly bliss.
1/27/2013 • 23 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 112 - Help Wanted - Augustine on Freedom
Augustine defends free will, but rejects the Pelagian claim that we can be good without God's help.
1/20/2013 • 22 minutes, 54 seconds
HoP 111 - Papa Don't Teach - Augustine on Language
Augustine argues that words are signs, but not signs that can bring us to knowledge.
1/13/2013 • 22 minutes, 18 seconds
HoP 110 - Life and Time - Augustine's Confessions
In the Confessions Augustine weaves autobiography with reflections on the nature of God, man, and time.
1/6/2013 • 21 minutes, 48 seconds
HoP 109 - Spreading the Word - the Latin Church Fathers
Tertullian, Lactantius, Jerome and Ambrose use and abuse Hellenic philosophy.
12/30/2012 • 23 minutes, 51 seconds
HoP 108 - George Boys-Stones on the Greek Church Fathers
George Boys-Stones joins Peter to discuss philosophy in the Bible and the Greek Fathers.
12/23/2012 • 25 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 107 - Practice Makes Perfect - Christian Asceticism
Christian ascetics like Antony, Macrina and Evagrius create a new ethical ideal by pushing the human capacity for self-control to its limits.
12/16/2012 • 24 minutes, 10 seconds
HoP 106 - Double or Nothing - Maximus the Confessor
The early Byzantine thinker Maximus uses Aristotle to defend the orthodox view of Christ's two natures
12/9/2012 • 22 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 105 - Naming the Nameless - the Pseudo-Dionysius
A mysterious author calling himself Dionysius fuses Neoplatonism with Christianity
12/2/2012 • 22 minutes, 15 seconds
HoP 104 - Let's Talk Turkey - the Cappadocians
Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus use philosophy to help the poor and to defeat their theological opponents
11/25/2012 • 22 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 103 - Fall and Rise - Origen
Origen of Alexandria weaves Platonic ideas into new and controversial theological ideas
11/17/2012 • 24 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 102 - Please Accept Our Apologies - the Greek Church Fathers
Irenaeus, Clement and Justin Martyr consider the relevance of philosophy for Christianity
11/11/2012 • 24 minutes, 23 seconds
HoP 101 - Father Figures - Introduction to Ancient Christian Philosophy
An overview of what the Church Fathers contributed to ancient philosophy
11/4/2012 • 23 minutes, 24 seconds
HoP 100 - Michael Trapp and Caroline Humfress on Ancient Culture and Philosophy
A special double interview celebrates reaching 100 episodes by looking at the cultural status of philosophy in the ancient world
10/28/2012 • 38 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 099 - Richard Sorabji on the Commentators
Richard Sorabji joins Peter to discuss the ancient commentators on Aristotle
10/21/2012 • 27 minutes, 50 seconds
HoP 098 - For a Limited Time Only - John Philoponus
John Philoponus refutes Aristotle’s and Proclus’ arguments for the eternity of the universe, and develops new ideas in physics.
10/14/2012 • 23 minutes, 1 second
HoP 097 - A Tale of Two Cities - The Last Pagan Philosophers
Julian the Apostate and the philosophers of Athens and Alexandria try to keep pagan philosophy alive in the late Roman empire
10/7/2012 • 25 minutes, 19 seconds
HoP 096 - Dominic O'Meara on Neoplatonism
Dominic O'Meara speaks with Peter about political philosophy and mathematics in Neoplatonism
9/30/2012 • 28 minutes, 37 seconds
HoP 095 - Anne Sheppard on Ancient Aesthetics
Anne Sheppard joins Peter to discuss aesthetics from Plato to Proclus
9/23/2012 • 24 minutes, 23 seconds
HoP 094 - The Platonic Successor - Proclus
Proclus displays late Neoplatonism in all its glory
9/16/2012 • 23 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 093 - Pythagorean Theorems - Iamblichus
Iamblichus fuses Platonism with pagan religious conviction and sets the agenda for Neoplatonism in generations to come.
9/8/2012 • 23 minutes, 58 seconds
HoP 092 - King of Animals - Porphyry
Porphyry defends vegetarianism and the harmony of Plato and Aristotle
9/2/2012 • 21 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 091 - James Wilberding on Nature and Neoplatonism
James Wilberding joins Peter to examine what Plotinus and Porphyry contributed to the philosophy of nature
8/26/2012 • 24 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 090 - A Decorated Corpse – Plotinus on Matter and Evil
Plotinus struggles to explain the presence of suffering, evil and ugliness in a world caused by purely good principles – and tells us what role we should play in that world.
