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. NOTE: iTunes shows only the most recent 300 episodes; subscribe on iTunes or go to a different platform for the whole series.
Sun, April 13, 2025
For Descartes body is purely geometrical. So how does he understand features we can perceive, like color, and causation between bodies?
Sun, March 30, 2025
How René Descartes’ understanding of his own intellectual project evolved across his lifetime.
Sun, March 16, 2025
A look at the political and religious ferment that made up the historical context of philosophy in 17th century France and the Netherlands.
Sun, March 02, 2025
In this interview we learn more about the Republic of Letters: its importance for the history of ideas, it geographic breadth, who was involved, and the contributions of figures including Leibniz and Hartlib.
Sun, February 16, 2025
How scholars around Europe created an international network of intellectual exchange. As examples we consider the activities of Mersenne, Peiresc, Leibniz, Calvet, and Hartlib.
Sun, February 02, 2025
What is Enlightenment, anyway?
Sun, January 19, 2025
We finish our look at philosophy in the Reformation era with an interview about Galileo's use of a revolutionary technology: the telescope.
Sun, January 05, 2025
The philosophical issues at the heart of the notorious condemnation of Galileo and Copernican astronomy.
Sun, December 22, 2024
Though most famous for his role in persecuting Galileo, Robert Bellarmine was a central figure of the Counter-Reformation, especially in his political thought.
Sun, December 08, 2024
Carlo Ginzburg’s innovative historical study The Cheese and the Worms looks at the ideas of an obscure 16th century miller, suggesting how popular culture might be integrated into the history of philosophy.
Sun, November 24, 2024
Natural philosophy and medicine in the work of two unorthodox thinkers of the late sixteenth century, both of them women.
Sun, November 10, 2024
Why do critics consider Don Quixote the first “modern” novel, and what does it tell us about the aesthetics of fiction?
Sun, October 27, 2024
We're joined by Tom Pink, who tells us about Suárez on ethics, law, religion, and the state.
Sun, October 13, 2024
Suárez and other Iberian scholastics ask where political power comes from and under what circumstances it is exercised legitimately.
Sun, September 29, 2024
Vitoria, Molina, Suárez and others develop the idea of natural law, exploring its relevance for topics including international law, slavery, and the ethics of economic exchange.
Sun, September 15, 2024
Did the metaphysics of Francisco Suárez mark a shift from traditional scholasticism to early modern philosophy?
Sun, September 01, 2024
What was Luis de Molina trying to say about human free will with his doctrine of “middle knowledge,” and why did it provoke such controversy?
Sun, July 21, 2024
To celebrate reaching 450 episodes, Peter looks at the philosophical resonance of two famous artworks from the turn of the 16th century: Dürer’s Self-Portrait and Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel.
Sun, July 07, 2024
We learn from Anna Tropia how Jesuit philosophy of mind broke new ground in the scholastic tradition.
Sun, June 23, 2024
The “School of Salamanca,” founded by Francisco Vitoria, and the commentators of Coimbra are at the center of a movement sometimes called the “Second Scholastic.”
Sun, June 09, 2024
Yes, there were Spanish Protestants! Andrew (Andrés) Messmer joins us to explain how they drew on humanism and philosophy to argue for their religious agenda.
Sun, May 26, 2024
Cajetan, Bañez and other thinkers make Aquinas a central figure of Counter-Reformation thought; we focus on their theories about analogy and the soul.
Sun, May 12, 2024
Ignatius of Loyola’s movement begins modestly, but winds up having a global impact on education and philosophy.
Sun, April 28, 2024
Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross push the boundaries of individual spirituality and offer philosophically informed accounts of mystical experience.
Sun, April 14, 2024
Fray Luis de Leon, Antonio Nebrija, Beatriz Galindo and other scholars bring the Renaissance to Spain.
Sun, March 31, 2024
In this interview we learn about the main issues in modern-day philosophy of disability, and the relevance of this topic for the European encounter with the Americas.
Sun, March 17, 2024
Bartholomé De las Casas argues against opponents, like Sepúlveda, who believed that Europeans had a legal and moral right to rule over and exploit the indigenous peoples of the Americas.
Sun, March 03, 2024
Iberian expeditions to the Americas inspire scientists, and Matteo Ricci’s religious mission to Asia becomes an encounter between European and Chinese philosophy.
Sun, February 18, 2024
How religious persecution and censorship shaped the context of philosophy in Catholic Europe in the sixteenth century.
Sun, February 04, 2024
How the Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation created a context for philosophy among Catholics, especially in Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
Sun, January 21, 2024
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!
Sun, January 07, 2024
Our last figure of the English Renaissance undertakes daring investigations of chemistry, medicine, agriculture, and cosmology – and gets accused of magic and Rosicrucianism.
Sun, December 24, 2023
The cosmological and methodological implications of breakthroughs in the understanding of magnetism and electricity at the turn of the 17th century.
Sun, December 10, 2023
Changing ideas about eyesight, light, mirror images, and refraction – and the skeptical worries they may have inspired.
Sun, November 26, 2023
How scientists of the Elizabethan age anticipated the discoveries and methods of the Enlightenment (without necessarily publishing them).
Sun, November 12, 2023
Science, intrigue, exploration, angelic seances! It's the life and thought of Elizabethan mathematician and magician John Dee.
Sun, October 29, 2023
A discussion of the history and philosophical significance of scholasticism from medieval times to early modernity, and even today.
Sun, October 15, 2023
The evolution of Aristotelian philosophy from John Mair in the late 15th century to John Case in the late 16th century.
Sun, October 01, 2023
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.
Sun, September 17, 2023
How Macbeth reflects the anxieties and explanations surrounding witchcraft and witch-hunting in early modern Europe.
Sun, September 03, 2023
Can Shakespeare’s Tempest be read as a reflection on the English encounter with the peoples of the Americas?
Sun, July 23, 2023
How the Renaissance turn towards individual identity is reflected in Shakespeare's most famous play.
Sun, July 09, 2023
We're joined by Patrick Gray to discuss Shakespeare's knowledge of philosophy, his ethics, and his influence on such thinkers as Hegel.
Sun, June 25, 2023
How should we approach Shakespeare’s plays as philosophical texts? We take as examples skepticism and politics in Othello, King Lear, and Julius Caesar.
Sun, June 11, 2023
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".
Sun, May 28, 2023
Richard Hooker defends the religious and political settlement of Elizabethan England using rational arguments and appeals to the natural law.
Sun, May 14, 2023
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.
Sun, May 07, 2023
What is the message of the famous, but elusive, work "Utopia", and how can it be squared with the life of its author?
Sun, April 23, 2023
Humanism comes to England and Scotland, leading scholars like Thomas Eylot and Andrew Melville to rethink philosophical education.
Sun, April 09, 2023
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.
Sun, March 26, 2023
John Knox polemicizes against idolaters and female rulers, while the humanist George Buchanan argues more calmly for equally radical political conclusions.
Sun, March 12, 2023
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.
Sun, February 26, 2023
Marie le Jars de Gourney, the “adoptive daughter” of Montaigne, lays claim to his legacy and argues for the equality of the sexes.
