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Hi Peter,
Ron here in Newburyport,Mass. I can't thank you enough for these podcasts. Every time I listen one I reach for my pocket (always empty unfortunately) feeling like I should pay you.
But, regardless of hard I'm trying lately, I can't listen a whole one given all the religious views of the world that has dominated the last 30 or so podcasts. I understand that those views dominated the intellectual thinking of the time, but, were there any competing and compelling views during that period that would be worth looking at? I just have a hard time believing that, given the evolution of "secular" investigation about the universe prior to Christianity, that no valuable thinker would have carried on the banner, writing interesting philosophy.
Just venting.
All the best Peter

Hey Peter,

I was wondering if you could do a podcast on the philosopher Stilbo from the Megarian school. I don't know if much is written about him, but what I've learned about him from reading Seneca's moral letters is quite interesting to me. If there's enough information on Stilbo, then I would like to hear a podcast about him.

Best,

Matt.

Hi Peter. I like your podcast and your puns. In case you don't know, the main character in Confederacy of Dunces, the infamous Ignatius J. Reilly, references Scholasticism and Boethius in particular. Maybe, you could get a Southern fiction expert on to talk about it ... or maybe not. Keep up the good work.

Yours,

Steve

This podcast is the highlight of my week.

Philosophy gives wings to thought, it gives the mind freedom. Religion without philosophy can lead to fanaticism. A philosophically-minded religious person is more open to other religions and philosophies.

“The body only rarely craves food, and intercourse even more rarely, whereas at every single moment we long for the true and the good. We are always keen to experience new things, to imagine new situations, to think new thoughts. We always open our eyes to look at whatever happens. The most extensive and broadest view fills us with the greatest pleasure; indeed, only the boundless satisfies us. We always raise our ears to listen to any kind of sound; this  is something done by children and adults alike, by the learned and the ignorant, and by every artisan in whatever craft. In all this, nature is our guide. One should add that sexual desire can be overcome and a ravenous appetite for food weakened, but this is completely impossible with our desire for the true and the good. On the contrary, the former diminishes with age, while the latter increases.” (Ficino, Platonic Theology)

"For if it thinks of nothing, what is there here of dignity? It is just like one who sleeps. And if thinks, but this depends on something else, then (since that which is its substance is not the act of thinking, but a potency) it cannot be the best substance; for it is through thinking that its value belongs to it. . . For both thinking and the act of thought will belong to one who thinks of the worst things in the world, so that if this ought to be avoided ( and it ought, for there are some things that it is better not to see than to see), the act of thinking cannot be the best of things. Therefore it must be of itself that the divine thought thinks ( since it is the most excellent of things), and its thinking is a thinking on thinking." (Metaphysics 12.9)

If perception is creative ( 'dristi-sristi vada' in Indian terms) then of course we are responsible for dwelling on the negative features of experience. We have the choice to turn our attention away from this to its more optimal dimensions. We see then different choices being made when we read Thomas Traherne describing the celestial stranger who comments on the various wonders of the world on his descent from the sky ( Poetry and Prose, pp112-114 ) in contrast to Hume’s visitor who sees only its thorny aspects ( Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, part x).

“We should be amazed not that there is so much chaos and violence, but that there is so little and everything functions so well. Given the level of aggression of every car driver, the frailties of the equipment and the mad scramble of the traffic, it’s a miracle thousands aren’t killed every day, a miracle we only rarely slaughter each other and only a few of these disastrous possibilities come to fruition. When you see the immense bureaucratic chaos, the number of absurd decisions, the universal fraud and squandering of  our civic virtues, you can only be amazed by the daily miracle of this machine which, somehow or other, keeps on going, dragging its detritus along in its orbit. Apart from a few episodic breakdowns (no more frequent, ultimately, than earth tremors), it’s as though an invisible hand managed to teleonomize all this mess, to normalize this anomie. This is perhaps the same miracle as the one which prevents everyone from succumbing daily to the idea of death or to suicidal melancholia.” (Baudrillard, Cool Memories  II, p18).

