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 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 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 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 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 330 - Republic of Letters - Italian Humanism

July 28th, 2019

Coluccio Salutati and Leonardo Bruni combine eloquence with philosophy, taking as their model the refined language and republican ideals found in Cicero.

HoP 317 - Made by Hand - Byzantine Manuscripts

January 27th, 2019

Without handwritten copies produced by Byzantine scribes, we would know almost nothing about ancient philosophy. How and why were they made?

HoP 313 - Queen of the Sciences - Anna Komnene and her Circle

December 2nd, 2018

Princess Anna Komnene makes good use of her political retirement by gathering a circle of scholars to write commentaries on Aristotle.

HoP 312 - Past Masters - Byzantine Historiography

November 18th, 2018

The larger meaning of history in the chronicles written by Michael Psellos, Michael Attaleiates, Anna Komnene, and Niketas Choniates.

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 302 - On the Eastern Front - Philosophy in Syriac and Armenian

June 3rd, 2018

Eastern Christian philosophy outside of Constantinople, focusing on translation and exegesis in the languages of Syriac and Armenian.

HoP 298 - Renaissance Men - Ramon Llull and Petrarch

March 25th, 2018

The Renaissance ideals of humanism and universal science flourish already in the medieval period, in the works of Petrarch and Ramon Llull.

HoP 295 - The Most Christian Doctor - Jean Gerson

February 11th, 2018

Jean Gerson’s role in the political disputes of his day, the spread of lay devotion and affective mysticism, and the debate over the Romance of the Rose initiated by Christine de Pizan.