Sun, February 12, 2023
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.
Sun, January 29, 2023
The sources and scope of the skepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches.
Sun, January 15, 2023
In his “Essays” Montaigne uses his wit, insight, and humanist training to tackle his favorite subject: Montaigne.
Sun, January 01, 2023
Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and Guillaume du Vair grapple with history and the events of their own day.
Sun, December 18, 2022
A chat with Ann Blair about the "Theater of Nature" by Jean Bodin, and other encyclopedic works of natural philosophy.
Sun, December 04, 2022
The polymath Jean Bodin produces a pioneering theory of political sovereignty along the way to defending the absolute power of the French king.
Sun, November 20, 2022
Protestant French thinkers like François Hotman and Theodore Beza propose a radical political philosophy: the king rules at the pleasure of his subjects.
Sun, November 06, 2022
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.
Sun, October 23, 2022
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.
Sun, October 09, 2022
The methods of Peter Ramus sweep across Europe, winning adherents and facing stiff opposition in equal measure.
Sun, September 25, 2022
A chat with Ramus expert Robert Goulding on the role of mathematics in Ramist philosophy.
Sun, September 11, 2022
Peter Ramus scandalizes his critics, and thrills his students and admirers, by proposing a new and simpler approach to philosophy.
Sun, August 14, 2022
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!
Sun, July 31, 2022
Challenges to Galenic medical orthodoxy from natural philosophy: Jean Fernel with his idea of the human’s “total substance,” and the Paracelsans.
Sun, July 17, 2022
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Julius Caesar Scaliger fuse Aristotelianism with humanism to address problems in logic and literary aesthetics.
Sun, July 03, 2022
Peter chats with the hosts of three great philosophy podcasts: Elucidations, Hi-Phi Nation, and the Unmute Podcast.
Sun, June 19, 2022
In his outrageous novel about Pantagruel and Gargantua, Rabelais engages with scholasticism, humanism, medicine, the reformation, and the querelle des femmes.
Sun, June 05, 2022
A Renaissance queen supports philosophical humanism and produces literary works on spirituality, love, and the soul.
Sun, May 22, 2022
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.
Sun, May 08, 2022
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".
Sun, April 24, 2022
Johannes Kepler fuses Platonist philosophy with a modified version of Copernicus’ astronomy.
Sun, April 10, 2022
Responses to Copernicus in the 16th century, culminating with the master of astral observation Tycho Brahe.
Sun, March 27, 2022
How revolutionary was the Copernican Revolution?
Sat, March 12, 2022
John Sellars returns to the podcast to discuss Lipsius' work on Seneca and the early modern Neo-Stoic movement.
Sun, February 27, 2022
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.
Sun, February 13, 2022
Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.
Sun, January 30, 2022
Schegk, Taurellus, Gorlaeus, and Sennert revive atomism to explain chemical reactions, the composition of bodies, and the generation of organisms.
Sun, January 16, 2022
Paracelsus adapts the tradition of alchemical science for use in medicine, and in the process overturns the scientific theories of Aristotle and Galen.
Sun, January 02, 2022
An interview with Helen Hattab on the scope and impact of scholastic philosophy among Protestants.
Sun, December 19, 2021
Was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa a dark magician, a pious skeptic, or both?
Sun, December 05, 2021
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.
Sun, November 21, 2021
John Calvin's views on predestination and the limits of human reason.
Sun, November 07, 2021
The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.
Sun, October 24, 2021
Faced with massive political upheaval and the rise of the Anabaptists, Luther argues for a socially conservative version of the Reformation.
Sun, October 10, 2021
Luther’s close ally Melanchthon uses his knowledge of ancient philosophy and rhetoric in the service of the Reformation.
Sun, September 26, 2021
Erasmus clashes with Martin Luther over the question whether our wills are free or enslaved to sin.
Sun, September 12, 2021
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.
Sun, August 01, 2021
How Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone and his attack on the Church relate to the history of philosophy.
Sun, July 18, 2021
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.
Sun, July 04, 2021
The “learned piety” of Desiderius Erasmus, the greatest figure of northern humanism.
Sun, June 20, 2021
Learned ignorance, coincidence of opposites and religious peace: Paul Richard Blum discusses the central ideas of Nicholas Cusanus.
Sun, June 06, 2021
The radical negative theology of Nicholas of Cusa, and his hope of establishing peace between the religions of the world.
Sun, May 23, 2021
Rudolph Agricola, Juan Luis Vives and other humanist scholars spread the study of classical antiquity across Europe and mock the technicalities of scholastic philosophy.
Sun, May 09, 2021
The impact of the printing press on the history of philosophy, and its role in helping to trigger the Reformation.
Sun, April 25, 2021
How humanism and scholasticism came together with the Protestant Reformation to create the philosophy of 15-16th century Europe.
Sun, April 11, 2021
For our finale of the Italian Renaissance series we're joined by Ingrid Rowland, to speak about art, philosophy, and persecution in Renaissance Rome.
Sun, March 28, 2021
Did Galileo’s scientific discoveries grow out of the culture of the Italian Renaissance?
Sun, March 14, 2021
Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.
Sun, February 28, 2021
Our guest Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.
Sun, February 14, 2021
Ficino, Pico, Cardano, and other Renaissance thinkers debate whether astrology and magic are legitimate sciences with a foundation in natural philosophy.
Sun, January 31, 2021
Was the natural philosophy of Bernardino Telesio and Tommaso Campanella the first modern physical theory?
Sun, January 17, 2021
An interview with Guido Giglioni, who speaks to us about the sources and philosophical implications of medical works of the Renaissance.
Sun, January 03, 2021
The polymath Girolamo Cardano explores medicine, mathematics, philosophy of mind, and the interpretation of dreams.
Sun, December 20, 2020
Connections between philosophy and advances in medicine, including the anatomy of Vesalius.
Sun, December 06, 2020
The humanist study of Pythagoras, Archimides and other ancient mathematicians goes hand in hand with the use of mathematics in painting and architecture.
Sun, November 22, 2020
An interview with Dag Nikolaus Hasse on the Renaissance reception of Averroes, Avicenna, and other authors who wrote in Arabic.
Sun, November 08, 2020
Jacopo Zabarella outlines the correct method for pursuing, and then presenting, scientific discoveries.
Sun, October 25, 2020
Pietro Pomponazzi and Agostino Nifo debate the immortality of the soul and the cogency of Averroes’ theory of intellect.
Sun, October 11, 2020
An interview with David Lines on the role of Aristotle in Renaissance ethics.
Sun, September 27, 2020
Aristotle’s works are edited, printed, and translated, leading to new assessments of his thought among both humanists and scholastics.
Sun, September 13, 2020
The blurry line dividing humanism and scholastic university culture in the Italian Renaissance.
Sun, July 26, 2020
Leon Battista Alberti, Benedetto Cotrugli, and Poggio Bracciolini grapple with the moral and conceptual problems raised by the prospect of people getting filthy rich.
Sun, July 12, 2020
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.