I have been listening to your podcast via the app Instacast (a podcast management app) and I love it. I just recently visited the webpage and I noticed that the podcasts are available to download as mp3 format. And my question/recommendation is this, could you please make the mp3s files available for download as a group? Maybe collate the files into zip files by era and have them on a "downloads" tab on the website. That would be greatly appreciated.

Sam

I was expecting the new podcast tomorrow but it's here now! I'm excited!

Dear Peter,

I'm enjoying your podcasts very much. I'm setting them as 'readings' for my intro to ancient philosophy students, and my thirteen year old daughter alternates her evenings between listening to them and watching Dr Who. So we're big fans.

But I am troubled by the lack of women in the history presented so far. I know you mentioned that you would discuss them as they came up in history - but I think you may have missed a few already, and I fear more by get lost as you go along. It's true that we have little or no surviving texts from female ancient philosophers - although that's true of at least some male philosophers you talked about! But when there are surviving texts, they are notoriously hard to find, and somebody busy gathering notes for so many podcasts to come may well miss them.

You're coming up to the middle ages: the twelfth century has at least two women who left philosophical texts: Heloise and Hildegard of Bingen. For more you could check out this page: http://www.women-philosophers.com/ There's also plenty of feminist historians of philosophy who'll be more than happy to advise you if you need it. It would make a huge difference to those of us struggling to bring women back to the canon, and to future generations of philosophers, men and women, if you were able to pull that off.

I think the history of philosophy is very argumentative. Men fight wars. The history of philosophy is mainly about men. Maybe if there had been more women doing philosophy philosophy would have been less about argument and more about understanding and love including love of wisdom.

That said it is better to argue in the medium of words than with fists, knives and guns. No true philosopher has ever committed murder. To the contrary, Jesus and Socrates were victims of murder.

This of mine will interest some.
Note that it an Open-Access free PDF

http://humbox.ac.uk/3682/

Hi Peter,

I was a former religious studies major from Santa Clara University in California. I always felt bad that I had not taken more philosophy courses but was a fan of Plato.

I discovered your podcast and I am up to #12. Loving it! Well spoken, funny, and wonderfully informative! So glad you did this!!

Rick Costa

This is what I've been looking for for a long time; please keep this extremely useful and exciting work up. And will you be including the Kalam of the Ash'arites and the literalist Hanbalite schools? Thanks a lot!

And also which books would you recommend on the history of philosophy? Copleston?

I can recommend Anthony Kenny's "A New History of Western Philosophy" which is available for under £12 from Amazon. The best introduction to Western thought is Hannah Arendt's "Life of the Mind". For Indian philosophy see Radhakrishnan. Also Dasgupta.

This website is a work for the ages. Many, many thanks.

Dear Peter,

Is there any chance that the book you wrote on the Theology of Aristotle will be available at a cheap price for dossers like me?

I want to catch you, Peter, before you finish the 'Islamic World' scripts, which I know will be a year from now, but---Are you going to talk about Qunawi and Fakhruddin 'Iraqi? I notice that neither are in the index of your book, Arabic Philosophy, and both being such a link to Rumi. I am presently doing a short course at St. John's College, Santa Fe, NM on Iraqi and did one earlier on Ibn A'Arabi, so I would love to hear your comments on all 3 of these mystics, as I love ALL your comments about everything!! Hoping you will. Also hoping some day you will venture to the Southwest USA and give a talk. Will await THAT announcement!
PS: Are you going to produce a series of CD's of all these broadcasts?? Hint, Hint.
In much appreciation for your generous and accomplished Spirit,
Edie Murphy

Hiya,

I would just like to say that I'm loving the Islamic World so far, mainly because I know so very little about it, but I was just wondering if you were going to talk about Rumi? This might sound like a stupid question because have no idea about the wider context but I have been reading some of his poetry recently. It strikes me as not only beautiful but also fascinating for its philosophical content. The way his comprehensive idealist metaphysics links to his psychology and ethics is challenging and somehow ecstatic.