7/22/2012 • 23 minutes, 1 second
HoP 089 - On the Horizon - Plotinus on the Soul
For Plotinus, Soul is on the border between the physical and intelligible realms. Can he convince us to identify ourselves with its highest part?
7/15/2012 • 23 minutes, 1 second
HoP 088 - Simplicity Itself - Plotinus on the One and Intellect
Plotinus posits an absolutely transcendent first principle, the One. What is it (or isn’t it), and how does it relate to Intellect?
7/8/2012 • 22 minutes, 30 seconds
HoP 087 - A God is My Co-Pilot - the Life and Works of Plotinus
Peter introduces Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of late antiquity and the founder of Neoplatonism
7/1/2012 • 21 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 086 - Serafina Cuomo on Ancient Mathematics
How did the mathematics of figures like Euclid and Archimides relate to ancient philosophy? Peter finds out in an interview with Serafina Cuomo
6/24/2012 • 27 minutes, 52 seconds
HoP 085 - Sky Writing - Astronomy, Astrology, and Philosophy
Ptolemy uses philosophy in the service of studying the stars, while philosophers of all persuasions evaluate the widespread practice of astrology.
6/17/2012 • 22 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 084 - Silver Tongues in Golden Mouths - Rhetoric and Ancient Philosophy
Themistius, Quintilian, Lucian and other authors tell us about the connections between rhetoric and late ancient philosophy
6/10/2012 • 24 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 083 - Not Written in Stone – Alexander of Aphrodisias
Alexander of Aphrodisias writes the greatest ancient commentaries on Aristotle and tries to demolish the Stoic teaching on fate
6/3/2012 • 22 minutes, 58 seconds
HoP 082 - Lost and Found – Aristotelianism after Aristotle
Peter looks at the history of Aristotelianism up the time of the Roman Empire and the beginning of commentaries on his works
5/27/2012 • 23 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 081 - Jan Opsomer on Middle Platonism
Jan Opsomer helps Peter to understand principles, Plato interpretation, and Plutarch in a wide-ranging discussion of Middle Platonism
5/20/2012 • 24 minutes, 53 seconds
HoP 080 - Delphic Utterances - Plutarch
Plutarch was a historian, a priest of Apollo, and a Platonist
5/13/2012 • 22 minutes, 55 seconds
HoP 079 - To the Lighthouse - Philo of Alexandria
Philo of Alexandria uses Platonism to understand the Bible of Moses
5/6/2012 • 22 minutes, 20 seconds
HoP 078 - Middle Men - the Platonic Revival
Pioneering thinkers Eudorus, Alcinous, and Numenius fuse Pythagoreanism with Platonism and pave the way for Plotinus.
4/29/2012 • 23 minutes, 47 seconds
HoP 077 - Caesarian Section – Philosophy in the Roman Empire
In late antiquity, Aristotelianism and Platonism made a comeback, and pagan philosophy developed alongside Judaism and Christianity.