Sun, June 28, 2020
Bruni, Poggio, Machiavelli, and Guicciardini explore political ideas and historical method in works on Roman and Italian history.
Sun, June 14, 2020
Leading Machiavelli scholar Quentin Skinner joins Peter to discuss morality, history, and religion in the Prince and the Discourses.
Sun, May 31, 2020
Peter celebrates reaching 350 episodes by explaining a single sentence in Machiavelli's "Discourses."
Sun, May 17, 2020
Machiavelli’s seminal work of political advice, "The Prince," tells the ruler how to be strong like a lion and cunning like a fox.
Sun, May 03, 2020
Did “civic humanism” really make republicanism a newly dominant political theory in the Italian Renaissance?
Sun, April 19, 2020
The prophetic preacher Girolamo Savonarola attacks pagan philosophy and puts forward his own political ideas, before coming to an untimely end.
Sun, April 05, 2020
An interview with Cecilia Muratori, an expert on the surprisingly modern ideas about non-human animals that emerged in the Renaissance.
Sun, March 22, 2020
Pico della Mirandola and Giannozzo Manetti praise humans as the centerpiece of the created world. But what about the other animals?
Sun, March 08, 2020
Pico della Mirandola argues for the harmony of the ancient authorities, draws on Jewish mysticism, and questions the value of humanist rhetoric.
Sun, February 23, 2020
Jewish philosophers in Renaissance Italy, focusing on Leone Ebreo’s Dialogues of Love, the Averroism of Elijah del Medigo, and Italian Kabbalah.
Sun, February 09, 2020
An interview with Denis Robichaud on how, and why, Plato was read in the Italian Renaissance.
Sun, January 26, 2020
Ficino describes a “Platonic” love purified of sexuality, prompting a debate carried on by Pico della Mirandola, Pietro Bembo, and Tullia d’Aragona.
Sun, January 12, 2020
Marsilio Ficino’s revival of Platonism, with a focus on his proofs for the soul’s immortality in his magnum opus, the Platonic Theology.
Sun, December 29, 2019
The blossoming of Renaissance Platonism under the Medici, who supported the scholarship of Poliziano, Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola.
Sun, December 15, 2019
Refutation of misogyny in Moderate Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella.
Sun, December 01, 2019
Cassandra Fedele, Isotta Nogarola, and Laura Cereta seek fame and glory through eloquence and learning.
Sun, November 17, 2019
Christine de Pizan's political philosophy, epistemology, and the refutation of misogyny in her "City of Ladies".
Sun, November 03, 2019
An interview with Sabrina Ebbersmeyer about the relation of emotion to reason and the body, and panpsychism, in the Renaissance.
Sun, October 20, 2019
The rediscovery of Epicurus, Lucretius, and Sextus Empiricus spreads challenging ideas about chance, atomism, and skepticism.
Sun, October 06, 2019
Humanists from Bruni and Valla to Pontano and Castiglione ask whether ancient ethical teachings can still help us learn how to live.
Sun, September 22, 2019
Jill Kraye returns to the podcast to discuss the nature of humanism, its relation to scholasticism, and its legacy.
Sun, September 08, 2019
Lorenzo Valla launches a furious attack on scholastic philosophy, favoring the resources of classical Latin.
Sun, July 28, 2019
Coluccio Salutati and Leonardo Bruni combine eloquence with philosophy, taking as their model the refined language and republican ideals found in Cicero.
Sun, July 14, 2019
Bessarion and George Trapenzuntius, rival scholars from the Greek east who helped inspire the Italian Renaissance.
Sun, June 30, 2019
A first look at the themes and figures of philosophy in the Italian Renaissance.
Sun, June 16, 2019
The series on Byzantium concludes as Michele Trizio discusses the mutual influence of Byzantium and Latin Christendom.
Sun, June 02, 2019
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.
Sun, May 19, 2019
Was Gemistos Plethon, the last great thinker of the Byzantine tradition, a secret pagan or just a Christian with an unusual enthusiasm for Platonism?
Sun, May 05, 2019
Thomas Aquinas finds avid readers among Byzantines at the twilight of empire, and is used by both sides of the Hesychast controversy.
Sun, April 21, 2019
Gregory Palamas and the controversy over his teaching that we can go beyond human reason by grasping God through his activities or “energies”.
Sun, April 07, 2019
Mathematics and the sciences in Byzantium, focusing on scholars of the Palaiologan period like Blemmydes and Metochites.
Sun, March 24, 2019
Historian Judith Herrin joins us to talk about competition and mutual influence between Islam and Byzantium.
Sun, March 10, 2019
Intellectual exchange between Christians and Muslims, and the later flowering of Syriac literature including the philosopher Bar Hebraeus.
Sun, February 24, 2019
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.
Sun, February 10, 2019
Peter's Munich colleague Oliver Primavesi tells us how Greek manuscripts are used to establish the text of authors like Aristotle.
Sun, January 27, 2019
Without handwritten copies produced by Byzantine scribes, we would know almost nothing about ancient philosophy. How and why were they made?
Sun, January 13, 2019
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.
Sun, December 30, 2018
The role of women in Byzantine society and the complex attitudes surrounding eunuchs: did they make up a “third gender”?
Sun, December 16, 2018
A chat about commentaries on Aristotle from Byzantium with guest Katerina Ierodiakonou.
Sun, December 02, 2018
Princess Anna Komnene makes good use of her political retirement by gathering a circle of scholars to write commentaries on Aristotle.
Sun, November 18, 2018
The larger meaning of history in the chronicles written by Michael Psellos, Michael Attaleiates, Anna Komnene, and Niketas Choniates.
Sun, November 04, 2018
Psellos and other experts in rhetoric explore how this art of persuasion relates to philosophy.
Sun, October 21, 2018
Byzantine political thought from the time of Justinian down to the Palaiologos dynasty wrestles with the nature and scope of imperial power.
Sun, October 07, 2018
The trial of John Italos and other signs of Byzantine disquiet with the pagan philosophical tradition.
Sun, September 23, 2018
Dominic O'Meara speaks to Peter about Michael Psellos, focusing especially on his political philosophy.
Sun, September 09, 2018
Michael Psellos and his attitude towards pagan philosophy and the political life.
Sat, August 11, 2018
Peter's twin brother Glenn Adamson discusses the philosophical implications of craft.
Sun, July 29, 2018
Photius, “the inventor of the book review,” and other Byzantine scholars who preserved ancient learning.
Sun, July 15, 2018
Peter is joined by Andrew Louth for a discussion of John of Damascus and his theological use of philosophy.
Sun, July 01, 2018
John of Damascus helps to shape the Byzantine understanding of humankind and the veneration of images, despite living in Islamic territory.
Sun, June 17, 2018
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.
Sun, June 03, 2018
Eastern Christian philosophy outside of Constantinople, focusing on translation and exegesis in the languages of Syriac and Armenian.
Sun, May 20, 2018
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.
Sun, May 06, 2018
Peter King, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, and Russ Friedman discuss their approaches to medieval philosophy, and its contemporary relevance.
Sun, April 22, 2018
Rachel Barney, Christof Rapp, and Mark Kalderon join Peter to discuss the importance of ancient philosophy for today's philosophers.
