History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

HoP 143 - Special Delivery - al-Ghazali

Al-Ghazālī’s search for truth leads him to philosophy, Asharite theology, and ultimately the mystical tradition of Sufism.

HoP 142 - Dimitri Gutas on Avicenna

Peter talks to Dimitri Gutas about Avicenna's sources, philosophical methods, and influence.

HoP 141 - Into Thin Air - Avicenna on the Soul

With his Flying Man argument, Avicenna explores self-awareness and the relation between soul and body.

HoP 140 - By All Means Necessary - Avicenna on God

Avicenna’s proof of the Necessary Existent is ingenious and influential; but does it amount to a proof of God’s existence?

HoP 139 - By the Time I Get to Phoenix - Avicenna on Existence

Avicenna revolutionizes metaphysics with groundbreaking ideas about necessity and contingency, and his new distinction between essence and existence.

HoP 138 - The Self-Made Man - Avicenna's Life and Works

Despite a tumultuous life, Avicenna manages to become the most influential of all medieval philosophers.

HoP 137 - God Willing – the Asharites

Al-Ash‘arī puts his stamp on the future of Islamic theology by emphasizing God’s untrammeled power and freedom.

HoP 136 - Farhad Daftary on the Ismailis

Peter is joined by Farhad Daftary, a leading expert on the Shiite group known as the Ismā'īlīs.

HoP 135 - Undercover Brothers – Philosophy in the Buyid Age

Miskawayh, al-‘Amiri, al-Tawhidi, the Brethren of Purity and Ismaili missionaries bring together philosophy with Persian culture, literature and Islam.

HoP 134 - Balancing Acts - Arabic Ethical Literature

Drawing on Galen and Aristotle, philosophers from al-Kindi to Miskawayh compose ethical works designed us to achieve health in soul, as well as body.

HoP 133 - Strings Attached - Music and Philosophy

Peter turns DJ, with some actual music interspersed with discussion about theories of music in Arabic philosophical texts.

HoP 132 - Eye of the Beholder - Theories of Vision

Ibn al-Haytham draws on the tradition of geometrical optics to explain the mystery of human eyesight.

HoP 131 - Deborah Black on al-Farabi's Epistemology

Deborah Black joins Peter to talk about al-Farabi's innovations concerning knowledge and certainty.

HoP 130 - State of Mind - al-Farabi on Religion and Politics

Al-Fārābī combines Islam and Greek sources to present the ideal ruler as a philosopher who is also a prophet.

HoP 129 - The Second Master - al-Farabi

Peter begins to look at the systematic rethinking of Hellenic philosophy offered by al-Farabi, focusing on his logic and metaphysics.

HoP 128 - Aristotelian Society - the Baghdad School

A group of mostly Christian philosophers transpose the practices of antique Aristotelian philosophy to 10th century Baghdad.

HoP 127 - Peter E Pormann on Medicine in the Islamic World

A double dose of Peters, as Pormann joins Adamson to discuss medicine and philosophy in the Islamic world.

HoP 126 - High Five - al-Razi

The doctor and philosopher Abu Bakr al-Razi sets out a daring philosophical theory involving five eternal principles: God, soul, matter, time and place.

HoP 125 - Reasoned Belief - Saadia Gaon

Saadia Gaon draws on Greek philosophy and Islamic theology to provide a rational account of Jewish belief.

HoP 124 - The Chosen Ones - Judaism and Philosophy

The roots of Jewish philosophy in the Islamic world, focusing on the Rabbinic background in the Mishnah and Talmud, and the thought of early figures like Isaac Israeli.