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Here is my latest column for the magazine Philosophy Now, which asks how we should respond when we find figures in the history of philosophy expressing views we now find obviously repugnant, e.g. justifying slavery or making misogynist remarks.

I was just reading an essay by the novelist Jonathan Lethem in which he argues against the temptation to canonize only a few great novelists (the "Rushmore" impulse, he calls it), since there are so many other varied fiction writers worth reading. Of course this resonates with the "without any gaps" approach of the podcast. I was particularly struck by the following passage which, if applied to the history of philosophy, expresses better than I ever could my feelings about trying to narrow our focus to a canon of major figures:

An interesting article on Daily Nous about something I take to be a major problem in the philosophy business: disproportionately fewer women choosing to go on in their study of philosophy. This is based on some data collected through student surveys.

Here is a lovely review of the third book based on the podcasts, the one dealing with the Islamic world, on the Medieval Review. Nice to have a reviewer who actually likes the jokes.