Sun, April 08, 2018
Bob Pasnau joins Peter to discuss ideas about substance from Aquinas down to the time of Locke, Leibniz and Descartes.
Fri, April 06, 2018
New paperbacks and a new series!
Sun, March 25, 2018
The Renaissance ideals of humanism and universal science flourish already in the medieval period, in the works of Petrarch and Ramon Llull.
Sun, March 11, 2018
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.
Sun, February 25, 2018
John Wyclif refutes nominalism and inspires the Lollard movement, which anticipated Reformation thought with its critique of the church.
Sun, February 11, 2018
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.
Sun, January 28, 2018
Peter is joined by Isabel Davis to discuss marriage, sex and chastity in Chaucer, focusing on the Wife of Bath's speech.
Sun, January 14, 2018
Medieval attitudes towards homosexuality, sex and chastity, and the status of women. Authors discussed include Aquinas, Catherine of Siena, and Chaucer.
Sun, December 31, 2017
Philosophical themes in Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales” and “Troilus and Criseyde,” as well as Langland’s “Piers Plowman.”
Sun, December 17, 2017
Julian of Norwich’s Shewings and the Cloud of Unknowing lay out challenging paths to knowledge of, and union with, God.
Sun, December 03, 2017
Martin Pickavé returns to the podcast to talk about theories of the emotions in Aquinas, Scotus and Wodeham.
Sun, November 19, 2017
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).
Sun, November 05, 2017
Dietrich of Freiberg, Berthold of Moosburg, John Tauler and Henry Suso explore Neoplatonism and mysticism.
Sun, October 22, 2017
The scholastic and mystic Meister Eckhart sets out his daring speculations about God and humankind in both Latin and German.
Sun, October 08, 2017
Changing ideas about money, just price, and usury, up to the time of Buridan, Oresme, and Gregory of Rimini.
Sun, September 24, 2017
The medievals were too firm in their beliefs to entertain skeptical worries, right? Don't be so sure, as Peter learns from Dominik Perler.
Sun, August 13, 2017
The debate between Nicholas of Autrecourt and John Buridan on whether it is possible to achieve certain knowledge.
Sun, July 30, 2017
Peter speaks to Jack Zupko about John Buridan's secular and parsimonious approach to philosophy.
Sun, July 16, 2017
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.
Sun, July 02, 2017
An interview with Monica Green reveals parallels between medicine and philosophy in the middle ages.
Sun, June 18, 2017
Ockham, Buridan, Oresme and Francis of Marchia explore infinity, continuity, atomism, and the impetus involved in motion.
Sun, June 04, 2017
Bradwardine and other thinkers based at Oxford make breakthroughs in physics by applying mathematics to motion.
Sun, May 21, 2017
Sara Uckelman soundly defeats Peter in the medieval logical game of "obligations."
Sun, May 07, 2017
The scholastics discuss the ambiguity of terms, the nature of logical inference, and logical paradoxes, and play the game of “obligations.”
Sun, April 23, 2017
Scotus, Ockham, and Bradwardine ask how we can be free if God knows and chooses the things we will do in the future.
Sun, April 09, 2017
Walter Burley flies the flag for realism against Ockham and other nominalists.
Sun, March 26, 2017
An interview with Susan Brower-Toland covering Ockham's views on cognition, consciousness, and memory.
Sun, March 12, 2017
How the language of thought relates to spoken and written language, according to William of Ockham.
Sun, February 26, 2017
Ockham trims away the unnecessary entities posited by other scholastics.
Sun, February 12, 2017
William of Ockham on freedom of action and freedom of thought.
Sun, January 29, 2017
In his book Defender of the Peace , Marsilius of Padua develops new theories of representative government, rights, and ownership.
Sat, January 21, 2017
Peter muses on recent political events in light of the history of philosophy.
Sun, January 15, 2017
Giles of Rome and Dante on the rival claims of the church and secular rulers.
Sun, January 01, 2017
Italy’s greatest poet Dante Alighieri was also a philosopher, as we learn from his Convivio and of course the Divine Comedy.
Sun, December 18, 2016
Marguerite Porete is put to death for her exploration of the love of God, The Mirror of Simple Souls.
Sun, December 04, 2016
A conversation with Tom Pink about medieval theories of freedom and action.
Sun, November 20, 2016
An introduction to philosophy in the 14th century, focusing on two big ideas: nominalism and voluntarism.
Sun, November 06, 2016
Peter hears about Duns Scotus' epistemology from expert Giorgio Pini.
Sun, October 23, 2016
Scotus explains how things can share a nature in common while being unique individuals.
Sun, October 09, 2016
Scotus argues that morality is a matter of freely choosing to follow God’s freely issued commands.
Sun, September 25, 2016
Scotus develops a novel theory of free will and, along the way, rethinks the notions of necessity and possibility.
Sun, September 11, 2016
Duns Scotus attacks the proposal of Aquinas and Henry of Ghent that being is subject to analogy.
Sun, July 31, 2016
Medieval discussions of the Trinity charted new metaphysical territory, as we see in this interview with Richard Cross.
Sun, July 17, 2016
Philosophy is pushed to its limits to provide rational explanations of two Christian theological doctrines.
Sun, July 03, 2016
An interview with Martin Pickavé on voluntarism in Henry of Ghent.
Sun, June 19, 2016
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.
Sun, June 05, 2016
Does medieval art tell us anything about medieval theories of aesthetics? Peter finds out from Andreas Speer.
Sun, May 22, 2016
Sex, reason, and religion in Jean de Meun’s completion of an allegory of courtly love, the Roman de la Rose.
Sun, May 08, 2016
The “modistae” explore the links between language, the mind, and reality.
Sun, April 24, 2016
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.
Sun, April 10, 2016
Did Siger of Brabant and Boethius of Dacia, who have been called “Latin Averroists” and “radical Aristotelians,” really embrace a doctrine of “double truth”?
Sun, March 27, 2016
Peter answers listener questions on the nature of philosophy and the podcast series.
Sun, March 13, 2016
Two rounds of condemnations at Paris declare certain philosophical teachings as heretical. But what were the long term effects?
Sun, February 28, 2016
Scott MacDonald joins Peter to discuss Thomas Aquinas' views on human knowledge.
Sun, February 14, 2016
Aquinas follows medieval legal thinkers in defining the conditions under which war may be justified, and proposes his famous doctrine of double effect.
Sun, January 31, 2016
Natural law and political legitimacy in thirteenth century thinkers up to and including Thomas Aquinas.
Sun, January 17, 2016
Natural and supernatural virtue and happiness in Thomas Aquinas and his teacher, Albert the Great.
Sun, January 03, 2016
Thomas Aquinas makes controversial claims concerning the unity of the soul and the empirical basis of human knowledge.
Sun, December 20, 2015
An introduction to Thomas Aquinas, his views on faith and reason, and his famous “five ways” of proving God’s existence.
Sun, December 06, 2015
Therese Cory tells Peter what Albert the Great and Thomas Aquinas thought about self-awareness.
Sun, November 22, 2015
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.
