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Posted on: 16 April 2016

Women philosophers and ideas about women in Buddhism, the Upanisads, and the Mahabharata.

651 views
Posted on: 10 April 2016

Did Siger of Brabant and Boethius of Dacia, who have been called “Latin Averroists” and “radical Aristotelians,” really embrace a doctrine of “double truth”?

1,587 views
3 comments
Posted on: 03 April 2016

Vegetarianism and non-violence (ahimsa) in ancient Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

1,758 views
10 comments
Posted on: 27 March 2016

Peter answers listener questions on the nature of philosophy and the podcast series.

3,207 views
18 comments
Posted on: 20 March 2016

The Bhagavad-Gītā or “Song of the Lord” from the Mahābhārata ties its theory of detached action to an innovative conception of the divine.

2,082 views
2 comments
Posted on: 13 March 2016

Two rounds of condemnations at Paris declare certain philosophical teachings as heretical. But what were the long term effects?

2,085 views
Posted on: 06 March 2016

The great Hindu epic Mahābhārata explores moral dilemmas and the permissibilty of lying, against the background of the ethical concept of dharma.

2,309 views
Posted on: 27 February 2016

Scott MacDonald joins Peter to discuss Thomas Aquinas' views on human knowledge.

3,075 views
2 comments

Coming up on the India series

Since we are drawing to a close with the first, "Origins" section of the India series, here is a preview of what will come up in the second section, which we are calling the "Age of the Sutra." Note that we will have several episodes on some topics, e.g. three or four on the Nyaya school; so this is a tentative list of topics rather than episodes (also, there will be additional interviews as always). Following this section, there will be a third and final mini-series on Buddhist and Jaina texts in the same period.

 

Introduction to the Age of the Sūtra

Philosophy and President Trump

You might assume that, as a philosopher and as someone with an interest in Islamic culture, I would view the prospect of a Donald Trump Presidency with great alarm. To the contrary! I think his election could bring many unforeseen benefits, philosophically speaking. Here are just a few.

1. Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason to get exciting rebrand as Trump Critique of Pure Reason.

2. Far easier to get undergraduate students to take Plato’s critique of democracy seriously.

Rule 18 for history of philosophy: don't essentialize

I have been reading a lot about Indian philosophy for the podcast recently and have been struck that, especially in older secondary literature, you'll come across claims like "an interest in the self is fundamental to the Indian worldview" or "non-violence is deeply rooted within the humanism of Indian culture." Such claims, made by both Indian and non-Indian scholars, are usually meant as compliments. But to my mind they are reductive and, to be frank, silly.

My fantastic brother

I believe I mentioned on a podcast a while back that though my sister is non-existent, my brother isn't. He's real and is the director of the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. He was just written up on a list of 100 influential people in the art world: "As the very public face of the Museum of Arts and Design since the fall of 2013, Adamson has turned an institution with an identity problem into a major player in the New York design world.

Learnin' Persian

For the last year or so I have, along with several of my colleagues here in Munich, been trying to learn Persian. We have a great teacher (thanks Hanif!) and have worked through the grammar of Wheeler M. Thackston, who by the way is a pretty impressive guy given that he also did a grammar for classical Arabic, plus his first name is Wheeler. This has been quite an experience. The last time I started learning a language was almost 20 years ago (Greek and Arabic while in grad school) and my brain has evidently aged quite a bit in that time - for instance it is harder to learn new vocabulary.

Questions please!

What with next week's excitement (not only the new Star Wars movie and Christmas, for those so inclined, but also the first Thomas Aquinas episode) you may not have noticed we're coming up on episode 250. For this special milestone I'm planning to do a question-and-answer episode. Please send in your questions (just commenting below is fine, or on Twitter or Facebook) and I will answer as many as I can.

  • Joseph
    3 days 14 hours ago

    Peter,

  • Xaratustrah
    5 days 2 hours ago

    One of the most difficult episodes... needed to listen several times...

  • Xaratustrah
    6 days 2 hours ago

    Hey Peter,

    I am a long time listener now and was thinking it would be time to say thanks for the great podcast series. I sometimes imagine that we HoPWAG fans sit around you in a garden and you explain and we listen, all wearing chlamys, yours in black. Then I get lost into the details of the garden: it should be early summer time with the Sun high in the sky, the fresh breeze, fruits hanging from the trees, distant sound of a market musician playing a lyre, the paved paths in the garden, not stone or mosaic, but solid marble (no gaps), and the sign on the entrance that says:

  • Michael
    6 days 18 hours ago

    The Williams and Visser volume is in the recommended reading for episode 204, not 203. Took me a bit to find it, so I thought I'd help out future comment-section readers.

  • ron jeremy
    1 week 4 hours ago

    nice vid on the cynics, but you meant "flout" not "flaunt".

  • Berel Dov Lerner
    1 week 13 hours ago

    All through the podcast I was thinking: C.J. was the White House Press Secretary on West Wing - was that some kind of philosophical inside joke about political spin-masters and "double truth"?

