History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

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

The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.

Faced with massive political upheaval and the rise of the Anabaptists, Luther argues for a socially conservative version of the Reformation.

Learned ignorance, coincidence of opposites and religious peace: Paul Richard Blum discusses the central ideas of Nicholas Cusanus.

The radical negative theology of Nicholas of Cusa, and his hope of establishing peace between the religions of the world.

For our finale of the Italian Renaissance series we're joined by Ingrid Rowland, to speak about art, philosophy, and persecution in Renaissance Rome.

Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.

Our guest Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.

Ficino, Pico, Cardano, and other Renaissance thinkers debate whether astrology and magic are legitimate sciences with a foundation in natural philosophy.

Was the natural philosophy of Bernardino Telesio and Tommaso Campanella the first modern physical theory?

The humanist study of Pythagoras, Archimides and other ancient mathematicians goes hand in hand with the use of mathematics in painting and architecture.

An interview with David Lines on the role of Aristotle in Renaissance ethics.

Pico della Mirandola and Giannozzo Manetti praise humans as the centerpiece of the created world. But what about the other animals?

Pico della Mirandola argues for the harmony of the ancient authorities, draws on Jewish mysticism, and questions the value of humanist rhetoric.

An interview with Denis Robichaud on how, and why, Plato was read in the Italian Renaissance.

Ficino describes a “Platonic” love purified of sexuality, prompting a debate carried on by Pico della Mirandola, Pietro Bembo, and Tullia d’Aragona.

Marsilio Ficino’s revival of Platonism, with a focus on his proofs for the soul’s immortality in his magnum opus, the Platonic Theology.

The blossoming of Renaissance Platonism under the Medici, who supported the scholarship of Poliziano, Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola.

The series on Byzantium concludes as Michele Trizio discusses the mutual influence of Byzantium and Latin Christendom.

Was Gemistos Plethon, the last great thinker of the Byzantine tradition, a secret pagan or just a Christian with an unusual enthusiasm for Platonism?