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 390 - Born to Be Contrary - Toleration in the Netherlands
February 13th, 2022
Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.
HoP 387 - Helen Hattab on Protestant Philosophy
January 2nd, 2022
An interview with Helen Hattab on the scope and impact of scholastic philosophy among Protestants.
HoP 385 - I Too Can Ask Questions - Protestant Scholasticism
December 5th, 2021
In a surprise twist, some Protestant thinkers embrace the methods of scholasticism, and even find something to admire in the work of Catholic authors like Aquinas.
HoP 384 - We Are Not Our Own - John Calvin
November 21st, 2021
John Calvin's views on predestination and the limits of human reason.
HoP 383 - Slowly But Surely - Huldrych Zwingli
November 7th, 2021
The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.
HoP 381 - More Lutheran than Luther - Philip Melanchthon
October 10th, 2021
Luther’s close ally Melanchthon uses his knowledge of ancient philosophy and rhetoric in the service of the Reformation.
HoP 380 - Take Your Choice - Erasmus vs Luther on Free Will
September 26th, 2021
Erasmus clashes with Martin Luther over the question whether our wills are free or enslaved to sin.
HoP 379 - Lyndal Roper on Luther
September 12th, 2021
How radical was Luther? We find out from Lyndal Roper, who also discusses Luther and the Peasants' War, sexuality, anti-semitism, and the visual arts.
HoP 378 - Faith, No More - Martin Luther
August 1st, 2021
How Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone and his attack on the Church relate to the history of philosophy.
HoP 377 - One Way or Another - Northern Scholasticism
July 18th, 2021
Trends in Aristotelian philosophy in northern and eastern Europe in the fifteenth century, featuring discussion of the “Wegestreit” and the nominalist theology of Gabriel Biel.
HoP 376 - Books That Last Forever - Erasmus
July 4th, 2021
The “learned piety” of Desiderius Erasmus, the greatest figure of northern humanism.
HoP 375 - Paul Richard Blum on Nicholas of Cusa
June 20th, 2021
Learned ignorance, coincidence of opposites and religious peace: Paul Richard Blum discusses the central ideas of Nicholas Cusanus.
HoP 374 - Opposites Attract - Nicholas of Cusa
June 6th, 2021
The radical negative theology of Nicholas of Cusa, and his hope of establishing peace between the religions of the world.
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 371 - European Disunion - Introduction to the Reformation
April 25th, 2021
How humanism and scholasticism came together with the Protestant Reformation to create the philosophy of 15-16th century Europe.
HoP 355 - Town and Gown - Italian Universities
September 13th, 2020
The blurry line dividing humanism and scholastic university culture in the Italian Renaissance.
HoP 354 - Greed is Good - Economics in the Italian Renaissance
July 26th, 2020
Leon Battista Alberti, Benedetto Cotrugli, and Poggio Bracciolini grapple with the moral and conceptual problems raised by the prospect of people getting filthy rich.
HoP 353 - The Good Place - Utopias in the Italian Renaissance
July 12th, 2020
Tommaso Campanella’s “The City of the Sun” and other utopian works of the Italian Renaissance describe perfect cities as an ideal for real life politics.
