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Chike on 13 April 2013

Interesting

Very interesting to hear that you may one day add Indian philosophy to the story, which of course will mean a drastic break in chronology... but then again, your approach to the medieval period and some past patterns in episode progression have already demonstrated the fruitfulness of breaking things up in non-chronological ways as well.

This reply interests me partly because I have loved most everything about this series save the title, because, as the first episode admitted, the attempt here is really to do the history of *Western* philosophy with no gaps. But this reply makes me wonder whether you left "Western" out of the title purposefully, in order to leave yourself the option of covering non-Western philosophy?

Peter Adamson on 13 April 2013

"Western"

Hi there,

Well, to be honest when I started I had no intention at all of doing Indian or Chinese, it is something I've started to feel awkward about since starting: after all, these traditions have much to offer the historian of philosophy. As for when I might come back and do it, to be honest if I do, it would probably be at the earliest after medieval is over. But I still worry that that will interrupt the continuity of the story I am trying to tell, as I said in the first ever episode. I also worry that I am simply not the right person to do a podcast on Indian or Chinese philosophy: I know hardly anything about it, don't know the relevant languages, etc. (Also the little I know suggests to me that the secondary literature on it, and available translations, are not yet good enough to give me confidence that I was summarizing it on the basis of adequate information.) Still it is tempting, if only because I would learn so much by trying!

I'm furthermore conscious that as nice as it would be to cover the Eastern traditions,a lot of people do want me to get on to Descartes, Hume, Kant, etc. Along these lines there is also the option of getting to the "end" of Western philosophy (whenever that is) and then going back to do Indian and Chinese thought. That is probably the most appealing to me right now, if only because it puts the challenge years into the future! And then I could read about it casually over the next 10 years or whatever and feel in a better position to tackle it when the time comes. We'll see. Anyway it is at least tentatively on the "to do" list.

Cheerio,

Peter

Chike on 14 April 2013

Thanks and please do it!

Thanks for the reply, Peter. Consider the rest of this comment a humble plea for circling back after you finish the medieval section of the podcast.

Your feeling of awkwardness make a lot of sense. It's bad enough to have things out there claiming to be the "history of philosophy" when all that's being discussed is Western philosophy... it seems almost (unintentionally, I'm sure) spiteful to call something "history of philosophy WITHOUT ANY GAPS" when the intention is only to cover Western philosophy, thus consciously leaving us with *humungous* gaps.

(I recognize and appreciate that you are covering Islamic philosophy, which some might think of as non-Western, but this is of course not merely because you are one of the premier experts in the field but also because it fits in so organically with the story of Western philosophy)

Up until now, it seemed to me that the solution for this problem was simply to change the title of the podcast, but I was too busy enjoying it and learning a ton of new stuff to bother with complaining about that. Now, I feel like the title, which previously struck me as so very unfortunate, actually presents you and all of us listeners with a fantastic opportunity... it will actually be relatively natural to use the break between the medieval and early modern sections to fill out the picture of ancient and medieval philosophy with the major Eastern traditions.

And it truly will be better, in my humble opinion, to circle back at that point. To embark upon an informative picture of modern Western philosophy with as few gaps as possible, one that attains nothing more or even far less than the completeness with which you have covered and are covering the ancient and medieval periods, is so massive an undertaking that the chances of never getting to Eastern philosophy will rocket sky high. At the very least, however confident we could be that you would get to it eventually, we can also be certain that there would *never again* be a natural point at which to turn our attention in that direction.

Your concern that you are not the right person to do it strikes me as understandable but also totally misplaced, for the following reasons:

1) Not knowing much about it is not a reason, as I'm sure there have already been podcasts on material you knew only a little about beforehand, and that will certainly be the case, probably increasingly so, on many future occasions if you intend to cover modern Western philosophy with as few gaps as possible.

2) A better reason would be that it's just not the kind of stuff that captures you intellectually, for if that were to be the case, you would lack the motivation to get through it or to do it well. This, in fact, strikes me as the only good reason not to do it, as this is clearly a labour of love and there is no good reason to turn it into anything else. Nevertheless, I *strongly* doubt that this could turn out to be the case.

a) The podcasts thus far have revealed you to be someone who is wonderfully curious intellectually, able to wrap your mind around and find the points of interest in philosophical problems of all kind.

b) There are people who worry that the Eastern traditions are religious in a way that makes them harder to get into for Westerners but, even if that were true, you have shown that the mixture of religious and philosophical concerns in no way scares you away from grappling with philosophical material from the past. As it turns out, though, I also think this is a completely unfounded worry.

3) I am surprised that you are worried about the availability of good secondary literature. It seems to me that there is truly a wealth of good secondary lit out there, especially on the Indian and Chinese traditions, and that it is increasingly sophisticated and accessible from a Western-trained perspective. To begin with, there are all the entries on Eastern philosophy on SEP and IEP. Among the fantastic secondary lit books that I've checked out on Chinese philosophy, which I know more about than Indian philosophy, I recommend Chad Hansen's Daoist Theory of Chinese Thought, Bryan Van Norden's Virtue Ethics and Consequentialism in Early Chinese Philosophy, and Karyn Lai's Introduction to Chinese Philosophy. When it comes to Indian philosophy, although I know less, I can say that everything Jonardon Ganeri writes is great and a standing refutation of the idea that Indian philosophy and analytic philosophy can be seen as in tension, much less irreconcilable.

Now, when it comes to the primary texts, while the major works in classical Chinese philosophy are easy enough to find, I can see how this might be more of a worry when it comes to the Indian tradition. I think this worry can be partly addressed by what I will say in (4), below. What fits in better with my present point is my recommendation that you start by seeing not only where the SEP and IEP entries direct you but also what you find in the bibliographies of this recent excellent handbook from Oxford: http://www.amazon.com/Oxford-Handbook-World-Philosophy-Handbooks/dp/019… ... I have not read the sections on Eastern philosophy, since I am familiar with the book mainly because of the nicely large section on my own area of research, Africana philosophy. But I have thus far found it a very impressive guide to non-Western traditions.