Sun, November 08, 2015
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.
Sun, October 25, 2015
Was medieval logic "formal"? Peter finds out from Catarina Dutilh Novaes.
Sun, October 11, 2015
Robert Kilwardby is infamous for his ban on teaching certain philosophical ideas at Oxford, yet made contributions in logic and on the soul.
Sun, September 27, 2015
Two Beguine authors, Hadewijch and Mechthild of Magdeburg, deploy the tropes of courtly love in vernacular writings about their mystical experiences.
Sat, September 19, 2015
New feed for Philosophy in India: http://hopwag2.podbean.com/feed/
Sun, August 09, 2015
Bonaventure and Peter Olivi respond to critics of the Franciscan vow of poverty, in a debate which produced new ideas about economics and rights.
Sun, August 02, 2015
Medieval ideas about what animals do and do not have in common with humans, and how we should treat them.
Sun, July 26, 2015
Peter Olivi proposes that awareness occurs not through passively being affected by things, but by actively paying attention to them.
Sun, July 19, 2015
Bonaventure argues that human knowledge depends on an illumination from God.
Sun, July 12, 2015
Charles Burnett tells Peter about the role of magic in medieval intellectual life.
Sun, July 05, 2015
Roger Bacon extols the power of science based on experience and uses a general theory of "species" to explain light and vision.
Sun, June 28, 2015
Translator, scientist and theologian Robert Grosseteste sheds light on the cosmos, human understanding, and the rainbow.
Sun, June 21, 2015
The scholastics explore Aristotle’s ethical teaching and the concept of moral conscience.
Sun, June 14, 2015
Philip the Chancellor introduces the transcendentals, a key idea in medieval metaphysics and aesthetics.
Sun, June 07, 2015
John Blund and William of Auvergne draw on Aristotle and Avicenna to argue that the soul is immaterial and immortal.
Sun, May 31, 2015
Richard Rufus and anonymous commentators on Aristotle explore the nature of motion, time, infinity and space.
Sun, May 24, 2015
The terminist logicians William of Sherwood and Peter of Spain classify the various ways that language can relate to the world.
Sun, May 17, 2015
Kent Emery joins Peter to discuss the effects of monastic and university culture on medieval philosophy.
Sun, May 10, 2015
The emergence of universities in Paris, Oxford, Bologna and elsewhere provide the main setting for medieval philosophy in the 13th century and beyond.
Sun, May 03, 2015
Greek and Arabic sources are rendered into Latin in a translation movement that will revolutionize medieval philosophy.
Sun, April 26, 2015
The life, visions, political intrigues and scientific interests of Hildegard of Bingen.
Sun, April 19, 2015
A discussion about Roman law and its reception in the medieval period, with ancient law expert Caroline Humfress.
Sun, April 12, 2015
Gratian and Peter Lombard help bring scholasticism to maturity by systematizing law and theology.
Sun, April 05, 2015
The “Investiture Contest” between church and state and the first major work of medieval political philosophy, John of Salisbury’s Policraticus.
Sat, March 28, 2015
Andrew Arlig joins Peter to discuss medieval discussions of mereology (the study of parts and wholes).
Sun, March 22, 2015
Gilbert of Poitiers proposes a unique way to explain how each individual is the individual it is.
Sun, March 15, 2015
In this special episode, Peter chats with the hosts of the History of the Crusades, History of Byzantium, and British History podcasts.
Sun, March 08, 2015
As early medieval science blossoms, Bernard Silvestris and Alan of Lille personify Nature in their philosophical prose-poems.
Fri, February 27, 2015
The controversial role of Chartres in the philosophical Renaissance of the twelfth century.
Sun, February 22, 2015
Discussion, debate and denunciation of philosophical attempts to explain the Trinity in Abelard, Richard of St Victor and Bernard of Clairvaux.
Sun, February 15, 2015
Hugh of Saint Victor and other scholars of the same abbey combine secular learning with spirituality.
Sun, February 08, 2015
John Marenbon returns to the podcast to discuss Abelard's views on necessity and freedom..
Sun, February 01, 2015
Peter Abelard sets out an innovative ethical theory that identifies intentions as the core of moral life.
Sun, January 25, 2015
Peter Abelard and Heloise prove themselves to be fascinating thinkers as well as star-crossed lovers.
Sun, January 18, 2015
Abelard and other logicians of the 12th century argue over the status of universals: are they words or things?
Sun, January 11, 2015
Anselm expert Eileen Sweeney discusses his approach to philosophy and the devotional aspect of his works.
Sun, January 04, 2015
The most famous argument in medieval philosophy is Anselm's proof of God's existence. But how is it supposed to work?
Sun, December 28, 2014
Anselm offers more than his famous ontological argument, including a subtle account of human freedom.
Sun, December 21, 2014
Peter Damian takes up a question with surprising philosophical implications: can God restore virginity to a woman who has lost it?
Sat, December 13, 2014
Little-known authors prepare the way for scholasticism with glosses on logic, metaphysical debate, and a poem about a cat.
Fri, December 05, 2014
Stephen Gersh (who was Peter's doctoral advisor!) joins him to discuss the sources and influence of Platonism in the Middle Ages.
Sat, November 29, 2014
We celebrate reaching episode 200 with a special double interview on the problem of defining medieval philosophy.
Sat, November 22, 2014
Eriugena delves into the Greek tradition to produce his masterpiece of metaphysics and theology, the Periphyseon.
Sun, November 16, 2014
John Scotus Eriugena debates free will with his rival Gottschalk, arguing that God predestines the saved but not the damned.
Sun, November 09, 2014
Alcuin leads a resurgence of interest in philosophy and the liberal arts at the court of Charlemagne.
Mon, November 03, 2014
Peter launches the series of podcasts on philosophy in medieval Latin Christendom with a look ahead at what’s to come.
Sun, October 26, 2014
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.
Sun, October 19, 2014
From Sabzawārī in the 19th century to Seyyed Hossein Nasr today, Iranian thinkers promote and respond to the thought of Mullā Ṣadrā.
Sun, October 12, 2014
Muḥammad 'Abdūh and Muḥammad Iqbāl challenge colonialism and the traditional religious scholars of Islam.
Mon, October 06, 2014
Fatema Mernissi and others challenge the long-standing (but not complete) exclusion of women from the intellectual traditions of Islam.
Fri, October 03, 2014
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.
Sun, August 24, 2014
Kātib Çelebi defends cigarettes and coffee, in just one of several philosophical and religious debates in the Ottoman empire.
Sun, August 17, 2014
Ideas spread to Mughal India from Iran, and prince Dārā Shikūh seeks to unite the wisdom of the Upanishads with the Koran.
Sun, August 10, 2014
Sajjad Rizvi talks to Peter about Mullā Ṣadrā's views on eternity, God's knowledge and the afterlife.
Sun, August 03, 2014
Mullā Ṣadrā proposes that all things are like sharks: in constant motion.
Sun, July 27, 2014
Mullā Ṣadrā, greatest thinker of early modern Iran, unveils his radical new understanding of existence.
