History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

HoP 335 - Sabrina Ebbersmeyer on Emotions in Renaissance Philosophy

An interview with Sabrina Ebbersmeyer about the relation of emotion to reason and the body, and panpsychism, in the Renaissance.

HoP 334 - Chance Encounters - Reviving Hellenistic philosophy

The rediscovery of Epicurus, Lucretius, and Sextus Empiricus spreads challenging ideas about chance, atomism, and skepticism.

HoP 333 - Difficult to Be Good - Humanist Ethics

Humanists from Bruni and Valla to Pontano and Castiglione ask whether ancient ethical teachings can still help us learn how to live.

HoP 332 - Jill Kraye on Humanism

Jill Kraye returns to the podcast to discuss the nature of humanism, its relation to scholasticism, and its legacy.

HoP 331 - Literary Criticism - Lorenzo Valla

Lorenzo Valla launches a furious attack on scholastic philosophy, favoring the resources of classical Latin.

HoP 330 - Republic of Letters - Italian Humanism

Coluccio Salutati and Leonardo Bruni combine eloquence with philosophy, taking as their model the refined language and republican ideals found in Cicero.

HoP 329 - Greeks Bearing Gifts - Byzantine Scholars in Italy

Bessarion and George Trapenzuntius, rival scholars from the Greek east who helped inspire the Italian Renaissance.

HoP 328 - Old News - Introduction to the Italian Renaissance

A first look at the themes and figures of philosophy in the Italian Renaissance.

HoP 327 - Michele Trizio on Byzantine and Latin Medieval Philosophy

The series on Byzantium concludes as Michele Trizio discusses the mutual influence of Byzantium and Latin Christendom.

HoP 326 - Istanbul (Not Constantinople) - the Later Orthodox Tradition

When the Byzantine empire ended in 1453, philosophy in Greek did not end with it. In this episode we bring the story up to the 20th century.

HoP 325 - Platonic Love - Gemistos Plethon

Was Gemistos Plethon, the last great thinker of the Byzantine tradition, a secret pagan or just a Christian with an unusual enthusiasm for Platonism?

HoP 324 - United We Fall - Latin Philosophy in Byzantium

Thomas Aquinas finds avid readers among Byzantines at the twilight of empire, and is used by both sides of the Hesychast controversy.

HoP 323 - Through His Works You Shall Know Him - Palamas and Hesychasm

Gregory Palamas and the controversy over his teaching that we can go beyond human reason by grasping God through his activities or “energies”.

HoP 322 - Do the Math - Science in the Palaiologan Renaissance

Mathematics and the sciences in Byzantium, focusing on scholars of the Palaiologan period like Blemmydes and Metochites.

HoP 321 - Judith Herrin on Byzantium and Islam

Historian Judith Herrin joins us to talk about competition and mutual influence between Islam and Byzantium.

HoP 320 - People of the South - Byzantium and Islam

Intellectual exchange between Christians and Muslims, and the later flowering of Syriac literature including the philosopher Bar Hebraeus.

HoP 319 - Georgia on My Mind - Petritsi and the Proclus Revival

The Neoplatonist Proclus gets mixed reviews from Christians, as Nicholas of Methone refutes him but the Georgian philosopher Ioane Petritsi helps to revive his thought. 

HoP 318 - Oliver Primavesi on Greek Manuscripts

Peter's Munich colleague Oliver Primavesi tells us how Greek manuscripts are used to establish the text of authors like Aristotle. 

HoP 317 - Made by Hand - Byzantine Manuscripts

Without handwritten copies produced by Byzantine scribes, we would know almost nothing about ancient philosophy. How and why were they made?

HoP 316 - Just Measures - Law, Money, and War in Byzantium

Legal and economic thought in Byzantium: the sources of the law’s authority, the relation of church and civil law, just price, and just war.