4) Deficiencies in your knowledge would seem like a more substantial barrier if it weren't for the excellent use you have already made of interviews with specialists. I am certain that philosophers like the ones I've already listed and others would jump at the chance to be part of the podcast. If it turns out that telling the story of pre-modern Eastern philosophy requires that you rely more on interviews than in other sections, I don't think any of us listeners would begrudge you that.

So there it is, my humble and earnest plea for you to listen to that part of yourself that is considering taking on non-Western traditions before going onto modern Western philosophy. The choice is yours, of course, and I will continue to be a listener and a fan of the podcast either way. It is truly a great resource, especially for periods and areas of philosophy that we tend not to get taught about in your average philosophy department, like Neoplatonism and the Church Fathers. But I hope it is obvious that this is part of why I am so passionately encouraging you to include Eastern philosophy (and, I must admit, if you decide to put it off indefinitely, I am sure I will go back to wishing that you would hurry up and just change the podcast's name...).

Peter Adamson on 14 April 2013

"Eastern" philosophy

Thanks - I have to admit that's all very persuasive with the possible exception of the nice things you say about me! I won't finish medieval (including Byzantine) for a couple of years so I have time to read up a bit and think about this. It would be helpful too to hear what other people think.

A brief word on "western":  the main figure of the Islamic tradition is Avicenna who was born in modern-day Afghanistan -- pretty far "east". In fact often "Western" is taken to exclude philosophy in the Islamic world (equally absurd since on the other hand, Averroes, Maimonides and many others are from Andalusia - which is pretty far west!). And of course there's the implicit Eurocentrism of "Eastern" vs "Western" (east and west of what?). So I tend to eschew the whole "western" vs "eastern" nomenclature. Which isn't to deny that ideally I should cover Indian and Chinese thought, just that if I didn't ever get to it I still wouldn't want to put "Western" in the podcast title.

Thanks again,

Peter

Chike on 15 April 2013

Makes sense

Glad you found my plea pretty persuasive and that you will continue to give it some thought, and I definitely hope that others will read this exchange and weigh in with their own thoughts.

Your argument for avoiding the word "Western" makes sense, although it is in contrast with your use of this language in the podcast's first episode. I wonder what word(s) can be used to delineate the continuous tradition you've been tracing thus far if "Western" is inappropriate...

Some compatibl… on 29 July 2013

Interrupting the story

Peter, I agree with what you said about feeling uncomfortable about doing Indian or Chinese thought because it would interrupt the story you are trying to tell. There is an absolutely essential link between the continuity of medieval thought and the early moderns. I would recommend doing Indian and Chinese, or any eastern philosophy, after you finish western philosophy. It might take you 3 years to do the early modern period anyway...

That's my advice,

Some compatible essence

dave enright on 14 October 2013

advice

Hi Peter,

As of episode 80 I've enjoyed your series tremendously and I couldn't ask for more (thank you).

The impression that I had from earlier on was that your series was starting with the pre-Socratics and covering the growth of that line including all the many influences on that line as it expanded to present without gaps. So I didn't have any absolute "no gaps what so ever" expectations. If I did maybe I'd expect ancient Sumerian's to be included.

Please continue as planned.

Very Best,
Dave

Denziloe on 14 October 2013

Just chipping in to endorse

Just chipping in to endorse that idea at the end. I'm really looking forwards to you hitting the more contemporary Western figures.

Freddie on 30 March 2013

Rumi

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

Peter Adamson on 31 March 2013

Rumi

Hi Freddie,

Hm, hadn't thought about that yet to be honest. Like I said in reply to an earlier comment I am definitely going to cover mysticism/Sufism (also Jewish mysticism by the way, so the Zohar and Kabbalah) but probably not in great depth, because it's a potentially vast topic which would take us away from the main story. And of course I would stick to the more philosophical authors. I have to do some research as to who these would be apart from Ibn 'Arabi and his followers, because Sufism has never been a research interest of mine. (Not that I have anything against it, it's just one of the things I haven't gotten around to working on so far!) At the moment my expectation is more to cover Ibn 'Arabi and his direct influence and leave it at that; given Rumi's fame though I should probably at least say something briefly about how he fits into the tradition, but I might do more once I've read up a bit.

Cheerio,

Peter

Joe Sen on 1 April 2013

Plotinus

Dear Peter,

If Plotinus had been born in the 20th century how do you think he would sit with analytical philosophers?

Peter Adamson on 3 April 2013

Plotinus

Actually I don't think that's a meaningful question. One can't imagine Plotinus' philosophy without its context against the backrgound of Middle Platonism, late antiquity, etc. That probably goes for all figures in the history of philosophy but it might go double for Plotinus!

Edie Murphy on 30 March 2013

Islamic World

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

Peter Adamson on 30 March 2013

Sufism

Hi Edie,

I'm not sure exactly which mystics I will cover. Definitely some of them, especially Ibn 'Arabi, and I also plan to talk about his later influence. Maybe later developments in Sufism should be its own episode. Mysticism (or just philosophical mysticism) is a huge topic and not one I know a lot about, though on the other hand this would be a chance to learn more, which I should. I guess Qunawi will definitely get covered, at least.

Regarding the CD's you might have seen you can now download all the episodes from this website as .zip files; given that they are freely available like this (or on podcast feeds like iTunes) I don't think it makes much sense to create CD's also. However I am going to be publishing the scripts as a series of books, the first one due to appear later this year. (Then I could re-record that as an audiobook, and it would come full circle...)

Thanks!

Peter

Joe Sen on 30 March 2013

Dear Peter, Have you read

Dear Peter,

Have you read Stace's "Mysticism and Philosophy"?

Peter Adamson on 30 March 2013

Stace

No I haven't - like I say I'm not that thoroughly versed in the literature on mysticism. Should I?