Sun, July 20, 2014
Philosophy in Safavid Iran, and a look back at earlier philosophy among Shiites.
Sun, July 13, 2014
Robert Wisnovsky joins Peter to discuss the enormous body of unstudied philosophical commentaries in the later Eastern Islamic world.
Sun, July 06, 2014
The roots of the Safavid philosophical tradition in some rather ill-tempered debates at Shīrāz.
Sun, June 29, 2014
Philosophy and science survive and even thrive through the coming of the Mongols.
Sun, June 22, 2014
The controversial jurist Ibn Taymiyya sets forth an originalist theory of law and a searching criticism of the philosophers’ logic.
Mon, June 16, 2014
Later Islamic logicians try to solve the Liar Paradox and take on the advances of Avicenna's logic.
Sun, June 08, 2014
Peter is joined by Mohammed Rustom in a discussion about Sufi authors including Ibn 'Arabī and Rūmī
Sun, June 01, 2014
The Persian poet Rūmī and mystical philosopher al-Qūnawī carry on the legacy of Sufism.
Sat, May 24, 2014
Avicenna’s distinction between essence and existence triggers a running debate among philosophers and theologians.
Sun, May 18, 2014
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.
Sun, May 11, 2014
The Illuminationists carry on Suhrawardī’s critique of “Peripatetic” philosophy and wonder if they will be reborn as giraffes.
Sun, May 04, 2014
Suhrawardī, founder of the Illuminationist (ishrāqī) tradition, proposes a metaphysics of light on the basis of his theory of knowledge by presence
Sun, April 27, 2014
The hugely influential Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī weaves Avicenna and Islamic theology into complex dialectical treatments of time, God, the soul, and ethics.
Sat, April 19, 2014
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.
Sun, April 13, 2014
An introduction to later developments in philosophical theology, sufism, and Illuminationism, focusing on the reception and critique of Avicenna.
Sun, April 06, 2014
Leading scholar of medieval Jewish thought Gad Freudenthal joins Peter in a concluding episode on Andalusian thought.
Sun, March 30, 2014
Joseph Albo and Isaac Abravanel critique Maimonides’ attempt to lay down foundations for the Jewish law.
Sun, March 23, 2014
The rich symbolism of the Zohar and the spiritual practices of Abraham Abluafia feature in the mystical movement known as Kabbalah.
Sun, March 16, 2014
The Book of Job provokes Saadia, Maimonides, Ibn Tibbon and Gersonides to reflect on why God allows suffering.
Sun, March 09, 2014
Tamar Rudavsky joins Peter to talk about the two great medieval Jewish thinkers after Maimonides: Gersonides and Crescas.
Sun, March 02, 2014
Ḥasdai Crescas shows Aristotelian physics who’s boss, by defending alternative conceptions of time, place and infinity.
Sun, February 23, 2014
The super-commentator Gersonides and other Jews digest the ideas of Averroes.
Sun, February 16, 2014
Maimonides’ works provoke a bitter dispute among Jews in France and Spain over the relation of philosophy to Judaism.
Sat, February 08, 2014
Maimonides as a "Mediterranean thinker": Peter is joined by Sarah Stroumsa.
Sun, February 02, 2014
Maimonides tries to settle the eternity of the world debate by declaring a draw.
Sun, January 26, 2014
The great Jewish philosopher and legal scholar Maimonides, and the ideas in his Mishneh Torah and Guide for the Perplexed.
Sun, January 19, 2014
Baḥya Ibn Paquda and Maimonides explore the ethical dimension of the Jewish scriptures and legal tradition.
Sun, January 12, 2014
Abraham Ibn Ezra, Ibn Daud and Maimonides consider the philosophical implications of astrology as science flourishes in the Jewish culture of Andalusia.
Sun, January 05, 2014
Judah Hallevi argues that Judaism has a better claim to belief than philosophy, Christianity, or Islam.
Sun, December 29, 2013
Peter chats with Sarah Pessin about the Neoplatonism of Jewish philosophers such as Isaac Israeli, Ibn Gabirol, and Maimonides.
Sun, December 22, 2013
Neoplatonism returns in Ibn Gabriol, who controversially holds that everything apart from God has both matter and form.
Sun, December 15, 2013
The historian Ibn Khaldūn applies the methods of philosophy to understand the rise and fall of political regimes.
Sun, December 08, 2013
Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam, collides with philosophy in the work of Ibn ʿArabī.
Sun, December 01, 2013
Averroes scholar Richard C. Taylor joins Peter to talk about Averroes' views on the relation between Islam and philosophy.
Sun, November 24, 2013
Averroes defends the rather surprising notion that all of mankind shares a single intellect.
Sun, November 17, 2013
A special 150th double interview episode on the transmission of philosophy from Arabic into Latin.
Sat, November 09, 2013
An introduction to “the Commentator” Averroes, and his defense of philosophy in the Decisive Treatise.
Sun, November 03, 2013
Intellect and alienation in Ibn Bājja and Ibn Ṭufayl, author of the philosophical desert island castaway tale “Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān.”
Sun, October 27, 2013
The development of Islamic law and jurisprudence (fiqh), and the many-sided output of the legal theorist Ibn Ḥazm.
Sun, October 20, 2013
The flowering of philosophy among Muslims and Jews in al-Andalus (Muslim-controlled Spain and Portugal).
Sun, October 13, 2013
Why did al-Ghazālī judge "the philosophers" to be apostates? Peter finds out from Frank Griffel.
Sun, October 06, 2013
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.
Sun, September 29, 2013
Al-Ghazālī’s search for truth leads him to philosophy, Asharite theology, and ultimately the mystical tradition of Sufism.
Sun, September 22, 2013
Peter talks to Dimitri Gutas about Avicenna's sources, philosophical methods, and influence.
Sun, September 15, 2013
With his Flying Man argument, Avicenna explores self-awareness and the relation between soul and body.
Sun, August 04, 2013
Avicenna’s proof of the Necessary Existent is ingenious and influential; but does it amount to a proof of God’s existence?
Sun, July 28, 2013
Avicenna revolutionizes metaphysics with groundbreaking ideas about necessity and contingency, and his new distinction between essence and existence.
Sun, July 21, 2013
Despite a tumultuous life, Avicenna manages to become the most influential of all medieval philosophers.
Sun, July 14, 2013
Al-Ash‘arī puts his stamp on the future of Islamic theology by emphasizing God’s untrammeled power and freedom.
Sun, July 07, 2013
Peter is joined by Farhad Daftary, a leading expert on the Shiite group known as the Ismā'īlīs.
Sun, June 30, 2013
Miskawayh, al-‘Amiri, al-Tawhidi, the Brethren of Purity and Ismaili missionaries bring together philosophy with Persian culture, literature and Islam.
Sun, June 23, 2013
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.
Sun, June 16, 2013
Peter turns DJ, with some actual music interspersed with discussion about theories of music in Arabic philosophical texts.
Sun, June 09, 2013
Ibn al-Haytham draws on the tradition of geometrical optics to explain the mystery of human eyesight.
Sun, June 02, 2013
Deborah Black joins Peter to talk about al-Farabi's innovations concerning knowledge and certainty.
