HoP 432 - If This Be Magic, Let It Be an Art - John Dee
Science, intrigue, exploration, angelic seances! It's the life and thought of Elizabethan mathematician and magician John Dee.
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 431 - Calvin Normore on Scholasticism
A discussion of the history and philosophical significance of scholasticism from medieval times to early modernity, and even today.
HoP 430 - I’ll Teach You Differences - British Scholasticism
The evolution of Aristotelian philosophy from John Mair in the late 15th century to John Case in the late 16th century.
HoP 429 - She Uttereth Piercing Eloquence - Women’s Spiritual Literature
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.
HoP 428 - Weird Sisters - Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Witchcraft
How Macbeth reflects the anxieties and explanations surrounding witchcraft and witch-hunting in early modern Europe.
HoP 427 - Brave New World - Shakespeare’s Tempest and Colonialism
Can Shakespeare’s Tempest be read as a reflection on the English encounter with the peoples of the Americas?
HoP 426 - A Face Without a Heart - Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Individualism
How the Renaissance turn towards individual identity is reflected in Shakespeare's most famous play.
HoP 425 - Patrick Gray on Shakespeare
We're joined by Patrick Gray to discuss Shakespeare's knowledge of philosophy, his ethics, and his influence on such thinkers as Hegel.
HoP 424 - Hast Any Philosophy In Thee? - William Shakespeare
How should we approach Shakespeare’s plays as philosophical texts? We take as examples skepticism and politics in Othello, King Lear, and Julius Caesar.
HoP 423 - Heaven-Bred Poesy - Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser
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".
HoP 422 - The World’s Law - Richard Hooker
Richard Hooker defends the religious and political settlement of Elizabethan England using rational arguments and appeals to the natural law.
HoP 421 - With Such Perfection Govern - English Political Thought
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.
HoP 420 - No Place Will Please Me So - Thomas More
What is the message of the famous, but elusive, work "Utopia", and how can it be squared with the life of its author?
HoP 419 - Write Till Your Ink Be Dry - Humanism in Britain
Humanism comes to England and Scotland, leading scholars like Thomas Eylot and Andrew Melville to rethink philosophical education.
HoP 418 - Diarmaid MacCulloch on the British Reformations
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.
HoP 417 - To Kill a King - The Scottish Reformation
John Knox polemicizes against idolaters and female rulers, while the humanist George Buchanan argues more calmly for equally radical political conclusions.
HoP 416 - God’s is the Quarrel - The English Reformation
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.
HoP 415 - The Tenth Muse - Marie de Gournay
Marie le Jars de Gourney, the “adoptive daughter” of Montaigne, lays claim to his legacy and argues for the equality of the sexes.
HoP 414 - Henrik Lagerlund on Renaissance Skepticism
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.
HoP 413 - Don’t Be So Sure - French Skepticism
The sources and scope of the skepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches.
HoP 412 - Not Matter, But Me - Michel de Montaigne
In his “Essays” Montaigne uses his wit, insight, and humanist training to tackle his favorite subject: Montaigne.
HoP 411 - Pen Pals - Later French Humanism
Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and Guillaume du Vair grapple with history and the events of their own day.
HoP 410 - Ann Blair on Jean Bodin’s Natural Philosophy
A chat with Ann Blair about the "Theater of Nature" by Jean Bodin, and other encyclopedic works of natural philosophy.
HoP 409 - One to Rule Them All - Jean Bodin
The polymath Jean Bodin produces a pioneering theory of political sovereignty along the way to defending the absolute power of the French king.
HoP 408 - Constitutional Conventions - the Huguenots
Protestant French thinkers like François Hotman and Theodore Beza propose a radical political philosophy: the king rules at the pleasure of his subjects.
HoP 407 - Maria Rosa Antognazza on Early Modern Toleration
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.
HoP 406 - Believe at Your Own Risk - Toleration in France
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.
HoP 405 - Divide and Conquer - the Spread of Ramism
The methods of Peter Ramus sweep across Europe, winning adherents and facing stiff opposition in equal measure.
HoP 404 - Robert Goulding on Peter Ramus
A chat with Ramus expert Robert Goulding on the role of mathematics in Ramist philosophy.
HoP 403 - Make It Simple - Peter Ramus
Peter Ramus scandalizes his critics, and thrills his students and admirers, by proposing a new and simpler approach to philosophy.