Episodes

Sunday Jul 09, 2023
HoP 425 - Patrick Gray on Shakespeare
Sunday Jul 09, 2023
Sunday Jul 09, 2023
We're joined by Patrick Gray to discuss Shakespeare's knowledge of philosophy, his ethics, and his influence on such thinkers as Hegel.

Sunday Jun 25, 2023
HoP 424 - Hast Any Philosophy In Thee? - William Shakespeare
Sunday Jun 25, 2023
Sunday Jun 25, 2023
How should we approach Shakespeare’s plays as philosophical texts? We take as examples skepticism and politics in Othello, King Lear, and Julius Caesar.

Sunday Jun 11, 2023
HoP 423 - Heaven-Bred Poesy - Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser
Sunday Jun 11, 2023
Sunday Jun 11, 2023
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".

Sunday May 28, 2023
HoP 422 - The World’s Law - Richard Hooker
Sunday May 28, 2023
Sunday May 28, 2023
Richard Hooker defends the religious and political settlement of Elizabethan England using rational arguments and appeals to the natural law.

Sunday May 14, 2023
HoP 421 - With Such Perfection Govern - English Political Thought
Sunday May 14, 2023
Sunday May 14, 2023
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.

Sunday May 07, 2023
HoP 420 - No Place Will Please Me So - Thomas More
Sunday May 07, 2023
Sunday May 07, 2023
What is the message of the famous, but elusive, work "Utopia", and how can it be squared with the life of its author?

Sunday Apr 23, 2023
HoP 419 - Write Till Your Ink Be Dry - Humanism in Britain
Sunday Apr 23, 2023
Sunday Apr 23, 2023
Humanism comes to England and Scotland, leading scholars like Thomas Eylot and Andrew Melville to rethink philosophical education.

Sunday Apr 09, 2023
HoP 418 - Diarmaid MacCulloch on the British Reformations
Sunday Apr 09, 2023
Sunday Apr 09, 2023
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.

Sunday Feb 12, 2023
HoP 414 - Henrik Lagerlund on Renaissance Skepticism
Sunday Feb 12, 2023
Sunday Feb 12, 2023
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.

Sunday Jan 29, 2023
HoP 413 - Don’t Be So Sure - French Skepticism
Sunday Jan 29, 2023
Sunday Jan 29, 2023
The sources and scope of the skepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches.

Sunday Jan 15, 2023
HoP 412 - Not Matter, But Me - Michel de Montaigne
Sunday Jan 15, 2023
Sunday Jan 15, 2023
In his “Essays” Montaigne uses his wit, insight, and humanist training to tackle his favorite subject: Montaigne.

Sunday Jan 01, 2023
HoP 411 - Pen Pals - Later French Humanism
Sunday Jan 01, 2023
Sunday Jan 01, 2023
Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and Guillaume du Vair grapple with history and the events of their own day.

Sunday Nov 06, 2022
HoP 407 - Maria Rosa Antognazza on Early Modern Toleration
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
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.

Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Bonus Episode: Don’t Think for Yourself, Chapter 1
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Peter reads the first chapter of his new book Don’t Think for Yourself: Authority and Belief in Medieval Philosophy, available from University of Notre Dame Press. Pre-order with the code 14FF20 from undpress.nd.edu, to get a 20% discount!

Sunday Jul 03, 2022
HoP 400 - Philosophy Podcasters
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
Peter chats with the hosts of three great philosophy podcasts: Elucidations, Hi-Phi Nation, and the Unmute Podcast.

Sunday Apr 24, 2022
HoP 395 - Music of the Spheres - Johannes Kepler
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Sunday Apr 24, 2022
Johannes Kepler fuses Platonist philosophy with a modified version of Copernicus’ astronomy.

Sunday Apr 10, 2022
HoP 394 - Best of Both Worlds - Tycho Brahe
Sunday Apr 10, 2022
Sunday Apr 10, 2022
Responses to Copernicus in the 16th century, culminating with the master of astral observation Tycho Brahe.

Saturday Mar 12, 2022
HoP 392 - John Sellars on Lipsius and Early Modern Stoicism
Saturday Mar 12, 2022
Saturday Mar 12, 2022
John Sellars returns to the podcast to discuss Lipsius' work on Seneca and the early modern Neo-Stoic movement.

Sunday Sep 12, 2021
HoP 379 - Lyndal Roper on Luther
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
Sunday Sep 12, 2021
How radical was Luther? We find out from Lyndal Roper, who also discusses Luther and the Peasants' War, sexuality, anti-semitism, and the visual arts.

Sunday Aug 01, 2021
HoP 378 - Faith, No More - Martin Luther
Sunday Aug 01, 2021
Sunday Aug 01, 2021
How Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone and his attack on the Church relate to the history of philosophy.