History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

HoP 189 - Subcontinental Drift - Philosophy in Islamic India

Ideas spread to Mughal India from Iran, and prince Dārā Shikūh seeks to unite the wisdom of the Upanishads with the Koran.

HoP 188 - Sajjad Rizvi on Mulla Sadra

Sajjad Rizvi talks to Peter about Mullā Ṣadrā's views on eternity, God's knowledge and the afterlife.

HoP 187 - Return to Sender - Mulla Sadra on Motion and Knowledge

Mullā Ṣadrā proposes that all things are like sharks: in constant motion.

HoP 186 - To Be, Continued - Mulla Sadra on Existence

Mullā Ṣadrā, greatest thinker of early modern Iran, unveils his radical new understanding of existence.

HoP 185 - Follow the Leader - Philosophy under the Safavids

Philosophy in Safavid Iran, and a look back at earlier philosophy among Shiites.

HoP 184 - Robert Wisnovsky on Commentary Culture

Robert Wisnovsky joins Peter to discuss the enormous body of unstudied philosophical commentaries in the later Eastern Islamic world.

HoP 183 - Family Feud - Philosophy at Shiraz

The roots of the Safavid philosophical tradition in some rather ill-tempered debates at Shīrāz.

HoP 182 - Aftermath - Philosophy and Science in the Mongol Age

Philosophy and science survive and even thrive through the coming of the Mongols.

HoP 181 - By the Book - Ibn Taymiyya

The controversial jurist Ibn Taymiyya sets forth an originalist theory of law and a searching criticism of the philosophers’ logic.

HoP 180 - Proof Positive - The Logical Tradition

Later Islamic logicians try to solve the Liar Paradox and take on the advances of Avicenna's logic.

HoP 179 - Mohammed Rustom on Philosophical Sufism

Peter is joined by Mohammed Rustom in a discussion about Sufi authors including Ibn 'Arabī and Rūmī

HoP 178 - Eyes Wide Shut - Rumi and Philosophical Sufism

The Persian poet Rūmī and mystical philosopher al-Qūnawī carry on the legacy of Sufism.

HoP 177 - To Be or Not to Be - Debating Avicenna’s Metaphysics

Avicenna’s distinction between essence and existence triggers a running debate among philosophers and theologians.

HoP 176 - A Man for all Seasons - al-Tusi

Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī’s controversial career sees him adopt and then abandon Ismāʿīlism, team up with the Mongols, and offer a staunch defense of Avicenna.

HoP 175 - Bright Ideas - Illuminationism

The Illuminationists carry on Suhrawardī’s critique of “Peripatetic” philosophy and wonder if they will be reborn as giraffes.

HoP 174 - Leading Light - Suhrawardi

Suhrawardī, founder of the Illuminationist (ishrāqī) tradition, proposes a metaphysics of light on the basis of his theory of knowledge by presence

HoP 173 - For the Sake of Argument - Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

The hugely influential Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī weaves Avicenna and Islamic theology into complex dialectical treatments of time, God, the soul, and ethics.

HoP 172 - All Things Considered - Abu l-Barakat al-Baghdadi

Abū l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī makes up his own mind about physics and the soul, and along the way inaugurates a new style of doing philosophy.

HoP 171 - Golden Ages - The Later Eastern Traditions

An introduction to later developments in philosophical theology, sufism, and Illuminationism, focusing on the reception and critique of Avicenna.

HoP 170 - Gad Freudenthal on Jewish Philosophy and Science

Leading scholar of medieval Jewish thought Gad Freudenthal joins Peter in a concluding episode on Andalusian thought.