Thank you,
Freddie

What's next on the menu, Peter - Indian philosophy?

Hi Peter,

First of all, congratulations for your great podcasts. I'm an avid follower of your wonderful on-going series.

I just wonder, now you're dealing with the philosophy in the Islamic World if, at some point, you're planning to talk about the Toledo School of Translators (maybe in the Latin section of the medieval period). I was born in Toledo, Spain. In our school, I remember they placed great importance on its significance and legacy. Maybe they were just biased and overstating it. I'd like to know your opinion about its true role in the medieval period.

Thank you and kind regards,
Benjamín

There's a music premiere at the Berlin Philharmonic coming up on April 25th. Composer Brett Dean has written a piece for baritone, choir and orchestra based on the Apology and the Phaedo. There's going to be an online broadcast of the Saturday performance!

I would post a URL but I was blocked earlier; just search for last days socrates brett dean.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for your podcasts on the philosophy of the Islamic World, which is new to me and probably for many others. Considering how the art is quite striking and unique within the Islamic world, are you planning to do a podcast on Islamic aesthetics?
Glenn

Hi Peter,

I was wondering when/if you were going to talk about the development of the scientific method in the Islamic world. I was listening to JD Trout on the Such That podcast (http://suchthatcast.com/trout/) and he mentioned that Avicenna and al-Kindi both provide descriptions of the method of concominant variation, well in advance of European thinkers we associate with this idea, like Bacon or Mill.

dude this podcast is badass

This podcast is both enlightening and educational, and I must give some time to say my thanks. I have learned a lot, and hopefully this podcast continues for a long time.

Peter:

I would like to add my voice to the chorus of thank yous. I found your podcasts about 3 months ago; now I'm just 4 episodes away from catching up with your production schedule and having to confront my HOP jones.

Quick question; can you tell me which episode contained the reference to Danny Ray? I want to share it with a JB fan, but couldn't find it.

Thanks, and thanks again for the great work!

I discovered the podcast in December 2012 and have now nearly caught up with you. I'm very excited at the prospect of embarking on a year of Islamic-period philosophers, about whom I know nothing at all.

I studied philosophy as my minor at University College London in the 1980s but the course - to my surprise - was almost entirely devoted to 20th century texts so I emerged with no knowledge of the history of philosophy at all. I believe this is quite common even for students doing philosophy full-time.

I'm very glad to have found the podcast when it was still feasible to catch up with you as I think that people who follow the whole series will have a much richer experience than those who just dip in here and there, but when it gets to several hundred episodes this may seem too daunting!

I look forward to many years of instruction and pleasure in your company!

Really enjoying the podcasts, and I was a computer science, mathematical student in university, and I really wish I had learned more about philosophy or had time to take such courses. Now, these podcasts give me the opportunity.

I was listening to how Parmenides (?) explained the world through Forms, and properties, and seeing if properties can have properties etc.

This is remarkably similar to what we do with computers. I happen to work on various database models and construct structures for simulations etc. We work with earth models, and use these concepts. Except we use "models" which I think is what was meant by "forms". Each model then has its properties.

Once our models are logically complete, they are simple definitions, but when we implement them, they are instantiations. Each instance then has its properties. Not sure about properties about properties, since a property has a "measure" associated with it. so if it is a length or age, then it is value or a measure, i am not sure about properties having properties.

The same way Greeks were thinking of "forms" to understand the world, we construct models to represent our world. Then we implement them, and constantly fine tune them. This is especially true when we deal with earth models, or mathematical models that deal with uncertainties.

Love the podcasts. They help us think and get a grip on the work we are doing today.

Science and art intersect far more often than most people realize, and can really help each other.

I cannot remember which philosopher (pre-Socratic?) said that bread and cheese contain flesh and bone since they are used to produce the materials of our bodies. Can you tell me who said this?