Sun, May 26, 2013
Al-Fārābī combines Islam and Greek sources to present the ideal ruler as a philosopher who is also a prophet.
Sun, May 19, 2013
Peter begins to look at the systematic rethinking of Hellenic philosophy offered by al-Farabi, focusing on his logic and metaphysics.
Sun, May 12, 2013
A group of mostly Christian philosophers transpose the practices of antique Aristotelian philosophy to 10th century Baghdad.
Sun, May 05, 2013
A double dose of Peters, as Pormann joins Adamson to discuss medicine and philosophy in the Islamic world.
Sun, April 28, 2013
The doctor and philosopher Abu Bakr al-Razi sets out a daring philosophical theory involving five eternal principles: God, soul, matter, time and place.
Sun, April 21, 2013
Saadia Gaon draws on Greek philosophy and Islamic theology to provide a rational account of Jewish belief.
Sun, April 14, 2013
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.
Sun, April 07, 2013
Al-Kindī uses Hellenic materials to discuss the eternity of the world, divine attributes, and the nature of the soul.
Sat, March 30, 2013
Greek philosophy and science make their way into the Islamic world via Syriac and Arabic translations and interpretations.
Sun, March 24, 2013
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.
Sat, March 16, 2013
The rise of Islam creates a new context for philosophy not only among Muslims, but also Jews and Christians. .
Sun, March 10, 2013
John Marenbon joins Peter to discuss Boethius' solution to the problem of divine foreknowledge.
Sun, March 03, 2013
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.
Sun, February 24, 2013
Apuleius, Victorinus, Martianus Cappella, Macrobius and Calcidius present and interpret Platonic teachings for readers of Latin.
Sun, February 17, 2013
In a final episode on Augustine, Charles Brittain joins Peter to discuss On the Trinity.
Sat, February 09, 2013
In On the Trinity Augustine explores the human mind as an image of God.
Sun, February 03, 2013
Peter speaks with Sarah Byers about the Stoic influence on Augustine's ethics and theory of action.
Sun, January 27, 2013
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.
Sun, January 20, 2013
Augustine defends free will, but rejects the Pelagian claim that we can be good without God's help.
Sun, January 13, 2013
Augustine argues that words are signs, but not signs that can bring us to knowledge.
Sun, January 06, 2013
In the Confessions Augustine weaves autobiography with reflections on the nature of God, man, and time.
Sun, December 30, 2012
Tertullian, Lactantius, Jerome and Ambrose use and abuse Hellenic philosophy.
Sun, December 23, 2012
George Boys-Stones joins Peter to discuss philosophy in the Bible and the Greek Fathers.
Sun, December 16, 2012
Christian ascetics like Antony, Macrina and Evagrius create a new ethical ideal by pushing the human capacity for self-control to its limits.
Sun, December 09, 2012
The early Byzantine thinker Maximus uses Aristotle to defend the orthodox view of Christ's two natures
Sun, December 02, 2012
A mysterious author calling himself Dionysius fuses Neoplatonism with Christianity
Sun, November 25, 2012
Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa, and Gregory of Nazianzus use philosophy to help the poor and to defeat their theological opponents
Sat, November 17, 2012
Origen of Alexandria weaves Platonic ideas into new and controversial theological ideas
Sun, November 11, 2012
Irenaeus, Clement and Justin Martyr consider the relevance of philosophy for Christianity
Sun, November 04, 2012
An overview of what the Church Fathers contributed to ancient philosophy
Sun, October 28, 2012
A special double interview celebrates reaching 100 episodes by looking at the cultural status of philosophy in the ancient world
Sun, October 21, 2012
Richard Sorabji joins Peter to discuss the ancient commentators on Aristotle
Sun, October 14, 2012
John Philoponus refutes Aristotle’s and Proclus’ arguments for the eternity of the universe, and develops new ideas in physics.
Sun, October 07, 2012
Julian the Apostate and the philosophers of Athens and Alexandria try to keep pagan philosophy alive in the late Roman empire
Sun, September 30, 2012
Dominic O'Meara speaks with Peter about political philosophy and mathematics in Neoplatonism
Sun, September 23, 2012
Anne Sheppard joins Peter to discuss aesthetics from Plato to Proclus
Sun, September 16, 2012
Proclus displays late Neoplatonism in all its glory
Sat, September 08, 2012
Iamblichus fuses Platonism with pagan religious conviction and sets the agenda for Neoplatonism in generations to come.
Sun, September 02, 2012
Porphyry defends vegetarianism and the harmony of Plato and Aristotle
Sun, August 26, 2012
James Wilberding joins Peter to examine what Plotinus and Porphyry contributed to the philosophy of nature
Sun, July 22, 2012
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.
Sun, July 15, 2012
For Plotinus, Soul is on the border between the physical and intelligible realms. Can he convince us to identify ourselves with its highest part?
Sun, July 08, 2012
Plotinus posits an absolutely transcendent first principle, the One. What is it (or isn’t it), and how does it relate to Intellect?
Sun, July 01, 2012
Peter introduces Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of late antiquity and the founder of Neoplatonism
Sun, June 24, 2012
How did the mathematics of figures like Euclid and Archimides relate to ancient philosophy? Peter finds out in an interview with Serafina Cuomo
Sun, June 17, 2012
Ptolemy uses philosophy in the service of studying the stars, while philosophers of all persuasions evaluate the widespread practice of astrology.
Sun, June 10, 2012
Themistius, Quintilian, Lucian and other authors tell us about the connections between rhetoric and late ancient philosophy
Sun, June 03, 2012
Alexander of Aphrodisias writes the greatest ancient commentaries on Aristotle and tries to demolish the Stoic teaching on fate
Sun, May 27, 2012
Peter looks at the history of Aristotelianism up the time of the Roman Empire and the beginning of commentaries on his works
Sun, May 20, 2012
Jan Opsomer helps Peter to understand principles, Plato interpretation, and Plutarch in a wide-ranging discussion of Middle Platonism
Sun, May 13, 2012
Plutarch was a historian, a priest of Apollo, and a Platonist
Sun, May 06, 2012
Philo of Alexandria uses Platonism to understand the Bible of Moses
Sun, April 29, 2012
Pioneering thinkers Eudorus, Alcinous, and Numenius fuse Pythagoreanism with Platonism and pave the way for Plotinus.
Sun, April 22, 2012
In late antiquity, Aristotelianism and Platonism made a comeback, and pagan philosophy developed alongside Judaism and Christianity.