Peter

Joe Sen on 30 March 2013

I think Stace's book is very

I think Stace's book is very good. I also like David Loy's "Nonduality". Mystics are not aggressive about the divine because they have experienced it passively and softly within themselves. There has never been a war between mystics. The experience of the divine rather than mere intellectual beliefs about it based on one exclusive tradition is a universal one which makes one hospitable to other philosophies and religions. As the Maharishi says, it leaves intact and develops the desire to see more and more, not less.

joseph sen on 28 March 2013

Theology of Aristotle

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?

Peter Adamson on 28 March 2013

Theology of Aristotle

HI Joe,

Afraid not, it's been out of print for years and I don't think it's possible to buy used. (They didn't print many of them.) Perhaps at some point I should look into the possibility of a second edition. On the bright side this weekend's episode is going to touch on it, since it covers the Greek-Arabic translation movement.

Peter

Pascal on 28 March 2013

Without any gaps

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

Joe Sen on 26 March 2013

Books

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.

Aron on 26 March 2013

Books

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

Peter Adamson on 26 March 2013

Books on history of philosophy

I used to think single-author books covering the entire history of philosophy were ridiculous... but obviously I've had to change my mind about that, on pain of hypocrisy! (These podcasts will appear as a series of books starting soon.) Anyway I still would tend to prefer books on periods and authors, as suggested in the bibliographies here on the website (for general books look on the top page of each section). Failing that perhaps Anthony Kenny's recent history would be a good place to start.

Aron on 26 March 2013

Excellent Work Peter!

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!

Peter Adamson on 26 March 2013

Kalam and Fiqh

Hi there,

Thanks very much! Yes, I plan an episode on the Ash'arites (as well as some on Ash'arite thinkers like Ghazali). I may do an episode on fiqh generally, but not one per school!

Cheerio,

Peter

Rick Costa on 23 March 2013

a new listener

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

Peter Adamson on 24 March 2013

Fans of Plato

Hi,

Any fan of Plato is more than welcome to the podcast audience! But seriously, I'm very glad you are enjoying it. You have a lot of episodes to go until you are caught up!

Thanks,

Peter

David Marans on 20 March 2013

Pantheon of Logic

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

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

Joe Sen on 18 March 2013

That said it is better to

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.

Peter Adamson on 18 March 2013

Do philosophers murder?

Now that's an interesting one. Can anyone think of a philosopher who has murdered someone? (I guess killing people in battle doesn't count, Socrates probably did that for instance.) The only thing that leaps to mind for me is Caravaggio but he was an artist.

Dimitrios Vasilakis on 19 March 2013

Composers murder too...

Not to stop at Caravaggio; one of the most important, forward-looking(/listening), yet almost forgotten, renaissance composers: Carlo Gesualdo da Venosa (1560-1613) murdered both his first wife and her lover...
(You might want to consider his madrigals for the opening-music of the future section on Renaissance philosophy...)
Not to speak about the Pythagorean-(Neo-)Platonic connection of philosophy with music and mathematics, if philosophy is an "ars vitae", then the artistic examples are at least philosophically valid... (Even if in the official 'without gaps' story they are justly absent...)
Some people say that important personalities of the past taught through their actions as well. Well, some times it's better not to follow the practical example of every important intellectual figure...

Joe Sen on 18 March 2013

I think the history of

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.

Sandrine on 18 March 2013

Women Philosophers

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.

Peter Adamson on 18 March 2013

Women philosophers

Dear Sandrine,

Thanks, that's very helpful, especially the website. You're actually pushing at an open door, as they say, I have always wanted to include women philosophers in the podcast where they are often overlooked (the "without any gaps" slogan applies here). So I'm discouraged to hear that I disappointed you in this respect in the ancient episodes -- I did try to emphasize the role of women in the episodes on ancient Christianity (I brought the topic up numerous times, not only when I discussed Macrina). To be honest I thought about doing a whole episode on women in ancient philosophy but was worried it would turn into a discussion of what male philosophers say about women, because most women philosophers (like the ones listed on this website) are little more than names to us. Also my original thought was to frame that episode around Hypatia but once I read up on her a bit more I saw that we know very little about even her as a philosophical thinker, since most of the evidence concerns her work as a mathematician. Still, perhaps this was a mistake -- I will think about whether I might add a chapter on this in the book version. But certainly I do plan to cover women as I go along. The Islamic world will probably not be very rich hunting ground though there is at least a place for women in the history of Sufism. But things will look a bit better in medieval Europe and then the contributions of women will really come into the story much more, I think, when I get to early modernity. In fact that is one of the main points I want to stress when I get to that period.

Thanks again,

Peter

Sandrine on 18 March 2013

Thanks Peter. I'm really

Thanks Peter. I'm really looking forward to hearing about Hildegard. But please do also look into Heloise of Argenteuil who gives an interesting perspective on Seneca applied to convent life. I have a paper coming out on this in the BJHP in november, and I'm sure Marenbon would gladly come back to do a spot on her!
Thanks again for taking this seriously.

Peter Adamson on 18 March 2013

Heloise

Thanks, that's a great suggestion. Perhaps you could send me that paper when it is out? Or just post a comment here letting me know when it has been published. (No rush for the moment, I won't get to Latin philosophy for a while.) It would be nice to be able to say something about Heloise other than the story of her doomed love with Abelard!

Joe Sen on 16 March 2013

I was expecting the new

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

Samuel Ronicker on 16 March 2013

Mp3s

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

Peter Adamson on 16 March 2013

.mp3's

That's a good idea, we are thinking about the feasibility (we would I guess need to update the .zip file every time a new podcast is  posted... also the file would be pretty big). But most podcatching software allows for simultaneous download of all episodes, right? I know iTunes does, at least, that's what I use.

Peter

Samuel Ronicker on 17 March 2013

I do sometimes batch download

I do sometimes batch download them with Instacast, but I often listen to them during my morning commute and I don't often have them pre-downloaded and 3G streaming is not always fast enough. Oh well, I should just remember to download them. Either way thanks for the quick reply!

Peter Adamson on 17 March 2013

batch downloads

Actually my web master Julian has found a way to do this, should be up soon (the idea will be to make .zip files available for each ssub-series when it is done e.g. "Hellenistic philosophy").