Also, which first or second century AD philosopher said that instead of asking God for a woman/wife, ask God to remove your desire for a woman/wife?

Thank you.

I've started listening two days ago and got hooked. I would love to see if there was a general timeline for when you plan on getting to different topics and people in the future.

Dear Peter, thanks for the great podcasts. I am a newcomer and have only managed to get up to Aristotle so far. I was also pleased to hear you talking on Heraclitus on an old episode of 'In our time'. One thing I felt was missing from that programme was a discussion of the similarities between Heraclitus's Logos and the Dao of Lao-Tzu. I was wondering if you had any thoughts on this, and if you have considered doing any tangential one-off podcasts that explore similarities between east and west? I appreciate that this is somewhat outside of the scope of this podcast, and that you must be busy enough already, but it could be interesting. Thanks again for the podcasts!

Hi Peter,

Just wanted to thank you for the brilliant podcasts (particularly like the style of questioning!) . They've been a priceless discovery. I had an interest in philosophy for many years but didn't read or learn enough on the subject. These podcasts have reignited my interest and will be supplementing my future reading!

Finally all credit to the Leverhulme trust and King's college for spreading knowledge in this way.

Thanks again for a great resource.

So browsing the site, I saw references to a possible book version of Hopwag. I went to Amazon and searched "Peter Adamson." No luck. But I saw a sponsored ad: Philosophy at Sephora®
Hmmm... I must be on the right trail!
Alas... http://www.sephora.com/philosophy

But I'm still enjoying the podcast. Cheers for all your work.

Steve

Hi Peter,

Am a big fan of your podcast and Philosophy. I appreciate the effort you have put to prepare all this. I live in Ethiopia. I feel very blessed to get resourceful site such as yours. Actually I have commented on your article "Woman in Philosophy" unfortunately I couldn't get your response so I switched over here. I have planned to prepare a book about a woman philosophers using our local language but am in shortage of reference material. If you ever know any site to refer or if you have done further about that article will you please suggest me.

Serkalem

When is the projected date for the release of Volume 1 of the book series? I apologize if you have already answered this question more than once; I've listened to every episode but have failed to follow the blog :(

I enjoyed pushing back the boundaries of my ignorance with the Ancients, and warmed to the Christian Fathers of whom I knew something from theological studies. But I've struggled with the Arabic period. Partly I guess it is to do with the strange names which just don't stick. Some of the thinking does, but what goes with whom I find hard to resolve or retain. There is only really any clarity with Saadia Gaon. I wonder if that's to do with his being Jewish and my acquaintance with Jewish thought. Or is his name Hebrew and does it therefore sound less strange to me than Arabic? I don't know.

Much the most difficult podcast to engage with was 136. Maybe that had something to do with Farhad Daftary's speaking voice - I guess English is not his first language. Maybe it was to do with the content. There seem to have been almost innumerable splits among the Ismailis, all of them political, i.e. to do with matters of succession. I didn't get any sense of different ideas, and while the political history is important, it's the ideas I am most interested in. For example most of the Christian splits have a political element in their motivation, but there are distinct theological differences too. I didn't get that from Dr Daftary. I'm still not clear how, if at all, Ismaili belief differs from other Shia. Perhaps the ideas are less important in Islam than loyalty to a particular line of succession.

One thing that has come across with great clarity is how inadequate the coverage of Islam was in the Comparative Religion course I took in the 1970s. I guess the time limit had something to do with it.

I have been looking forward to Avicenna - the first name on the list that already meant something to me. I'm glad there are going to be more podcasts on his thought. The first podcast whetted my appetite but left me feeling he was not a very nice man. But so what? I don't think Socrates would have been my best friend either.

I just wanted to say how much I am enjoying the podcasts. I always thought that philosophy would be "too hard" - but now I know it's all about giraffes and film stars.
Cheers.

Peter,

Great show! Looking forward very much to the next one as I’m very intrigued about these various essence vs. existence debates, esp. as it has to with (any) Absolute Realities . . . .

