HoP 502 United States: the Dutch Republic
The period of political turmoil and experimentation in liberty that set the stage for philosophers including Grotius and Spinoza.
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History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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".
Episodes
20 of 514 episodesHoP 501 Mara van der Lugt on Bayle and Pessimism
An interview on the surprising comforts to be found in the philosophy of pessimism, focusing on Bayle but looking all the way forward to Sch...
HoP 500e Daniel Watson on Medieval Irish Philosophy
In the last of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to Da...
HoP 500d Ted Good on Zoroastrianism
In the fourth of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to...
HoP 500c Troels Engberg-Pedersen on St Paul and the Stoics
In the third of five episodes to mark the 500 episode milestone, an expert on Paul's letters tells us how Stoic ideas shaped his philosophy...
HoP 500b Melissa Lane on Herotodus and Thucydides
Our second episode in celebration of reaching the 500 mark fills a significant gap: Melissa Lane helps us to understand the ancient Greek hi...
HoP 500a Marguerite Johnson on Sappho
In the first of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to a...
HoP 499 Beyond Belief: Bayle, Toleration, and Atheism
Pierre Bayle argues that religious disagreements should be tolerated and that there are powerful arguments against monotheism, even as some...
Bonus Episode: Glenn Adamson on A Century of Tomorrows
Go to www.glennadamson.com to find out more about Glenn's books including A Century of Tomorrows
HoP 498 Probably Probable: Pierre Bayle and his Dictionary
Is Pierre Bayle’s pioneering reference work, the Historical and Critical Dictionary, a monument to skepticism or to fideism?
HoP 497 Pure and Simple: Quietism
The “Quietists” Jeanne Guyon and François Fénelon argue that self-love can be overcome by cultivating a “pure love” for God. Their reward: t...
HoP 496 He Unwilling, She Unwilling: Jean Racine
How the “neo-classical” tragedies of Racine explore the battle between passion and reason.
HoP 495 Comedy of Errors: Molière
Molière’s famous comedies scandalize Paris and dramatize themes from French moralism, especially the danger of hypocrisy.
HoP 494 Tell the Truth While Laughing: The French Moralists
La Rochefoucauld and other “moralists” offer a penetrating and witty critique of human pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Is this just cynic...
HoP 493 Better Nature: The French Garden
How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy.
HoP 492 Changing By Degrees: French Scholasticism
How philosophy at the universities evolved in response to Cartesianism and the “new science.”
HoP 491 Image Problems: Arnauld vs Malebranche on Ideas
Arnauld’s attack on Malebranche’s theory of the “vision in God” leads to a nuanced debate over the nature of ideas.
HoP 490 Steven Nadler on Occasionalism
What inspired the occasionalist theory embraced by the 17th century Cartesians? We find out from a leading specialist on the topic.
HoP 489 All Power to Him: Malebranche and Occasionalism
What led Malebranche to his notorious view that all bodily motions and thoughts are caused by God, with created things serving only as “occa...
HoP 488 No Particular Reason: Nicolas Malebranche
We begin to explore Malebranche’s controversial development of Cartesian philosophy by looking at his theodicy.