4/22/2012 • 25 minutes, 24 seconds
HoP 076 - R.J. Hankinson on Galen
Jim Hankinson tells Peter about the life, work and philosophical contributions of Galen
4/15/2012 • 28 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 075 - The Joy of Sects - Ancient Medicine and Philosophy
Hellenistic doctors discover the nerves and argue about method; Galen passes judgment
4/8/2012 • 24 minutes, 10 seconds
HoP 074 - Tony Long on the Self in Hellenistic Philosophy
Leading Hellenistic philosophy scholar Tony Long talks to Peter about the self, ethics and politics in the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics
4/1/2012 • 28 minutes, 24 seconds
HoP 073 - Healthy Skepticism - Sextus Empiricus
Sextus Empiricus pushes skepticism to its limits with his uncompromising Pyrrhonism
3/25/2012 • 22 minutes, 13 seconds
HoP 072 - Raphael Woolf on Cicero
Peter discusses Cicero's method and philosophical allegiances with Raphael Woolf
3/18/2012 • 28 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 071 - Rhetorical Questions - Cicero
Cicero, inspired by the skepticism of the New Academy, uses his literary talents to present the wisdom of the Greeks
3/11/2012 • 23 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 070 - The Know-Nothing Party - the Skeptical Academy
The Skeptical Academy attacks Stoic claims that certain knowledge is possible
3/4/2012 • 23 minutes, 39 seconds
HoP 069 - Beyond Belief - Pyrrho and Skepticism
Peter begins to examine ancient Skepticism, beginning with Pyrrho's life and doctrines, or lack thereof
2/26/2012 • 22 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 068 - John Sellars on the Roman Stoics
John Sellars joins Peter to discuss the Roman Stoics and their "art of living"
2/19/2012 • 27 minutes, 37 seconds
HoP 067 - The Philosopher King - Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius' Meditations are a classic of Stoicism written by the most powerful philosopher who ever lived
2/12/2012 • 23 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 066 - You Can Chain My Leg - Epictetus
Epictetus, greatest of the Roman Stoics, tells you how to set yourself free
2/5/2012 • 22 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 065 - Anger Management - Seneca
Seneca wields his rhetorically charged Latin to advance Stoic ethical theory
1/29/2012 • 22 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 064 - David Sedley on Stoicism
David Sedley discusses the Stoic school and its evolution
1/22/2012 • 27 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 063 - Like a Rolling Stone - Stoic Ethics
The Stoic ethical theory insists that perfection is possible, and that moral responsibility is compatible with determinism
1/15/2012 • 22 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 062 - We Didn’t Start the Fire - the Stoics on Nature
The Stoic cosmos: suffused with divinity, surrounded by void, and endlessly repeating
1/8/2012 • 21 minutes, 22 seconds
HoP 061 - Nobody’s Perfect - the Stoics on Knowledge
The Stoics set out and defend an ambitious theory of knowledge, where it is possible to avoid all error
1/1/2012 • 21 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 060 - Walking on Eggshells - the Stoics on Logic
Introducing the early Stoics, Zeno, Cleanthes and Chrysippus, and their innovations in logic
12/25/2011 • 23 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 059 - James Warren on Epicureanism
James Warren chats with Peter about the pleasures of Epicureanism
12/18/2011 • 28 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 058 - Reaping the Harvest - Lucretius
In "On the Nature of Things" Lucretius sets Epicureanism into Latin poetic verse
12/11/2011 • 22 minutes, 27 seconds
HoP 057 - Nothing to Fear - Epicureans on Death and the Gods
The Epicureans reassure us against the terrors of death and punishment by the gods
12/4/2011 • 22 minutes, 1 second
HoP 056 - Am I Bothered? - Epicurean Ethics
Pleasure is the good, according to Epicurus. But how do we live most pleasantly?
11/27/2011 • 22 minutes, 25 seconds
HoP 055 - The Constant Gardener - Epicurus and his Principles
Epicurus sets out an empiricist theory of knowledge and atomist physics, in support of hedonism
11/20/2011 • 22 minutes, 47 seconds
HoP 054 - Instant Gratification - the Cyrenaics
The Cyrenaics, the ultimate pleasure seekers of ancient philosophy
11/13/2011 • 21 minutes, 20 seconds
Filling the Gaps - a Brief History of Nothing
A recording of Peter's lecture delivered on Oct 25, 2011, at the Arts and Humanities festival on "The Power of Stories" at King's College London.
11/9/2011 • 55 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 053 - Beware of the Philosopher - the Cynics
Diogenes and the other Cynics “deface the currency” by exposing the hypocrisy of Greek society.
11/6/2011 • 22 minutes, 9 seconds
HoP 052 - Fighting Over Socrates - the Hellenistic Schools
Introducing the Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans and Cynics, the schools of the Hellenistic age
10/30/2011 • 22 minutes, 42 seconds
HoP 051 - The Next Generation - the Followers of Plato and Aristotle
The Old Academy and Theophrastus carry on the legacy of Plato and Aristotle
10/23/2011 • 22 minutes, 40 seconds
HoP 050 - MM McCabe and Raphael Woolf on Aristotle on Plato
Peter's colleagues MM McCabe and Raphael Woolf join him for a special 50th episode interview, to discuss Aristotle's reactions to his teacher Plato
10/16/2011 • 36 minutes, 54 seconds
HoP 049 - Stage Directions - Aristotle's Rhetoric and Poetics
In the Rhetoric and Poetics, Aristotle explores persuasive speech and engages with ancient tragedy
10/9/2011 • 20 minutes, 44 seconds
HoP 048 - Constitutional Conventions - Aristotle's Political Philosophy
Aristotle's Politics responds to Plato's Republic and sets out its own ideas about the ideal state, the types of political constitution, and the role of women and slaves
10/2/2011 • 21 minutes, 19 seconds
HoP 047 God Only Knows: Aristotle on Mind and God
Drawing on the De Anima, On the Heavens, Physics and Metaphysics, Peter tackles Aristotle’s theory of mind and its relation to his theology.