Question: In referencing the squared circle whose essence precludes its existence owing to its complete impossibility, what is then the actual status of this “essence” here? To posit an “essence” whose very nature precludes absolutely its non-existence, sounds, at least in how we have to make use of language, like how we would describe unrealized contingent existences, like your aforementioned sister, if but taken more absolutely: There’s an essence out there which not only it so happens not to exist, it cannot in anyway exist.

The term was used frequently, but my guess, Avicenna and other Medievals are using the term “essence” here more as a purely “logical” or “semantic” modality since, unlike Anselm’s God, it remains just a conceptual thought without the literal corresponding, also aforementioned, “out there” counterpart.

But is there anything else I’m might be missing in this understanding?—can it be something more than just a mental concept even though lacking actual or substantive existence?

I seem to having a Parmenidean moment—and in fact, I was researching Parmenides and the Platonic dialogue named for him just yesterday in understanding how this might inform various kinds of negative theologizing (and talk about the paradoxical Parmenidean language use here) such as Plotinus or Dionysius’s path of negation vs. Aquinas’ path of eminence.

And, if it be—essentially—your want (forgive me), if you want to recommend any good texts on the Greek, Arabic and Christian history of the intersection of essence, existence and apophatic (and even kataphatic) theology, that would be great. I assume these concerns, will, at some point, in essence, be actualized in further episodes.

Thanks!

Rhys
OKC, OK

Peter,

I have just recently found out about your podcast, and I'm really interessted in watching them and slowly catching up (even though it could take a couple of years) But I do have one question before I start the journey.
I've noticed the website states that you are a Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at King's College; and presently your are on the Islamic Timelime around the year 1111.
When I saw that you are a professor of Ancient and Medieval philosophy I wondered: will you continue chronologically into Modern and Post-Modern philosophy also? Will you be concluding the historical journey in the present? Or will you cover only Ancient and Medieval?

Please go greatly in-depth on the floating man argument of Ibn Sina. I know a lot of people who aren't convinced by this, which troubles me!

This site is unbelievably good. I'm doing an undergraduate subject right now about Plato, Descartes, Hume and Kant and this has been amazing so far. Its great to get a general idea about some of the ideas that were floating around in the field. You're amazing, wowzers.

Awesome podcast dude! Other books I've read treat the ideas in isolation, which makes it difficult to understand the historical context. Your podcast OTOH pieces ideas into a smooth(ish) ramp. The cheesy jokes and puns are a nice touch too. Anyway during the last 2 months I've been listening almost non-stop, beginning with the first episode. It's been fun. Now I'm with the current episode. Look forward to following things at a more sedate pace! Thanks!

So I'm thinking about diving back in to Aristotle's Metaphysics, a book I haven't looked seriously at in a few years. That said, I'm far from an expert on the subject, and as everyone knows it's a pretty daunting text. Can anybody recommend a good translation and commentary or something along those lines? (Other than Aquinas', which is a little lengthy for my purposes.)

Good Afternoon Peter,

I just wanted to say that I love listening to your podcast. You are very eloquent and the subject matter discussed is very intriguing. Thank you for rekindling my interest in philosophy after ten years of dormancy when I took intro to philosophy my freshman year of college. I'm only up to episode 25 but I hope to see you continue releasing new episodes!

-Brandon

Peter,
You might be in the running for an Irish animal welfare award....I have downloaded all your podcasts on my iPod. Twice a day I bring my beagle (Pippin) for a 45-minute walk so that I can take in two episodes each walk.

I did four years' single honors philosophy at Trinity Dublin but you really expand on that and I am looking forward to the neoPlatonists and the early Christian adaption of Greek thought.
Kings College should be very proud of your contribution to global education and critical thinking.
I hope you and your family enjoy a well-deserved holiday (vacation).
Thanks again,
Gerry FLYNN --Dublin ireland

Could a zipped (or tared and gziped) file be provided of every period? The Presocratics and Socrates and Plato for example would be each a file. Much easier to download the series. I was keeping up and then lost my archive.

