Episodes
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
HoP 417 - To Kill a King - The Scottish Reformation
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
Sunday Mar 26, 2023
John Knox polemicizes against idolaters and female rulers, while the humanist George Buchanan argues more calmly for equally radical political conclusions.
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
HoP 416 - God’s is the Quarrel - The English Reformation
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
Sunday Mar 12, 2023
The historical context of English philosophy in the sixteenth century, with particular focus on Thomas Cranmer, and the role of religion in personal conscience and social cohesion.
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
HoP 415 - The Tenth Muse - Marie de Gournay
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
Sunday Feb 26, 2023
Marie le Jars de Gourney, the “adoptive daughter” of Montaigne, lays claim to his legacy and argues for the equality of the sexes.
Sunday Feb 12, 2023
HoP 414 - Henrik Lagerlund on Renaissance Skepticism
Sunday Feb 12, 2023
Sunday Feb 12, 2023
No doubt that we're in good hands with interview guest Henrik Lagerlund, who brings his expertise in the history of skepticism to bear on the French Renaissance.
Sunday Jan 29, 2023
HoP 413 - Don’t Be So Sure - French Skepticism
Sunday Jan 29, 2023
Sunday Jan 29, 2023
The sources and scope of the skepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches.
Sunday Jan 15, 2023
HoP 412 - Not Matter, But Me - Michel de Montaigne
Sunday Jan 15, 2023
Sunday Jan 15, 2023
In his “Essays” Montaigne uses his wit, insight, and humanist training to tackle his favorite subject: Montaigne.
Sunday Jan 01, 2023
HoP 411 - Pen Pals - Later French Humanism
Sunday Jan 01, 2023
Sunday Jan 01, 2023
Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and Guillaume du Vair grapple with history and the events of their own day.
Sunday Dec 18, 2022
HoP 410 - Ann Blair on Jean Bodin’s Natural Philosophy
Sunday Dec 18, 2022
Sunday Dec 18, 2022
A chat with Ann Blair about the "Theater of Nature" by Jean Bodin, and other encyclopedic works of natural philosophy.
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
HoP 409 - One to Rule Them All - Jean Bodin
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
Sunday Dec 04, 2022
The polymath Jean Bodin produces a pioneering theory of political sovereignty along the way to defending the absolute power of the French king.
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
HoP 408 - Constitutional Conventions - the Huguenots
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Sunday Nov 20, 2022
Protestant French thinkers like François Hotman and Theodore Beza propose a radical political philosophy: the king rules at the pleasure of his subjects.
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
HoP 407 - Maria Rosa Antognazza on Early Modern Toleration
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
Sunday Nov 06, 2022
An interview on the nature of religious tolerance, and the forms it took during the Reformation and in the thought of early modern thinkers like Locke and Leibniz.
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
HoP 406 - Believe at Your Own Risk - Toleration in France
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Sunday Oct 23, 2022
Even as wars of religion in France prompt calls for toleration, hardly anyone makes a principled case for freedom of conscience… apart from Sebastian Castellio.
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
HoP 405 - Divide and Conquer - the Spread of Ramism
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
Sunday Oct 09, 2022
The methods of Peter Ramus sweep across Europe, winning adherents and facing stiff opposition in equal measure.
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
HoP 404 - Robert Goulding on Peter Ramus
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
Sunday Sep 25, 2022
A chat with Ramus expert Robert Goulding on the role of mathematics in Ramist philosophy.
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
HoP 403 - Make It Simple - Peter Ramus
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
Sunday Sep 11, 2022
Peter Ramus scandalizes his critics, and thrills his students and admirers, by proposing a new and simpler approach to philosophy.
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Bonus Episode: Don’t Think for Yourself, Chapter 1
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Sunday Aug 14, 2022
Peter reads the first chapter of his new book Don’t Think for Yourself: Authority and Belief in Medieval Philosophy, available from University of Notre Dame Press. Pre-order with the code 14FF20 from undpress.nd.edu, to get a 20% discount!
Sunday Jul 31, 2022
HoP 402 - Life is Not Enough - Medicine in Renaissance France
Sunday Jul 31, 2022
Sunday Jul 31, 2022
Challenges to Galenic medical orthodoxy from natural philosophy: Jean Fernel with his idea of the human’s “total substance,” and the Paracelsans.
Sunday Jul 17, 2022
HoP 401 - Word Perfect - Logic and Language in Renaissance France
Sunday Jul 17, 2022
Sunday Jul 17, 2022
Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Julius Caesar Scaliger fuse Aristotelianism with humanism to address problems in logic and literary aesthetics.
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
HoP 400 - Philosophy Podcasters
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
Sunday Jul 03, 2022
Peter chats with the hosts of three great philosophy podcasts: Elucidations, Hi-Phi Nation, and the Unmute Podcast.
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
HoP 399 - Seriously Funny - Rabelais
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
Sunday Jun 19, 2022
In his outrageous novel about Pantagruel and Gargantua, Rabelais engages with scholasticism, humanism, medicine, the reformation, and the querelle des femmes.