Sun, April 15, 2012
Jim Hankinson tells Peter about the life, work and philosophical contributions of Galen
Sun, April 08, 2012
Hellenistic doctors discover the nerves and argue about method; Galen passes judgment
Sun, April 01, 2012
Leading Hellenistic philosophy scholar Tony Long talks to Peter about the self, ethics and politics in the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics
Sun, March 25, 2012
Sextus Empiricus pushes skepticism to its limits with his uncompromising Pyrrhonism
Sun, March 18, 2012
Peter discusses Cicero's method and philosophical allegiances with Raphael Woolf
Sun, March 11, 2012
Cicero, inspired by the skepticism of the New Academy, uses his literary talents to present the wisdom of the Greeks
Sun, March 04, 2012
The Skeptical Academy attacks Stoic claims that certain knowledge is possible
Sun, February 26, 2012
Peter begins to examine ancient Skepticism, beginning with Pyrrho's life and doctrines, or lack thereof
Sun, February 19, 2012
John Sellars joins Peter to discuss the Roman Stoics and their "art of living"
Sun, February 12, 2012
Marcus Aurelius' Meditations are a classic of Stoicism written by the most powerful philosopher who ever lived
Sun, February 05, 2012
Epictetus, greatest of the Roman Stoics, tells you how to set yourself free
Sun, January 29, 2012
Seneca wields his rhetorically charged Latin to advance Stoic ethical theory
Sun, January 22, 2012
David Sedley discusses the Stoic school and its evolution
Sun, January 15, 2012
The Stoic ethical theory insists that perfection is possible, and that moral responsibility is compatible with determinism
Sun, January 08, 2012
The Stoic cosmos: suffused with divinity, surrounded by void, and endlessly repeating
Sun, January 01, 2012
The Stoics set out and defend an ambitious theory of knowledge, where it is possible to avoid all error
Sun, December 25, 2011
Introducing the early Stoics, Zeno, Cleanthes and Chrysippus, and their innovations in logic
Sun, December 18, 2011
James Warren chats with Peter about the pleasures of Epicureanism
Sun, December 11, 2011
In "On the Nature of Things" Lucretius sets Epicureanism into Latin poetic verse
Sun, December 04, 2011
The Epicureans reassure us against the terrors of death and punishment by the gods
Sun, November 27, 2011
Pleasure is the good, according to Epicurus. But how do we live most pleasantly?
Sun, November 20, 2011
Epicurus sets out an empiricist theory of knowledge and atomist physics, in support of hedonism
Sun, November 13, 2011
The Cyrenaics, the ultimate pleasure seekers of ancient philosophy
Wed, November 09, 2011
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.
Sun, November 06, 2011
Diogenes and the other Cynics “deface the currency” by exposing the hypocrisy of Greek society.
Sun, October 30, 2011
Introducing the Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans and Cynics, the schools of the Hellenistic age
Sun, October 23, 2011
The Old Academy and Theophrastus carry on the legacy of Plato and Aristotle
Sun, October 16, 2011
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
Sun, October 09, 2011
In the Rhetoric and Poetics, Aristotle explores persuasive speech and engages with ancient tragedy
Sun, October 02, 2011
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
Sun, September 25, 2011
Drawing on the De Anima , On the Heavens , Physics and Metaphysics , Peter tackles Aristotle’s theory of mind and its relation to his theology.
Sun, September 18, 2011
Dominic Scott discusses Aristotle's method in his Nicomachean Ethics
Sun, September 11, 2011
What place does Aristotle leave for pleasure and friendship in his vision of the good life?
Sat, September 03, 2011
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics on happiness and virtue
Sun, July 24, 2011
In his zoology, Aristotle divides and defines all kinds of animals, and so invents the science of biology
Sun, July 17, 2011
Aristotle's theory of soul: its functions and how it relates to the body
Sun, July 10, 2011
Richard Sorabji discusses time, eternity and mosquitos in Aristotle's Physics
Sun, July 03, 2011
Aristotle's Physics explains change, time and place with the help of his actuality/potentiality distinction
Sun, June 26, 2011
The four types of explanation: formal, material, efficient and final cause
Sun, June 19, 2011
Aristotle's critique of Platonic Forms and defense of his own metaphysics
Sun, June 12, 2011
Hugh Benson discusses Aristotle's ideas about arriving at knowledge
Tue, June 07, 2011
Knowledge according to Aristotle's Posterior Analytics
Mon, May 30, 2011
Aristotle's invention of logic in the Organon (especially Categories, On Interpretation, Prior Analytics)
Mon, May 23, 2011
Aristotle's career, corpus and unparalleled influence
Mon, May 16, 2011
Plato's attack on the poets and his own use of myth in the Republic and other dialogues
Mon, May 09, 2011
Frisbee Sheffield discusses Plato's erotic dialogues, including the Symposium
Mon, May 02, 2011
Love, friendship and philosophy in the Symposium, Phaedrus and Lysis
Mon, April 25, 2011
A divine craftsman makes the cosmos from triangles in Plato's Timaeus
Mon, April 18, 2011
Philosophy of language and Heraclitean flux in Plato's Cratylus
Mon, April 11, 2011
Fiona Leigh discusses Plato's revised theory of Forms in the Sophist
Mon, April 04, 2011
The Third Man Argument and other criticisms of Forms in the Parmenides
Mon, March 28, 2011
The Divided Line, Form of the Good, and Cave in Plato's Republic
Sun, March 20, 2011
Plato's Republic defends and defines justice at the level of the ideal city and the person
Mon, March 14, 2011
Forms and the immortality of the soul in the Phaedo
Mon, March 07, 2011
MM McCabe discusses epistemology and virtue in Plato
Mon, February 28, 2011
Knowledge, relativism, and memory in the Theaetetus
Mon, February 21, 2011
The Meno and Plato's theory of recollection
Mon, February 14, 2011
Ethics against immoralism in a Socratic masterpiece.
Mon, February 07, 2011
Virtue and knowledge in Plato's Charmides and Euthydemus
Mon, January 31, 2011
The life, times and dialogues of Plato
Mon, January 24, 2011
Raphael Woolf discusses Socrates as presented by Plato
Mon, January 17, 2011
Socratic virtue, ignorance and irony in the Platonic dialogues Socrates' claim that no one does wrong willingly
Mon, January 10, 2011
Socrates according to the comic poet Aristophanes and the historian Xenophon
Mon, January 03, 2011
Rhetoric and relativism in Protagoras, Gorgias and other sophists
Mon, December 27, 2010
Hippocrates and the relation between early Greek medicine and philosophy
Mon, December 20, 2010
Malcolm Schofield on Heraclitus, Parmenides and other early Greek philosophers
Mon, December 13, 2010
Love, Strife and the four elements in Empedocles
Mon, December 06, 2010
Is everything mixed with everything? Anaxagoras on Mind and the cosmos
Thu, November 25, 2010
Ancient atomism as a response to Parmenides
Mon, November 22, 2010
Zeno's paradoxes and Melissus develop the Eleatic philosophy
Mon, November 15, 2010
The father of metaphysics, Parmenides of Elea
Mon, November 08, 2010
MM McCabe of King's discusses the fragments of Heraclitus
Mon, November 01, 2010
Everything changes in the riddling philosophy of Heraclitus
Mon, October 25, 2010
Pythagoras and mathematics in ancient philosophy
Mon, October 25, 2010
The gods in Homer and Hesiod, and the critique of Xenophanes
Mon, October 25, 2010
Two early Pre-Socratics claim that the world is made of air, and the infinite
Mon, October 25, 2010
In this first episode, Peter discusses the goals of the series and Thales, the first Greek philosopher.
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