Joe Sen on 14 March 2013

“We should be

“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).

Joe Sen on 13 March 2013

If perception is creative (

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).

Joe Sen on 13 March 2013

Aristotle

"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)

Joe Sen on 13 March 2013

“The body only

“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)

joseph sen on 12 March 2013

Religion without philosophy

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.

Joe Sen on 11 March 2013

This podcast is the highlight

This podcast is the highlight of my week.

Steven Yamarik on 11 March 2013

Confederacy of Dunces

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

Peter Adamson on 12 March 2013

Dunces

Or when I get to Duns Scotus? Thanks for the tip!

Peter

Matt on 11 March 2013

Would it be possible to do a podcast on Stilbo?

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.

Ron Dienstmann on 9 March 2013

too much religion?

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

Glenn Russell on 10 March 2013

Too much religon

Hi Ron,
Certainly Peter will be in a position to answer your question as a scholar of the history of philosophy. I am not an academic nor a scholar but my take is this is one big reason many college philosophy departments jump from Plotinus to Descartes. That ‘faith seeking understand’ of the Middle Ages is simply too much religion for most modern philosophers. From what I’ve read of that period, if there were any philosophers raised as Christians and putting forth a competing non-Christian, creative, innovative philosophy, they would be carrying the banner of free-thinking philosophy as they were taken out to be burned at the stake.
Best, Glenn

Peter Adamson on 11 March 2013

Religion

Thanks for the comments, folks. Definitely as we now head into medieval philosophy we are going to be looking at philosophers who are thinking a lot about and are motivated by religion. I would say that in late antiquity you get essentially two branches of philosophy, pagan Neoplatonism and the Church Fathers -- for both obviously religion plays a big role. To be honest the central place of religion doesn't begin there (think of Xenophanes and Plato getting upset about traditional depictions of the gods), and it continues after the medieval period and renaissance. Descartes has plenty to say about God, even if this is not emphasized in undergrad courses on him! And the same for Kant, for instance. Really the notion that philosophy is somehow entirely separate from religion and should have nothing to do with it is, historically speaking, the exception rather than the norm.

I realize that this makes the history of philosophy sometimes seem less interesting to atheist readers/listeners; what I've been trying to do and will keep trying to do is be faithful (pun intended!) to the importance of religious themes, while also trying to convey why a non-religious person might find this stuff interesting. But ultimately if you want to know about the history of philosophy you need to know a lot about religion and its impact on philosophy, not just Christianity but also paganism, Islam, and Judaism (which we'll be getting to very soon), so there is no getting around it. I think that for an atheist listener, the right attitude to take would perhaps be the same as you would think about plain old history: just as you need to understand the religious context of the Crusades to understand the Crusades, so you need to understand the religious themes that are woven into brilliant philosophical works like, say, Augustine's On the Trinity.

Peter

Adam on 12 March 2013

the separation of God and philosophy

I think that this project of doing philosophy without any religious dimensions does not really occur until Kant, or at least, that's what my modern philosophy course led me to think. Philosophy for most of the folks Peter has reviewed has been a way of life as much as a system of thought.

Peter Adamson on 12 March 2013

Secular philosophy

Or maybe Hume, who mostly discusses religion in order to attack it. Of course there are degrees here though; for instance the Epicureans claim not to be atheists but discuss the gods largely only to eliminate them as a possible source of fear. And even within Neoplatonism, you have very different attitudes towards pagan religion in, for instance, Plotinus and Proclus. Still I think it's broadly right that defining philosophy in _opposition_ to religion is mostly a recent phenomenon.

Joe Sen on 12 March 2013

Philosophy reaches its

Philosophy reaches its highest possibility when it becomes religious.

Glenn Russell on 12 March 2013

Philosophy's highest possibility

Hi Joe,
Could you kindly expand a bit on your statement here. Thanks.

joseph sen on 12 March 2013

God, the soul, the universe

God, the soul, the universe taken as a whole, love are the highest realities which are treated seriously in religion. When philosophy approaches these through the use reason it partakes in them and reaches its zenith. Even if God, the soul, the universe taken as a whole and love are just ideas (not my view) even then philosophical thoughts of them are the best thoughts. Philosophy teaches that the enjoyment of thoughts is an end in itself.

Glenn Russell on 12 March 2013

the soul and the universe taken as a whole

Thanks, Joe. That is well put, noting the soul and the universe taken as a whole. It is with the word 'religion' many philosophers , both ancient and modern, would take issue. Particularly modern, since religion in the west has caused a countless number of men, women and children to be tortured, face prision and be put to death. Not exactly the spirit of philosophy.

Rob Loftis on 3 March 2013

History Resources to Go with of Medieval Islamic Philosophy

Hi Peter!

Can you recommend any good resources (preferably audio) to provide historical and social context for your year of medieval Islamic philosophy podcasts?

I've been listening to the Yale Open Courses on Greek history (http://oyc.yale.edu/classics/clcv-205) and the early middle ages (http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-210), and it has helped me put the gapless history of philosophy in context so far. I'd like to continue this pattern, preferably with other stuff that fits the hour or two of listening time I have every week.

Rob

Peter Adamson on 3 March 2013

More resources on Islamic history

Well, there are some relevant episodes of the In Our Time program from Radio 4. For instance this episode on the Arab Conquests (should be available on iTunes on their archive). Also a 6 episode series on medicine in the Islamic world by my collaborator Peter Pormann. But I don't know (and would love to hear!) of a series of podcasts dedicated to Islamic history that is worth listening to.

Peter

Ian Babb on 2 March 2013

Thank you

Hello,

I wanted to thank you for your excellent podcast. As a layperson trying to fill in some of the many gaps in my knowledge, I’ve found your podcasts to be clear, thought provoking, entertaining and very informative. You’ve inspired me to read some Plato, so thank you for that as well.

I hope that your sponsors will continue to support this worthy project; I can attest that it’s an effective public engagement tool, and I imagine that it would provide much-needed contextualization for students in a variety of disciplines.

