Episodes

Sunday Mar 16, 2025
HoP 465 Modern Times: France and the Netherlands in the 17th Century
Sunday Mar 16, 2025
Sunday Mar 16, 2025
A look at the political and religious ferment that made up the historical context of philosophy in 17th century France and the Netherlands.

Sunday Feb 02, 2025
HoP 462 Freedom to Philosophize: Introduction to Early Modern Philosophy
Sunday Feb 02, 2025
Sunday Feb 02, 2025
What is Enlightenment, anyway?

Sunday Dec 22, 2024
HoP 459 - Cardinal Rule - Robert Bellarmine
Sunday Dec 22, 2024
Sunday Dec 22, 2024
Though most famous for his role in persecuting Galileo, Robert Bellarmine was a central figure of the Counter-Reformation, especially in his political thought.

Sunday Oct 27, 2024
HoP 455 - Tom Pink on Francisco Suárez
Sunday Oct 27, 2024
Sunday Oct 27, 2024
We're joined by Tom Pink, who tells us about Suárez on ethics, law, religion, and the state.

Sunday Oct 13, 2024
Sunday Oct 13, 2024
Suárez and other Iberian scholastics ask where political power comes from and under what circumstances it is exercised legitimately.

Sunday Sep 29, 2024
HoP 453 - The Price is Right - Law and Economics in the Second Scholastic
Sunday Sep 29, 2024
Sunday Sep 29, 2024
Vitoria, Molina, Suárez and others develop the idea of natural law, exploring its relevance for topics including international law, slavery, and the ethics of economic exchange.

Sunday Mar 17, 2024
HoP 441 - Lambs to the Slaughter - Debating the New World
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Sunday Mar 17, 2024
Bartholomé De las Casas argues against opponents, like Sepúlveda, who believed that Europeans had a legal and moral right to rule over and exploit the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Sunday Oct 15, 2023
HoP 430 - I’ll Teach You Differences - British Scholasticism
Sunday Oct 15, 2023
Sunday Oct 15, 2023
The evolution of Aristotelian philosophy from John Mair in the late 15th century to John Case in the late 16th century.

Sunday Sep 03, 2023
HoP 427 - Brave New World - Shakespeare’s Tempest and Colonialism
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Sunday Sep 03, 2023
Can Shakespeare’s Tempest be read as a reflection on the English encounter with the peoples of the Americas?

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 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 Mar 26, 2023
HoP 417 - To Kill a King - The Scottish Reformation
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
John Knox polemicizes against idolaters and female rulers, while the humanist George Buchanan argues more calmly for equally radical political conclusions.

Sunday Mar 12, 2023
HoP 416 - God’s is the Quarrel - The English Reformation
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
The historical context of English philosophy in the sixteenth century, with particular focus on Thomas Cranmer, and the role of religion in personal conscience and social cohesion.

Sunday Feb 26, 2023
HoP 415 - The Tenth Muse - Marie de Gournay
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
Marie le Jars de Gourney, the “adoptive daughter” of Montaigne, lays claim to his legacy and argues for the equality of the sexes.

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 Dec 04, 2022
HoP 409 - One to Rule Them All - Jean Bodin
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
The polymath Jean Bodin produces a pioneering theory of political sovereignty along the way to defending the absolute power of the French king.