History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

HoP 088 - Simplicity Itself - Plotinus on the One and Intellect

Plotinus posits an absolutely transcendent first principle, the One. What is it (or isn’t it), and how does it relate to Intellect?

HoP 087 - A God is My Co-Pilot - the Life and Works of Plotinus

Peter introduces Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of late antiquity and the founder of Neoplatonism

HoP 086 - Serafina Cuomo on Ancient Mathematics

How did the mathematics of figures like Euclid and Archimides relate to ancient philosophy? Peter finds out in an interview with Serafina Cuomo

HoP 085 - Sky Writing - Astronomy, Astrology, and Philosophy

Ptolemy uses philosophy in the service of studying the stars, while philosophers of all persuasions evaluate the widespread practice of astrology.

HoP 084 - Silver Tongues in Golden Mouths - Rhetoric and Ancient Philosophy

Themistius, Quintilian, Lucian and other authors tell us about the connections between rhetoric and late ancient philosophy

HoP 083 - Not Written in Stone – Alexander of Aphrodisias

Alexander of Aphrodisias writes the greatest ancient commentaries on Aristotle and tries to demolish the Stoic teaching on fate

HoP 082 - Lost and Found – Aristotelianism after Aristotle

Peter looks at the history of Aristotelianism up the time of the Roman Empire and the beginning of commentaries on his works

HoP 081 - Jan Opsomer on Middle Platonism

Jan Opsomer helps Peter to understand principles, Plato interpretation, and Plutarch in a wide-ranging discussion of Middle Platonism

HoP 080 - Delphic Utterances - Plutarch

Plutarch was a historian, a priest of Apollo, and a Platonist

HoP 079 - To the Lighthouse - Philo of Alexandria

Philo of Alexandria uses Platonism to understand the Bible of Moses

HoP 078 - Middle Men - the Platonic Revival

Pioneering thinkers Eudorus, Alcinous, and Numenius fuse Pythagoreanism with Platonism and pave the way for Plotinus.

HoP 077 - Caesarian Section – Philosophy in the Roman Empire

In late antiquity, Aristotelianism and Platonism made a comeback, and pagan philosophy developed alongside Judaism and Christianity.

HoP 076 - R.J. Hankinson on Galen

Jim Hankinson tells Peter about the life, work and philosophical contributions of Galen

HoP 075 - The Joy of Sects - Ancient Medicine and Philosophy

Hellenistic doctors discover the nerves and argue about method; Galen passes judgment

HoP 074 - Tony Long on the Self in Hellenistic Philosophy

Leading Hellenistic philosophy scholar Tony Long talks to Peter about the self, ethics and politics in the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics

HoP 073 - Healthy Skepticism - Sextus Empiricus

Sextus Empiricus pushes skepticism to its limits with his uncompromising Pyrrhonism

HoP 072 - Raphael Woolf on Cicero

Peter discusses Cicero's method and philosophical allegiances with Raphael Woolf

HoP 071 - Rhetorical Questions - Cicero

Cicero, inspired by the skepticism of the New Academy, uses his literary talents to present the wisdom of the Greeks

HoP 070 - The Know-Nothing Party - the Skeptical Academy

The Skeptical Academy attacks Stoic claims that certain knowledge is possible

HoP 069 - Beyond Belief - Pyrrho and Skepticism

Peter begins to examine ancient Skepticism, beginning with Pyrrho's life and doctrines, or lack thereof