Best regards and keep up the good work,
Ian Babb

Rick on 12 March 2013

Thank you

Well said, Ian, I totally concur and I wish to add my thanks to Peter. Thank you so much.

Dionysios on 26 February 2013

Byzantine Philosophy

I see that Islamic or Arabic philosophy is up next. I hope you do not make the same mistake that a lot of historians of philosophy make and forget to include philosophically interesting Byzantine thinkers. You have included Dionysios Areopagite, Maximum, Philoponus so far; but, you must also include Psellus, Gemistus, Gregoras, Metochites and Pachymeres. Modern scholarship is increasingly paying attention to these thinkers.

Peter Adamson on 26 February 2013

The Byzantines

Far from it, I'm planning a season on them too. As I"ll be explaining in the first Islamic world episode, I am dividing the medieval period into three sections, basically (though not quite) by language: Arabic, Latin, Greek. I am doing Byzantine thought last of the three so it'll be a while, but I will get there!

Peter

Dionysios on 26 February 2013

Byzantine philosophy

Great news. Thanks Peter. The podcasts are a tremendous resource.

Joe Sen on 24 February 2013

Podcast

Thank you so much for the podcasts. It's a great gift to hear them. We don't even have to pay any money to do so.

jim keogh on 21 February 2013

something out of nothing

Hi i listened to a few of your pod casts and like them very much.. i am not a well educated man so i'm just trying to grasps certain concepts that you have covered.. one is how can something come from nothing so how can all that is in the material world have come from the void or nothingness .. thank you ..... Jim

Peter Adamson on 21 February 2013

something from nothing

Hi Jim,

That is indeed a tough question! In fact Parmenides and most other classical Greek philosophers (including Aristotle) thought that this simply cannot happen. The idea of bringing something out of nothing is especially associated with God as a Creator and we see it come into the history of philosophy in late antiquity, really, in the Church Fathers. Even there, it's usually stressed that God's creation of things from nothing is unique, in the sense that God is the only cause that can make it happen. So we might conclude from this that, at least in the history of philosophy, it was usually assumed that something's coming to be from nothing is akin to (or is) a miracle.

Whether contemporary physics now is willing to contemplate things coming to be from nothing, I'm not sure; perhaps some of our physicist listeners would like to comment on that.

Peter

belle on 21 February 2013

just wanna ask your opinion..

is history preempted or not?.

Peter Adamson on 21 February 2013

Preemption

Sorry, I don't think I know what you mean by that question! Can you elaborate?

Aida A on 18 February 2013

Science and scientific thought of medieval Islamic civilization

Hello everyone,

I would like to see some recommendations of the books which encompass the development of science and scientific thought from the beginnings of civilizations until now, which includes the golden age of Islamic civilization and its place in the history of science and human thought.

Books should be readable for people who are not deeply involved in philosophy but are interested in science, and philosophy and logic related to science. :)

Gizawi on 19 February 2013

Pormann and Savage-Smith

Hello,

For Islamic medicine I highly recommend you start with Peter E. Pormann and Emilie Savage-Smith's "Medieval Islamic Medicine". I found it to be pretty accesable. It mainly covers the legacy of Hellenic medicine but does touch on non-Hellenic medical practices from within and outside the Medieval Islamic world. It also covers medical culture, institutions, religious dynamics between physicians of different faiths, and much more. In the end of the book there is a comprehensive list of medical texts by physicians written during the period the book covers (I don't remember if it lists books translated into Arabic, but I think it does).

Hope that helps. It is an excellent book.

Peter Adamson on 20 February 2013

Pormann and Savage-Smith

Yes, most definitely! Pormann is a close collaborator of mine actually and will be appearing on the podcast, I interviewed him about medicine in the Islamic world. He also has a series of 6 podcasts he did on the same subject: here's the link.

Aida A on 21 February 2013

Hello Peter, 1. Is there

Hello Peter,

1. Is there some schedule of podcasts? I want to know what's the number of the first episode about Islamic philosophers so i can calculate the day :)?

2. What do you think is the term "Arabic" philosophy/philosophers the best, if you use that term for philosophy during medieval Islamic period? Do you think it might be a wrong term?

Peter Adamson on 21 February 2013

Philosophy in the Islamic world

Hi there,

1. The first episode on this will be number 120 (so it will go up March 17, I think).

2. I actually nowadays prefer the phrase "Philosophy in the Islamic world" and have a long explanation for that which takes up a fair chunk of episode 120! So you'll hear my rationale then. (Basically it is that I include Christian and Jewish thinkers in the story, and using "Arabic" is awkward because of the texts that aren't in Arabic but in Hebrew and Persian and occasionally still Syriac.)

Thanks,

Peter

Aida A on 21 February 2013

.

In that case "philosophers of the Islamic World" is better than "Islamic philosophers". Thanks for communicating with folks. That's a good way to expand knowledge and views. :)

Aida A on 13 March 2013

Medieval Islamic Medicine

Hello,

I came to the point of some more free time, and i listened to the podcast of Mr. Pormann. I found it informative, i like his pretty much neutral tone (he sounds like and objective scientist), but i don't feel so much satisfied about the duration of the whole podcast, and maybe because of that, i feel like it's just scratching the surface. Do you?! And maybe the book offers some more. But in any case i appreciate the podcast. So it can be the beginning. Peter I am waiting to hear about science from you too. :)

Best regards,
Aida

Jim Schumacher on 17 February 2013

Theology of Aristotle

I am very excited about the upcoming podcasts on Arabic philosophy. When I was in college my medieval philosophy courses did not recognize its existence.

I would like to see a separate podcast on the Theology of Aristotle, its peculiarities compared to its source and how Arabic philosophy turned out differently because of it.

Peter Adamson on 17 February 2013

Theology of Aristotle

Funny you should mention that, I just wrote the script on the Greek-Arabic translation movement and the last section discusses exactly what you say here (differences between the Arabic Plotinus and the original). And we'll be seeing in due course what further impact it had...

Thanks!

Peter

Joe Sen on 10 February 2013

Islamic philosophy

I'm very much looking forward to learning about Islamic philosophy. I would like especially to hear about Ibn Arabi.

