HoP 399 - Seriously Funny - Rabelais

June 19th, 2022

In his outrageous novel about Pantagruel and Gargantua, Rabelais engages with scholasticism, humanism, medicine, the reformation, and the querelle des femmes.

HoP 398 - Pearls of Wisdom - Marguerite of Navarre

June 5th, 2022

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

HoP 397 - Do As the Romans Did - French Humanism

May 22nd, 2022

We begin to look at philosophy in Renaissance France, beginning with humanists like Budé and the use of classical philosophy by poets du Bellay and Ronsard.

HoP 376 - Books That Last Forever - Erasmus

July 4th, 2021

The “learned piety” of Desiderius Erasmus, the greatest figure of northern humanism.

HoP 373 - Lords of Language - Northern Humanism

May 23rd, 2021

Rudolph Agricola, Juan Luis Vives and other humanist scholars spread the study of classical antiquity across Europe and mock the technicalities of scholastic philosophy.

HoP 372 - Strong, Silent Type - the Printing Press

May 9th, 2021

The impact of the printing press on the history of philosophy, and its role in helping to trigger the Reformation.

HoP 370 - Ingrid Rowland on Rome in the Renaissance

April 11th, 2021

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

HoP 357 - David Lines on Aristotle’s Ethics in the Renaissance

October 11th, 2020

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

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.