HoP 351 - Quentin Skinner on Machiavelli
June 14th, 2020
Leading Machiavelli scholar Quentin Skinner joins Peter to discuss morality, history, and religion in the Prince and the Discourses.
HoP 347 - Bonfire of the Vanities - Savonarola
April 19th, 2020
The prophetic preacher Girolamo Savonarola attacks pagan philosophy and puts forward his own political ideas, before coming to an untimely end.
HoP 340 - Footnotes to Plato - Marsilio Ficino
January 12th, 2020
Marsilio Ficino’s revival of Platonism, with a focus on his proofs for the soul’s immortality in his magnum opus, the Platonic Theology.
HoP 333 - Difficult to Be Good - Humanist Ethics
October 6th, 2019
Humanists from Bruni and Valla to Pontano and Castiglione ask whether ancient ethical teachings can still help us learn how to live.
HoP 332 - Jill Kraye on Humanism
September 22nd, 2019
Jill Kraye returns to the podcast to discuss the nature of humanism, its relation to scholasticism, and its legacy.
HoP 327 - Michele Trizio on Byzantine and Latin Medieval Philosophy
June 16th, 2019
The series on Byzantium concludes as Michele Trizio discusses the mutual influence of Byzantium and Latin Christendom.
HoP 326 - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - the Later Orthodox Tradition
June 2nd, 2019
When the Byzantine empire ended in 1453, philosophy in Greek did not end with it. In this episode we bring the story up to the 20th century.
HoP 325 - Platonic Love - Gemistos Plethon
May 19th, 2019
Was Gemistos Plethon, the last great thinker of the Byzantine tradition, a secret pagan or just a Christian with an unusual enthusiasm for Platonism?
HoP 324 - United We Fall - Latin Philosophy in Byzantium
May 5th, 2019
Thomas Aquinas finds avid readers among Byzantines at the twilight of empire, and is used by both sides of the Hesychast controversy.
HoP 323 - Through His Works You Shall Know Him - Palamas and Hesychasm
April 21st, 2019
Gregory Palamas and the controversy over his teaching that we can go beyond human reason by grasping God through his activities or “energies”.
HoP 321 - Judith Herrin on Byzantium and Islam
March 24th, 2019
Historian Judith Herrin joins us to talk about competition and mutual influence between Islam and Byzantium.
HoP 320 - People of the South - Byzantium and Islam
March 10th, 2019
Intellectual exchange between Christians and Muslims, and the later flowering of Syriac literature including the philosopher Bar Hebraeus.
HoP 319 - Georgia on My Mind - Petritsi and the Proclus Revival
February 24th, 2019
The Neoplatonist Proclus gets mixed reviews from Christians, as Nicholas of Methone refutes him but the Georgian philosopher Ioane Petritsi helps to revive his thought.
HoP 315 - Wiser Than Men - Gender in Byzantium
December 30th, 2018
The role of women in Byzantine society and the complex attitudes surrounding eunuchs: did they make up a “third gender”?
HoP 314 - Katerina Ierodiakonou on Byzantine Commentaries
December 16th, 2018
A chat about commentaries on Aristotle from Byzantium with guest Katerina Ierodiakonou.
HoP 311 - The Elements of Style - Rhetoric in Byzantium
November 4th, 2018
Psellos and other experts in rhetoric explore how this art of persuasion relates to philosophy.
HoP 310 - Purple Prose - Byzantine Political Philosophy
October 21st, 2018
Byzantine political thought from the time of Justinian down to the Palaiologos dynasty wrestles with the nature and scope of imperial power.
HoP 309 - Hooked on Classics - Italos and the Debate over Pagan Learning
October 7th, 2018
The trial of John Italos and other signs of Byzantine disquiet with the pagan philosophical tradition.
HoP 308 - Dominic O’Meara on Michael Psellos
September 23rd, 2018
Dominic O'Meara speaks to Peter about Michael Psellos, focusing especially on his political philosophy.
HoP 307 - Consul of the Philosophers - Michael Psellos
September 9th, 2018
Michael Psellos and his attitude towards pagan philosophy and the political life.