Saad B. on 9 February 2013

History of Philosophy without gaps book?

Hey there Peter,

So since your in the business of creating podcasts about the history of philosophy without gaps, is there any prospect of you writing a history of philosophy without gaps book? I still feel like that most history of philosophy books are truncated when it comes to medieval philosophy, especially Arabic philosophy. Sure, there's Russell's classic and Anthony Kenny's new history of philosophy, and others, but I stil feel like not many do justice to the Arabic philosophical tradition. Maybe scholars just don't think Arabic philosophy is an integral part of the Western canon.

Peter Adamson on 9 February 2013

The book version

Hi there -- The answer is an emphatic yes! I've got the first volume of a series of books based on these podcasts just about ready to send to press. Vol.1 will cover ancient philosophy up through Aristotle, vol.2 basically what I've done since then (hellenistic, late ancient including Christians). And then vol.3 will be philosophy in the Islamic world, which we're just about to get to in the podcast. These will appear with Oxford University Press, and of course I'll announce here when they start coming out.

Peter

Saad B. on 14 February 2013

The book version

Sounds great Peter! Also, can you tell us a little about the formatting? I mean will they be based on the podcast in the sense of being a series of interviews?

Cheerio

Peter Adamson on 16 February 2013

more on book version

No, actually the reverse -- they will be based only on the scripted episodes, which will be revised to make them more book-like though, for the most part, you could more or less read along with the podcast. I didn't think it would be fair to come back to the guests after the fact and ask to publish what they said, since it's one thing to speak off the cuff and another to think of oneself as committing one's words to print. So the interview episodes will be podcast only.

Thanks,

Peter

Joe Sen on 4 February 2013

Dialogue

I enjoy the podcast most when there are two people talking.

Denis on 27 January 2013

Moral Nihilism

I would like to inquire about the evolution of meta-ethical nihilism. To be more precise, I would be very grateful if you could suggest the earliest philosophers who maintained that moral statements do not possess objective truth values or rejected the notion of normative ethics at all.

Peter Adamson on 27 January 2013

Moral anti-realism

Wow, that's a tough one. Maybe other people can think of a good answer as far as the historical question goes; my initial reaction is that this is a very recent development in philosophy. Perhaps one could argue that the ancient skeptics were some kind of ethical nihilists or anti-realists, but that would be simply a specific case of their across-the-board skepticism. (Of course Pyrrhonian skeptics would suspend judgement about moral claims, not make anti-realist claims, but for anti-realism one could perhaps think of the New Academy or even Protagoras.) Of course Hume raises a variety of skeptical worries, about morality and other things, but his final view wouldn't be well described as anti-realism I don't think.

Here is an article online you might find useful though it doesn't get into the historical question much: Moral Anti-realism on the Stanford Encyclopedia (note the related links at the bottom of the page).

Peter

paul on 28 January 2013

Evolution of Modern Subjective Ethics

I would agree with Peter that non-normative ethics and the rejection of objective morals is a modern phenomena. I place its development with the creation of Russian populism, especially Nikolai Mikailovsky. His subjecive ethics gave rise to a belief that political action knew no moral bounds if performed out of the love of humanity. In effect this supported terrorism. The idea develops from Jacobinism. Dostoyevsky took this position apart in 'Crime and Punishment'. Nietzsche and early Lukacs reinterpreted Dostoyevsky's position into their subjective moral critique. Be aware that such positions lead to any enormity and is in essence elitist as Dosyovevsky {No existentialist} was aware.

David on 26 January 2013

Found your site and pods

Found your site and pods today. Absolutely wonderful podcasts! Bravo!

Ken on 24 January 2013

Irrational men and being really sick.

First I want to say thank you for your work in making these episodes and I look forward every Sunday to hearing each new episode. I do hope that you at least continue up until the 1950s-1960s.

At the moment I am reading William Barrett's Irrational Man and am about to start up Kierkegaard's "The Sickness unto Death" (I have already read Fear and Trembling) and I am mid-way through "The Brothers Karamazov". I was wondering, Professor Adamson, what you think existential philosophy can tell or help us with in this current world. Or at least how it has helped you.

Again thank you for your time.

Peter Adamson on 24 January 2013

Existentialism

Thanks for the comments! I should firstly say that existentialism is pretty far from my area of philosophy. However I do have a remaining love of Kierkegaard from when I was a student. I've always thought that if one were going to be a Christian, his account of what that would mean (a "leap into the absurd") would be a very powerful way of thinking about it. I think as far as existentialism more generally goes, a lot of people underestimate it because of the image of it basically boiling down to sitting around in cafes, smoking and being depressed. Actually it is integrated into very complex and technical issues about perception and free will, for instance. Still I think at a more general or perhaps "popular" level the existentilaist idea that one has to devise a meaning for one's own life is very powerful and important for the contemporary age, still. It's not a coincidence that Sartre, Camus et al seem to connect more with a broad audience than other philosophers roughly around the same time, like say the logical positivists or even Heidegger (though both have their adherents of course!).

Hiram on 22 January 2013

Epicureanism

Enjoyed your videos on Epicurus. Great to see that there is discussion and educational material out there on his tradition. I administer a forum for Epicureans here: http://epicureangarden.lefora.com/ (there are many other sources, like epicurus.info and newepicurean.com)

Hope to see more ... Cheers,

Hiram
theautarkist.wordpress.com

Antonio Sánchez on 9 January 2013

Podcasts transcripts

Hello Professor Adamson,
Since I have found this webpage I am absolutely delighted with it. My sincere congratulations. But, I have a question: are there transcripts of the podcasts? It would be very interesting to study them more carefully.
Thanks
Best regards
Antonio Sánchez

Peter Adamson on 9 January 2013

Transcripts

No, I have never put up transcripts, originally because I was worried about encouraging plagiarism but now I have a better reason which is that they'll appear as a series of books. The first volume is just about ready to go off to the publisher!

