HoP 462 Freedom to Philosophize: Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy
What is Enlightenment, anyway?
Episodes
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
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 thought.
HoP 458 - Outsider Philosophy - The Cheese and the Worms
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.
HoP 457 - Take Your Medicine - Oliva Sabuco and Camilla Erculiani
Natural philosophy and medicine in the work of two unorthodox thinkers of the late sixteenth century, both of them women.
HoP 456 - Touch Me With Your Madness - Cervantes’ Don Quixote
Why do critics consider Don Quixote the first “modern” novel, and what does it tell us about the aesthetics of fiction?
HoP 455 - Tom Pink on Francisco Suárez
We're joined by Tom Pink, who tells us about Suárez on ethics, law, religion, and the state.
HoP 454 - By Appointment Only - Political Philosophy in the Second Scholastic
Suárez and other Iberian scholastics ask where political power comes from and under what circumstances it is exercised legitimately.
HoP 453 - The Price is Right - Law and Economics in the Second Scholastic
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.
HoP 452 - Better Than Nothing - Metaphysics in the Second Scholastic
Did the metaphysics of Francisco Suárez mark a shift from traditional scholasticism to early modern philosophy?
HoP 451 - Could’ve, Would’ve, Should’ve - Free Will in the Second Scholastic
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?
HoP 450 - Depicting What Cannot Be Depicted - Philosophy and Two Renaissance Artworks
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.
HoP 449 - Anna Tropia on Jesuit Philosophy
We learn from Anna Tropia how Jesuit philosophy of mind broke new ground in the scholastic tradition.
HoP 448 - Secondary Schools - Iberian Scholasticism
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.”
HoP 447 - Andrés Messmer on Spanish Protestantism
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.
HoP 446 - Not Doubting Thomas - the Aquinas Revival
Cajetan, Bañez and other thinkers make Aquinas a central figure of Counter-Reformation thought; we focus on their theories about analogy and the soul.
HoP 445 - Band of Brothers - the Jesuits
Ignatius of Loyola’s movement begins modestly, but winds up having a global impact on education and philosophy.
HoP 444 - The Dark Night Rises - Spanish Mysticism
Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross push the boundaries of individual spirituality and offer philosophically informed accounts of mystical experience.
HoP 443 - Marketplace of Letters - Iberian Humanism
Fray Luis de Leon, Antonio Nebrija, Beatriz Galindo and other scholars bring the Renaissance to Spain.
HoP 442 - Scott Williams on Disability and the New World
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.
HoP 441 - Lambs to the Slaughter - Debating the New World
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.
HoP 440 - Longitudinal Studies - Exploration and Science
Iberian expeditions to the Americas inspire scientists, and Matteo Ricci’s religious mission to Asia becomes an encounter between European and Chinese philosophy.
HoP 439 - Cancel Culture - The Inquisition
How religious persecution and censorship shaped the context of philosophy in Catholic Europe in the sixteenth century.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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).