History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
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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". www.historyofphilosophy.net
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505 episodi
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: to be accus...
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 cynicism, or do...
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 “occasions” for...
HoP 488 No Particular Reason: Nicolas Malebranche
We begin to explore Malebranche’s controversial development of Cartesian philosophy by looking at his theodicy.
HoP 487 Showing Good Judgment: The Port Royal Logic
Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole update the study of logic to take account of the ideas of Descartes.
HoP 486 Friends of the Truth: Arnauld and Jansenism
Antoine Arnauld combines Cartesian philosophy with Jansenism, one of the most controversial religious movements of the 17th century.
HoP 485 Liz Jackson on Pascal's Wager
An interview on contemporary approaches to Pascal's Wager: where decision theory meets philosophy of religion.
HoP 484 You Bet Your Life: Pascal’s Wager
Should we gamble on belief in God to have a chance at infinite reward?
HoP 483 Between Infinity and the Void: Blaise Pascal
Blaise Pascal was a pioneering scientist and deeply spiritual religious thinker; what united these two sides of his thought?
HoP 482 Indivisible, Under God: the Revival of Atomism
Why did Sébastian Basso and Pierre Gassendi think ancient atomism was the key to developing a new, modern science?
HoP 481 True Fool’s Gold: Pierre Gassendi
Gassendi’s path from skepticism to “baptized Epicureanism.”
HoP 480 Honorable Ignorance: French Skepticism
So-called “libertines” like Mothe le Vayer revive ancient skepticism, provoking a backlash from Mersenne and Arnauld. Were they right to see the skept...
HoP 479 Gideon Manning on Cartesian Medicine
An interview exploring Descartes' interest in medicine, how his medical ideas relate to his dualism, and his influence on medical science.
HoP 478 This Gland Is Your Gland: Cartesian Science
From comets to blood transfusions, embryology, and the debate over the pineal gland: Descartes’ impact on science, especially medicine.
HoP 477 The Mind Has No Sex: Cartesianism and Gender
Why Cartesianism appealed to women and became the inspiration for a pioneering feminist, Poullain de la Barre; and why Cartesianism was not the only o...
HoP 476 What He Should Have Said: the Early Cartesians
Early Cartesians including Cordemoy and de La Forge develop but also challenge Descartes’ ideas, defending atomism and occasionalism.
HoP 475 Ariane Schneck on Elisabeth and Descartes
We finish our look at Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes by talking to Ariane Schneck about their correspondence, focusing on the mind-body problem an...
HoP 474 States of the Union: Descartes on the Passions
What do emotions reveal about the connection between mind and body? We turn to Descartes’ correspondence with Elisabeth and his On the Passions to fin...
HoP 473 As Rational As You: Elisabeth of Bohemia
A royal scholar and philosopher sets aside the tribulations of her family to debate Descartes over the relation between mind and body and the nature o...
HoP 472 Less Cheer, More Knowledge: Descartes’ Ethics
Descartes’ “provisional” morality and his views on free will and virtue.
HoP 471 Unclear and Indistinct Ideas: Debating the Meditations
Descartes’ Meditations caused controversy as soon as it appeared. In this episode we look at criticisms including the “Cartesian Circle,” and how Desc...
HoP 470 Gary Hatfield on Descartes' Meditations
We're joined in this episode by a leading expert on one of the most famous works of philosophy ever written: Descartes' Meditations.
HoP 469 Ghost in the Machine: Cartesian Dualism
The word “Cartesian” is synonymous with a radical contrast between mind and body. What led Descartes to his dualism, and how can he explain vital acti...
HoP 468 Perchance to Dream: Descartes’ Skeptical Method
How Descartes fashioned a “method” to repel even the strongest and most radical forms of doubt, with the cogito argument as its foundation.
HoP 467 Written in Mathematics: Descartes’ Physics
For Descartes body is purely geometrical. So how does he understand features we can perceive, like color, and causation between bodies?
HoP 466 Well Hidden: Descartes’ Life and Works
How René Descartes’ understanding of his own intellectual project evolved across his lifetime.
HoP 465 Modern Times: France and the Netherlands in the 17th Century
A look at the political and religious ferment that made up the historical context of philosophy in 17th century France and the Netherlands.
HoP 464 Howard Hotson on the Republic of Letters
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 t...
HoP 463 Doctors without Borders: the Republic of Letters
How scholars around Europe created an international network of intellectual exchange. As examples we consider the activities of Mersenne, Peiresc, Lei...
HoP 462 Freedom to Philosophize: Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy
What is Enlightenment, anyway?
HoP 461 - Eileen Reeves on Galileo and the Telescope
We finish our look at philosophy in the Reformation era with an interview about Galileo's use of a revolutionary technology: the telescope.
HoP 460 - Trial and Error - Galileo and the Inquisition
The philosophical issues at the heart of the notorious condemnation of Galileo and Copernican astronomy.
HoP 459 - Cardinal Rule - Robert Bellarmine
Though most famous for his role in persecuting Galileo, Robert Bellarmine was a central figure of the Counter-Reformation, especially in his political...