History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

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 of happiness.

HoP 472 Less Cheer, More Knowledge: Descartes’ Ethics

Descartes’ “provisional” morality and his views on free will and virtue.

HoP 466 Well Hidden: Descartes’ Life and Works

How René Descartes’ understanding of his own intellectual project evolved across his lifetime.

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, Leibniz, Calvet, and Hartlib.

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 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 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 439 - Cancel Culture - The Inquisition

How religious persecution and censorship shaped the context of philosophy in Catholic Europe in the sixteenth century.

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 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 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 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 398 - Pearls of Wisdom - Marguerite of Navarre

A Renaissance queen supports philosophical humanism and produces literary works on spirituality, love, and the soul.

HoP 392 - John Sellars on Lipsius and Early Modern Stoicism

John Sellars returns to the podcast to discuss Lipsius' work on Seneca and the early modern Neo-Stoic movement.

HoP 390 - Born to Be Contrary - Toleration in the Netherlands

Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.