  • Chris Valentine
    1 week 16 hours ago

    How is a physicist researching the Big Bang and worshiping a divine creator contradictory? Particularly when it is considered that the Big Bang theory was developed by a Catholic Priest, and was rejected by many for implying a Creator.

  • a.
    1 week 18 hours ago

    in regards to ones relationship with plants ( self generating non-finite form/structure), I find veganic gardening and veganic forestry to be in alignment with the cosmos and the ethics of holistic nonviolence and reverence for all life. also, an interdisciplinary approach to shifting ones paradigm that integrates molecular cell biology as well may be helpful.

     

RT : Just had a flick through the newly arrived Oxford Handbook of Islamic Theology. An essential summation of the field. https://t.co/WcfvkA08Y6
40 min 37 sec ago
RT : Richard Dean on 'The Value of Humanity in Kant's Moral Theory' #philosopherotm #OHO https://t.co/nyWPbqjgYr
40 min 53 sec ago
RT : Miriam Leonard & Barbara Goff, 'The legacy of ancient Greek politics . . .', OUPblog https://t.co/adM3TleKaH
41 min 24 sec ago
RT : Exploring the Philosophy of Émilie du Châtelet https://t.co/30is7lM20A
2 hours 57 min ago
RT : The new episode is live, update your feeds for all the probate-y goodness! https://t.co/p4jknLTrY2
13 hours 51 min ago
...embodied in Mother Church. But in same room: well-thumbed 2nd ed of Diderot Encyclopedia!
17 hours 23 min ago
...enemies. At the bottom of the heap? Voltaire, Diderot, and Montesquieu! True Reason is...
17 hours 27 min ago
Ceiling of Hall of Philosophy, Strahov monastery library. Enthroned Reason casts down her...
17 hours 31 min ago
. This pic IMO nice illustration of relationship RCC and science https://t.co/8fTfqImgtG
17 hours 32 min ago
RT : My recap of 's podcast episode on karma: https://t.co/FIQ3e8cE73 #hinduism #buddhism #india https://t.co/RIrE1NiHTv
18 hours 9 min ago
Women in ancient Indian philosophy, on today's new HoPWaG episode: https://t.co/RSm2Zuw9qF https://t.co/aXDVeEpcVl
18 hours 11 min ago
My recap of 's podcast episode on karma: https://t.co/FIQ3e8cE73 #hinduism #buddhism #india https://t.co/RIrE1NiHTv
18 hours 30 min ago
Women in the History of Philosophy - PhilEvents https://t.co/OBlg1qna23 via
19 hours 28 min ago
Love HOPWAG. Philosophy in India, not so much. Sorry, Peter.
19 hours 28 min ago
RT : 'The Liar sentence is true if and only if it is false, and thus can be neither (unless it can be both).' https://t.co/4mXWAjCyjJ via OUPblog
21 hours 15 sec ago
I'll be speaking (sadly only via Skype) at this event on women in the history of philosophy, Cambridge Jun 9: https://t.co/dycgbjxrUD
21 hours 45 sec ago
There, Siger of Brabant says that Averroes' views on the intellect are heretical and contradictory. (2/2)
23 hours 17 min ago
This is brilliant, thank you! I would like to add,however, that Siger goes even further in his Commentary on De causis (1/2)
23 hours 18 min ago
About to listen to the podcast on "Latin Averroism" by . As my thesis deals mostly with this, I'm pretty excited about it.
23 hours 40 min ago
RT : 16th-century Ottoman miniature depicting Istanbul by Matrakçı Nasuh https://t.co/KvNpqT3LJa
1 day 51 min ago
Spoiler alert: yes, there were.
1 day 52 min ago
Were there women philosophers in ancient India? Find out in today's new episode of HoPWaG! https://t.co/RSm2Zuw9qF https://t.co/yDEnSnUlsA
1 day 52 min ago
Thank you for the shout out, ! https://t.co/Vd1bMas2sH
1 day 2 hours ago
A new podcast on the History of Ancient Greece: https://t.co/8i2l7QnHrK
1 day 4 hours ago
Looking forward to your spin-off series, "The Probate History Podcast."
1 day 4 hours ago
RT : Working title for episode 199. Aethelred vs Alfred: One of the Most Exciting Moments in Probate History. Yep. #PantyDropper
1 day 4 hours ago
RT : Mary Astell (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy) https://t.co/ENH9av5Xp7 https://t.co/QZ24j4szdQ
1 day 13 hours ago
Tomorrow on the new HoPWaG: women in ancient Indian thought (mostly Upanisads and Mahabharata).
1 day 16 hours ago
RT : love how the scribe nicely managed space on the quire's last page of this 9thC Augustine #manuscript from Corbie https://t.co/M95JluLPxA
1 day 22 hours ago
RT : Al-Rāzī, On the Treatment of Small Children (<i>De curis puerorum</i>) - Brill https://t.co/FTmd08SirS via
1 day 22 hours ago

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Overview

Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, "without any gaps." The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition. 

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