Thanks,

Peter

Riccardo on 17 January 2013

Transcripts and book

Hi Peter,
your podcasts are really awesome and done very professionally.
Re: the first volume going to the publisher, have you got any details (ISBN, expected publishing date, sellers, publisher etc.) - as I would love to buy it!
If you do not have any details yet, are you going to show these details in your website ?

Many thanks and Regards

Peter Adamson on 18 January 2013

Publisher details

Hi - thanks very much! Glad you are interested in the book version. If all goes according to plan it will be published by Oxford University Press and should come out later this year. This first volume will go up through episode 51. I am just about done preparing it for press. But that means I don't have any other info about it yet, of course I'll announce it here when it is coming out though (on the blog).

Peter

Joshua on 9 January 2013

Request

Hi Peter,
I know you will say a few words about Albertus Magnus in St Thomas Aquinas' biography, but my request is, could you please make at least 1 Episode about Albertus Magnus?
Thanks,
Joshua

Peter Adamson on 9 January 2013

Albert

Oh yes, definitely. I have a grad student who was trying to convince me I should have more than one on him actually, but I think it will probably be just the one episode. Sometime in 2014 though, I suspect...

Joshua on 3 January 2013

Stoic Classification

Peter,
If you were to choose the greatest of the men who illustrated what Stoicism was, What would you say?
This is for everyone!!!!
1 Zeno of Cittum
2 Cleanthes
3 Chrysippus of Soli
4 Zeno of Tarsus
5 Cicero
6 Seneca the Younger
7 Panaetius of Rhodes
8 Posidonius of Apamea
9 Musonius Rufus
10 Epictetus

Peter Adamson on 3 January 2013

Stoics

Hi Joshua,

Well, I think you've missed out Diogenes of Babylon and one could think about early modern exponents of Stoicism too (Lipsius?). Also, what about Marcus Aurelius! I would probably remove Cicero from your list, since he was not a Stoic though he is an invaluable source of information about Stoicism.

Peter

Glenn Russell on 3 January 2013

A wise Stoic is partly an Epicurean

Hi Joshua,

For me, since we are talking philosophy here, the greatest is the wisest. And the wisest Stoic philosopher was Seneca, who had the wisdom to frequently quote Epicurus and incorporate Epicureanism into his philosophical writings. Second place goes to Marcus Aurelius who also leaned on the Epicurean view of death in his Meditations.

Jonathan Ziegler on 1 January 2013

Episodes available on RSS feed

Professor Adamson,

I first heard you on the Averroes episode of ABC Radio National's Philosopher's Zone and have been listening to your podcasts when I could ever since.

Unfortunately, I didn't begin listening to the series methodically, so I plan to go back and start over from the beginning. Using RSS would be super convenient, but your RSS feed seems only to offer the most recent 10 episodes. I hope there is a way to make available all of the podcasts through RSS so that I can pay more attention without any gaps.

Cheers,

Jonathan Ziegler
Knoxville, Tennessee

Peter Adamson on 1 January 2013

RSS feed

Hi there -- Glad you like the podcast! I'm not sure what the problem might be because all the RSS feeds I know about cover the whole series. If you go to this link you will get access to all the episodes (and of course you can get them off this website too either streamed or by downloading the .mp3 files individually, but that might be a bit of a pain). iTunes also has all the episodes.

Thanks,

Peter

Jonathan Ziegler on 1 January 2013

That link you gave me worked

That link you gave me worked perfectly, so I'll just use that one. I had been trying to use http://feeds.feedburner.com/historyofphilosophy which, for me at least, only listed Episodes 100-109 on both my web browser and my RSS reader.

In any case, thanks for the solution and the uber fast reply!

-Jonathan Ziegler

paul on 31 December 2012

Enjoy the ride

Why do some people post comments that imply they want to rush through the episodes to get to someone they have heard about? Hopefully it is not because the present episodes are about early Christians. The last episode highlighting the need to advance your personal salvation through care of others contrasted very well with the Epicurians and others in earlier episodes. Much of the enjoyment with the site is comming across thinkers that you are not aware of and going away and reading them. Please let us savour the trip and not look towards reaching the familiar and safe. It was also good to hear Australia star in a philosophic discussion.{As it should}

Peter Adamson on 31 December 2012

Future topics

Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying the current episodes and also the slow approach generally. I imagine that people are asking about future topics not out of impatience but because they want to make sure I don't miss anything out! (Which is very useful actually, it helps me plan ahead. My fear is that I'll leave out something that I really should have included and realize only afterward, a mistake that would be impossible to fix without straying from the chronological order.)

Anyway I agree that the early Christian stuff has been very worthwhile, or at least I have learned a lot by doing the research for the episodes.

Firin mah lazor on 30 December 2012

Ocktopus

How long do you think it will take you to get to William of Ockham?

Peter Adamson on 30 December 2012

Doctor Ocktopus

Well, if you're asking because you have a term paper on him due soon, then I will be too late to help. But seriously: I'll first do all of Islamic and Jewish medieval, which is several dozen episodes; then Latin medieval. But Ockham is fairly late in the Latin tradition. So I reckon he is still more than a year away; perhaps spring 2014? Hope you find the intervening stuff interesting too though!

Joshua on 30 December 2012

Thank You

Hi Peter,
Just want to thank you for this. I think this is needed for this society.
This site was introduced to me by my uncle who found you. I had been interested before, so I was gladly ready to start the podcast. I really like it. Now I am reading St. Thomas and I can't wait before you get there, and on other great philosophical figures.
Thanks

Glenn Russell on 30 December 2012

medieval aesthetics

Hi Peter,

Will you be touching on medieval aesthetics?

Best,
Glenn

Peter Adamson on 30 December 2012

Medieval aesthetics

I would imagine so, though I hadn't thought about this specifically. (Though I would certainly need to do the theory of transcendentals which would include beauty.) You might have noticed that in the run-up to episode 100 I had an interview with Anne Sheppard on Greek Aesthetics, and maybe an interview on this subject for the medieval period would also make sense. Did you have any specific texts/authors in mind though? I'm even more open to suggestions here than usually since the medieval episodes are only very roughly sketched out in my prospective "table of contents."

