Shows / History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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". www.historyofphilosophy.net
Episodes
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 213 - On the Shoulders of Giants - Philosophy at Chartres
The controversial role of Chartres in the philosophical Renaissance of the twelfth century.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 211 - Learn Everything - the Victorines
Hugh of Saint Victor and other scholars of the same abbey combine secular learning with spirituality.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 210 - John Marenbon on Peter Abelard
John Marenbon returns to the podcast to discuss Abelard's views on necessity and freedom..
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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?
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 206 - Eileen Sweeney on Anselm
Anselm expert Eileen Sweeney discusses his approach to philosophy and the devotional aspect of his works.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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?
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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?
History of Philosophy Without Any GapsHoP 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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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…
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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…
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 187 - Return to Sender - Mulla Sadra on Motion and Knowledge
Mullā Ṣadrā proposes that all things are like sharks: in constant motion.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 186 - To Be, Continued - Mulla Sadra on Existence
Mullā Ṣadrā, greatest thinker of early modern Iran, unveils his radical new understanding of existence.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 185 - Follow the Leader - Philosophy under the Safavids
Philosophy in Safavid Iran, and a look back at earlier philosophy among Shiites.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 183 - Family Feud - Philosophy at Shiraz
The roots of the Safavid philosophical tradition in some rather ill-tempered debates at Shīrāz.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 182 - Aftermath - Philosophy and Science in the Mongol Age
Philosophy and science survive and even thrive through the coming of the Mongols.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 179 - Mohammed Rustom on Philosophical Sufism
Peter is joined by Mohammed Rustom in a discussion about Sufi authors including Ibn 'Arabī and Rūmī
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 178 - Eyes Wide Shut - Rumi and Philosophical Sufism
The Persian poet Rūmī and mystical philosopher al-Qūnawī carry on the legacy of Sufism.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 175 - Bright Ideas - Illuminationism
The Illuminationists carry on Suhrawardī’s critique of “Peripatetic” philosophy and wonder if they will be reborn as giraffes.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 164 - Man and Superman - Gersonides and the Jewish Reaction to Averroes
The super-commentator Gersonides and other Jews digest the ideas of Averroes.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 162 - Sarah Stroumsa on Maimonides
Maimonides as a "Mediterranean thinker": Peter is joined by Sarah Stroumsa.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 161 - He Moves in Mysterious Ways - Maimonides on Eternity
Maimonides tries to settle the eternity of the world debate by declaring a draw.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
HoP 157 - Choosing My Religion - Judah Hallevi
Judah Hallevi argues that Judaism has a better claim to belief than philosophy, Christianity, or Islam.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.
- History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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.