HoP 345 - What a Piece of Work is Man - Manetti and Pico on Human Nature
March 22nd, 2020
Pico della Mirandola and Giannozzo Manetti praise humans as the centerpiece of the created world. But what about the other animals?
HoP 344 - The Count of Concord - Pico della Mirandola
March 8th, 2020
Pico della Mirandola argues for the harmony of the ancient authorities, draws on Jewish mysticism, and questions the value of humanist rhetoric.
HoP 343 - As Far as East from West - Jewish Philosophy in Renaissance Italy
February 23rd, 2020
Jewish philosophers in Renaissance Italy, focusing on Leone Ebreo’s Dialogues of Love, the Averroism of Elijah del Medigo, and Italian Kabbalah.
HoP 342 - Denis Robichaud on Plato in the Renaissance
February 9th, 2020
An interview with Denis Robichaud on how, and why, Plato was read in the Italian Renaissance.
HoP 341 - True Romance - Theories of Love
January 26th, 2020
Ficino describes a “Platonic” love purified of sexuality, prompting a debate carried on by Pico della Mirandola, Pietro Bembo, and Tullia d’Aragona.
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 339 - I’d Like to Thank the Academy - Florentine Platonism
December 29th, 2019
The blossoming of Renaissance Platonism under the Medici, who supported the scholarship of Poliziano, Ficino, and Pico della Mirandola.
HoP 338 - All About Eve - the Defense of Women
December 15th, 2019
Refutation of misogyny in Moderate Fonte and Lucrezia Marinella.
HoP 337 - More Rare Than the Phoenix - Italian Women Humanists
December 1st, 2019
Cassandra Fedele, Isotta Nogarola, and Laura Cereta seek fame and glory through eloquence and learning.
HoP 336 - We Built This City - Christine de Pizan
November 17th, 2019
Christine de Pizan's political philosophy, epistemology, and the refutation of misogyny in her "City of Ladies".
HoP 335 - Sabrina Ebbersmeyer on Emotions in Renaissance Philosophy
November 3rd, 2019
An interview with Sabrina Ebbersmeyer about the relation of emotion to reason and the body, and panpsychism, in the Renaissance.
HoP 334 - Chance Encounters - Reviving Hellenistic philosophy
October 20th, 2019
The rediscovery of Epicurus, Lucretius, and Sextus Empiricus spreads challenging ideas about chance, atomism, and skepticism.
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 331 - Literary Criticism - Lorenzo Valla
September 8th, 2019
Lorenzo Valla launches a furious attack on scholastic philosophy, favoring the resources of classical Latin.
HoP 329 - Greeks Bearing Gifts - Byzantine Scholars in Italy
July 14th, 2019
Bessarion and George Trapenzuntius, rival scholars from the Greek east who helped inspire the Italian Renaissance.
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 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”.