9/25/2011 • 21 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 046 - Dominic Scott on Aristotle's Ethics
Dominic Scott discusses Aristotle's method in his Nicomachean Ethics
9/18/2011 • 28 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 045 - The Second Self - Aristotle On Pleasure And Friendship
What place does Aristotle leave for pleasure and friendship in his vision of the good life?
9/11/2011 • 20 minutes, 39 seconds
HoP 044 - The Goldilocks Theory - Aristotle's Ethics
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics on happiness and virtue
9/3/2011 • 20 minutes, 23 seconds
HoP 043 - Classified Information - Aristotle's Biology
In his zoology, Aristotle divides and defines all kinds of animals, and so invents the science of biology
7/24/2011 • 22 minutes
HoP 042 - Soul Power - Aristotle's De Anima
Aristotle's theory of soul: its functions and how it relates to the body
7/17/2011 • 21 minutes, 12 seconds
HoP 041 - Richard Sorabji on Time and Eternity in Aristotle
Richard Sorabji discusses time, eternity and mosquitos in Aristotle's Physics
7/10/2011 • 26 minutes, 24 seconds
HoP 040 - Let's Get Physical - Aristotle's Natural Philosophy
Aristotle's Physics explains change, time and place with the help of his actuality/potentiality distinction
7/3/2011 • 22 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 039 - Form and Function - Aristotle's Four Causes
The four types of explanation: formal, material, efficient and final cause
6/26/2011 • 20 minutes, 19 seconds
HoP 038 - Down To Earth - Aristotle on Substance
Aristotle's critique of Platonic Forms and defense of his own metaphysics
6/19/2011 • 20 minutes, 31 seconds
HoP 037 - Hugh Benson on Aristotelian Method
Hugh Benson discusses Aristotle's ideas about arriving at knowledge
6/12/2011 • 26 minutes, 7 seconds
HoP 036 - A Principled Stand - Aristotle's Epistemology
Knowledge according to Aristotle's Posterior Analytics
6/7/2011 • 20 minutes, 14 seconds
HoP 035 - The Philosopher's Toolkit - Aristotle's Logical Works
Aristotle's invention of logic in the Organon (especially Categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics)
5/30/2011 • 20 minutes, 45 seconds
HoP 034 - Mr. Know It All - Aristotle's Life And Works
Aristotle's career, corpus and unparalleled influence
5/23/2011 • 20 minutes, 47 seconds
HoP 033 - Last Judgments - Plato, Poetry and Myth
Plato's attack on the poets and his own use of myth in the Republic and other dialogues
5/16/2011 • 21 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 032 - Frisbee Sheffield on Platonic Love
Frisbee Sheffield discusses Plato's erotic dialogues, including the Symposium
5/9/2011 • 25 minutes, 15 seconds
HoP 031 - Wings of Desire - Plato's Erotic Dialogues
Love, friendship and philosophy in the Symposium, Phaedrus and Lysis
5/2/2011 • 21 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 030 - A Likely Story - Plato's Timaeus
A divine craftsman makes the cosmos from triangles in Plato's Timaeus
4/25/2011 • 20 minutes, 50 seconds
HoP 029 - What's in a Name? - Plato's Cratylus
Philosophy of language and Heraclitean flux in Plato's Cratylus
4/18/2011 • 19 minutes, 1 second
HoP 028 - Fiona Leigh on Plato's Sophist
Fiona Leigh discusses Plato's revised theory of Forms in the Sophist
4/11/2011 • 25 minutes, 28 seconds
HoP 027 - Second Thoughts - Plato's Parmenides and the Forms
The Third Man Argument and other criticisms of Forms in the Parmenides
4/4/2011 • 19 minutes, 38 seconds
HoP 026 - Ain't No Sunshine - The Cave Allegory of Plato's Republic
The Divided Line, Form of the Good, and Cave in Plato's Republic
3/28/2011 • 19 minutes, 34 seconds
HoP 025 - Soul and The City - Plato's Political Philosophy
Plato's Republic defends and defines justice at the level of the ideal city and the person
3/20/2011 • 20 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 024 - Famous Last Words - Plato's Phaedo
Forms and the immortality of the soul in the Phaedo
3/14/2011 • 19 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 023 - MM McCabe on Knowledge in Plato
MM McCabe discusses epistemology and virtue in Plato
3/7/2011 • 23 minutes, 32 seconds
HoP 022 - I Know Because The Caged Bird Sings - Plato's Theaetetus
Knowledge, relativism, and memory in the Theaetetus
2/28/2011 • 18 minutes, 8 seconds
HoP 021 - We Don't Need No Education - Plato's Meno
The Meno and Plato's theory of recollection
2/21/2011 • 17 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 020 - Virtue Meets Its Match - Plato's Gorgias
Ethics against immoralism in a Socratic masterpiece.