I was just curious to know the source of the picture on "The Presocratics" page, and what it does represent (if you do know)

Thank you for the podcast it is really interesting to discover philosophy following it.

Charline

I think one of the best parts about your show is not only the historical element but also the fact that even touching on the surface of each of these philosophers' contributions provides a great deal of logical and deductive enlightenment to individuals who are philosophical novices (such as myself). Out of all th philosophers you have talked about so far (I'm up to Augustine which I'm excited about relearning), I find Diogenes the cynic to be truly inspiring and interesting. Do you have any literature or papers to recommend for further research into his legacy...or lack thereof haha. Also, is it worth reading Galin other than just for pure amusement?

Hello, I really liked your episode that deals with Augustine's epistemology. In it, you mention that knowledge is characterized by intention. I'm familiar with his "Against Scepticism" but not sure he discusses that there. Is there any chance you could please point out where he discusses this?

This is in the effort to consider how knowledge defined as justified true belief might include intentionality, or not, and possibly bring some closure to it.

Thank you!

Hello,

Do you have a single page that gives the further reading sources for ALL your episodes?

Thanks,
Sajjad

Hi Peter,

I'm trying to track down where some of these passages are in Avicenna, and whether they are translated. One question is where does his phoenix example come up?

Thanks!

Dear Peter,

It seems that Avicenna and Aquinas are one in identifying God with His existence and in holding that the essences of contingent things are neutral as to existence. Avicenna puts this in a way that Aquinas as well as Averroes would not, and the latter apparently criticized Avicenna on this point, as did Banez in the 16th century. That aside, what Avicenna means by saying that existence is accidental to these essences, so it seems to me, is only that existence is external to essence in contingent things and with this Aquinas would certainly agree. Yet it remains to ask whether Aquinas and Avicenna meant the same thing by existence and identifying God with His existence. Can you say anything about this?

Thank you so much for providing this superb educational experience.

Josh
Little Rock, AR, USA

Hey you should look into making torrent files of the zip archives of the podcasts it would be a great means of distributing the podcast while lessening the load on your servers.

Hi Peter,

I'm on podcast 61 and looking forward each day to continue on. This has been so very helpful and I can not thank you enough for your work!!

Very Best and Thank you so much,
Dave

Hi Peter, I've been following this series since over a year but still in the 50s episodes because of my time constraint. I want to thank you for the wonderfully informative content and not to forget some very witty vignettes in each episode.

Perhaps a suggestion would be to pause a little during the podcast so that we have the time to let the ideas sink in. And also some of the episodes (at least the earlier ones) with guest speakers have poor audio quality - maybe these are recorded differently? That's it, thank you once again, keep going!

Hello. I am a huge fan! Congratulations on such a sound work in the quite modern medium of podcasting.
Do I gather rightly that you have purposefully avoided making forward comparisons of historical philosophers with modern thinkers and notions, something others in your shoes might try, if only to make their insights more relevant to a modern, let alone postmodern, audience? If so, does that itself indicate something about your own philosophy on how we should understand either or both, history and philosophy? Would you comment on your reasoning about this careful separation of concerns, as I make it, between your modern diction and medium, your methodological explanations (how do we know this is what they said?), your explanation of their influences and work, without often indicating their modern impact, potential or real, beyond your choice of what to cover? Well, that question got over-blown quickly. I'll try again: Is there a philosophy of history behind your history of philosophy?

Prof. Adamson, thank you for your podcasts. They are absolutely amazing. I've been listening to them for quite some time now, some of the podcasts more than once. Can I also ask you if you could provide me with some notes (or at least outlines?) that you have already made? Often, I'd like to take notes while listening to the mp3s and it takes me then more time as I sometimes have to pause or rewind the lecture. It would really help me in terms of time, and also I guess occasionally in terms of accuracy of names, terms, dates, etc. Any help? Please, keep up the great work!