History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

HoP 278 - Sara Uckelman on Obligations

Sara Uckelman soundly defeats Peter in the medieval logical game of "obligations."

HoP 277 - Trivial Pursuits - Fourteenth Century Logic

The scholastics discuss the ambiguity of terms, the nature of logical inference, and logical paradoxes, and play the game of “obligations.”

HoP 276 - Back to the Future - Foreknowledge and Predestination

Scotus, Ockham, and Bradwardine ask how we can be free if God knows and chooses the things we will do in the future.

HoP 275 - Keeping it Real - Responses to Ockham

Walter Burley flies the flag for realism against Ockham and other nominalists.

HoP 274 - Susan Brower-Toland on Ockham's Philosophy of Mind

An interview with Susan Brower-Toland covering Ockham's views on cognition, consciousness, and memory.

HoP 273 - What Do You Think? - Ockham on Mental Language

How the language of thought relates to spoken and written language, according to William of Ockham.

HoP 272 - A Close Shave - Ockham’s Nominalism

Ockham trims away the unnecessary entities posited by other scholastics.

HoP 271 - Do As You’re Told - Ockham on Ethics and Political Philosophy

William of Ockham on freedom of action and freedom of thought.

HoP 270 - Render unto Caesar - Marsilius of Padua

In his book Defender of the Peace, Marsilius of Padua develops new theories of representative government, rights, and ownership.

Democracy and the History of Philosophy

Peter muses on recent political events in light of the history of philosophy.

HoP 269 - Our Power is Real - The Clash of Church and State

Giles of Rome and Dante on the rival claims of the church and secular rulers.

HoP 268 - To Hell and Back - Dante Alighieri

Italy’s greatest poet Dante Alighieri was also a philosopher, as we learn from his Convivio and of course the Divine Comedy.

HoP 267 - After Virtue - Marguerite Porete

Marguerite Porete is put to death for her exploration of the love of God, The Mirror of Simple Souls.

HoP 266 - Tom Pink on the Will

A conversation with Tom Pink about medieval theories of freedom and action.

HoP 265 - Time of the Signs - the Fourteenth Century

An introduction to philosophy in the 14th century, focusing on two big ideas: nominalism and voluntarism.

HoP 264 - Giorgio Pini on Scotus on Knowledge

Peter hears about Duns Scotus' epistemology from expert Giorgio Pini.

HoP 263 - One in a Million - Scotus on Universals and Individuals

Scotus explains how things can share a nature in common while being unique individuals.

HoP 262 - On Command - Scotus on Ethics

Scotus argues that morality is a matter of freely choosing to follow God’s freely issued commands.

HoP 261 - To Will or Not to Will - Scotus on Freedom

Scotus develops a novel theory of free will and, along the way, rethinks the notions of necessity and possibility.

HoP 260 - Once and for All - Scotus on Being

Duns Scotus attacks the proposal of Aquinas and Henry of Ghent that being is subject to analogy.