2/14/2011 • 18 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 019 - Know Thyself - Two Unloved Platonic Dialogues
Virtue and knowledge in Plato's Charmides and Euthydemus
2/7/2011 • 18 minutes, 23 seconds
HoP 018 - In Dialogue - The Life And Writings Of Plato
The life, times and dialogues of Plato
1/31/2011 • 19 minutes, 2 seconds
HoP 017 - Raphael Woolf on Socrates
Raphael Woolf discusses Socrates as presented by Plato
1/24/2011 • 26 minutes, 46 seconds
HoP 016 - Method Man - Plato's Socrates
Socratic virtue, ignorance and irony in the Platonic dialogues Socrates' claim that no one does wrong willingly
1/17/2011 • 17 minutes, 57 seconds
HoP 015 - Socrates without Plato - the Portrayals of Aristophanes and Xenophon
Socrates according to the comic poet Aristophanes and the historian Xenophon
1/10/2011 • 20 minutes, 24 seconds
HoP 014 - Making the Weaker Argument the Stronger - the Sophists
Rhetoric and relativism in Protagoras, Gorgias and other sophists
1/3/2011 • 20 minutes, 16 seconds
HoP 013 - Good Humor Men - the Hippocratics
Hippocrates and the relation between early Greek medicine and philosophy
12/27/2010 • 19 minutes, 14 seconds
HoP 012 - Malcolm Schofield on the Presocratics
Malcolm Schofield on Heraclitus, Parmenides and other early Greek philosophers
12/20/2010 • 23 minutes, 4 seconds
HoP 011 - All You Need Is Love, and Five Other Things - Empedocles
Love, Strife and the four elements in Empedocles
12/13/2010 • 16 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 010 - Mind Over Mixture - Anaxagoras
Is everything mixed with everything? Anaxagoras on Mind and the cosmos
12/6/2010 • 19 minutes, 7 seconds
HoP 009 - The Final Cut - Democritus And Leuccipus
Ancient atomism as a response to Parmenides
11/25/2010 • 18 minutes, 11 seconds
HoP 008 - You Can't Get There From Here - Zeno And Melissus
Zeno's paradoxes and Melissus develop the Eleatic philosophy
11/22/2010 • 17 minutes, 59 seconds
HoP 007 - The Road Less Traveled - Parmenides
The father of metaphysics, Parmenides of Elea
11/15/2010 • 17 minutes, 43 seconds
HoP 006 - MM McCabe on Heraclitus
MM McCabe of King's discusses the fragments of Heraclitus
11/8/2010 • 20 minutes, 54 seconds
HoP 005 - Old Man River - Heraclitus
Everything changes in the riddling philosophy of Heraclitus
11/1/2010 • 18 minutes, 36 seconds
HoP 004 - The Man With The Golden Thigh - Pythagoras
Pythagoras and mathematics in ancient philosophy
10/25/2010 • 19 minutes, 42 seconds
HoP 003 - Created In Our Image - Xenophanes Against Greek Religion
The gods in Homer and Hesiod, and the critique of Xenophanes
10/25/2010 • 19 minutes, 18 seconds
HoP 002 - Infinity and Beyond - Anaximander and Anaximenes
Two early Pre-Socratics claim that the world is made of air, and the infinite
10/25/2010 • 18 minutes, 28 seconds
HoP 001 - Everything is Full of Gods - Thales
In this first episode, Peter discusses the goals of the series and Thales, the first Greek philosopher.