Peter

Glenn Russell on 31 December 2012

Medieval Aesthetics

Thanks, Peter. Yes, I found your interview with Anne Sheppard on Ancient Aesthetics most interesting and insightful. So, yes, I would certainly vote for an interview with Anne Sheppard on Medieval Aesthetics. In terms of a book you might want to take a look at, I would recommend a collection of short essays entitled Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, The essay with the same title as the book has references to Aquinas, Boethus, Augustine, Bonnaventura and Eckhart and is a concise and clear expose of what art meant during the Medieval period and how objects of art related to the prevailing philosophy and culture. Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Glenn

Brett on 29 December 2012

Gap-Filling?

After 3 months of exclusive listening to your podcast on my regular commute, I have finally caught up with your most recent podcast, and I am now presented with a GAP (gasp!) to fill between your weekly posts.

Do you recommend any other podcasts or audiobooks to eager listeners? Don't worry - yours will always be #1.

As one who had never before studied anything philosophical (or historical, for that matter!), your podcast has opened a fascinating world to me and I am ever so grateful.

Best regards,

Glenn Russell on 30 December 2012

Other philosophy podcasts

Hi Brett,

Like yourself, I am an avid listener of Peter’s podcasts. There are 2 other philosophy podcast series that are great:

Philosophy Bites (Peter is one of the philosophers interviewed in this series)
http://www.philosophybites.com/

and

Philosophy Now
http://philosophynow.org/podcasts

Best,
Glenn

Firin mah lazor on 30 December 2012

PEL

Another podcast worth listening to is THE PARTIALLY EXAMINED LIFE.

partiallyexaminedlife.com/podcast-episodes/

Peter Adamson on 30 December 2012

The competition

Hi -- I'm very glad you enjoy the podcast so much, of course! I would second the vote for Philosophy Bites. I have heard good things about The Examined Life too. Apart from that I would add that Elucidations is very good, probably a bit more advanced in terms of topic and level than some other philosophy podcasts. Beyond philosophy-specific podcasts I would definitely recommend BBC Radio 4's "In Our Time" (which actually has covered many philosophers -- all old episodes are archived on iTunes) and for the history of the period I've been covering, "The History of Rome" podcast which is now being carried on in an excellent new series called "The History of Byzantium."

Peter

Brett Leedy on 31 December 2012

Thanks!

Thanks to all for the reccommendations!

David Tanner on 31 December 2012

Gap-Filling with Early Moderns

It's not really the same kind of experience as HoPWAG or the other podcasts listed (it's actually a series of videotaped lectures presented as either video or audio episodes) but Peter Millican's General Philosophy lectures from Oxford are amazing. You can find them on iTunes University or here

http://www.philosophy.ox.ac.uk/podcasts/general_philosophy

I should also mention he covers Early Modern philosophers such as Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, and Hume.

Dave

Joshua on 29 December 2012

Request

Hi Peter,
I am sure you are going to talk about Thomas Aquinas. So, I am not going to ask you, but, could you make more than one podcast on St. Thomas. I am reading Summa Contra Gentiles (Gentes; as it is sometimes called), and am interested what are you going to say on Thomism, NeoAristotelianism, Aristotelian-Catholicism, etc.
Could you please summon someone to give you an interview about him. ANd please, don't forget to talk how to go about reading him.
Cheerio,
Joshua

Peter Adamson on 29 December 2012

Aquinas episodes

Hi Joshua,

You're sure planning ahead! But as it happens so am I. As with Augustine I have quite a few episodes planned, I think for Aquinas I'd thought of 6 or 7, one of which is an interview with Scott MacDonald of Cornell University. We already recorded it, though I won't need it for more than a year yet.

And yes, I'd certainly plan on discussing how one needs to read his (various) works and the different intentions of those works.

Thanks!

Peter

joshua on 28 December 2012

Erasmus of Rotterdam

Hi Peter,
Will you talk about Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam?
I will be glad if you will.
Thanks (as always)
Joshua

Peter Adamson on 28 December 2012

Erasmus

Hi Joshua,

Oh, most definitely. But not for a while, he comes after I do all the medieval stuff!

Peter

Kim Birley on 27 December 2012

Congratulations

Dear Peter, I would just like to add my voice to the chorus of thanks and congratulations you are deservedly receiving. As a teacher myself, I particularly admire your skill at expaining complex concepts succinctly and clearly without the need to 'talk down'. Your use of humour and links to modern examples is so well-judged and skilful, and leads to a rapid and complete engagement with the subject.

As a modern Epicurean I very much appreciated your giving Epicurus 'a fair suck of the sauce bottle' (as we say here in Australia!) by devoting several progammes to him; he certainly deserves more attention than he usually gets, especially when compared to that silly fellow, Plato!

Thanks again, Kim.

Glenn Russell on 27 December 2012

You being a modern Epciurean

Hi Kim,
As a modern Epicurean you might want to check out and comment on this website dedicated to the philosophy of Epicurus:

http://doctrinesofepicurus.com/

Best,
Glenn

kim birley on 28 December 2012

Epicurus website

Thank you very much, Glenn, I know of two other websites about Epicurus but not this one - it looks most interesting.
Thanks again,
Kim.

Peter Adamson on 27 December 2012

Suck of the sauce bottle

Dear Kim,

Thanks very much for the encouragement! I will henceforth try to work the phrase "fair suck of the sauce bottle" into my daily conversation... maybe even into a podcast script. I really ought to chastize you for being rude about Plato but you are so enthusiastic about Epicurus that I can't bring myself to do so.

By the way there's a joke about Australia (not at the Australians' expense) coming up in Sunday's episode on the Latin Fathers, so there's something for you to look forward to perhaps.

Cheerio,

Peter

kim birley on 28 December 2012

Silly old Plato

Thanks for the reply. As I'm sure you know, as an Epicurean it's pretty much my DUTY to be rude about Plato - though as I consider he sent European philosophy up a disastrous blind alley I don't find it at all difficult. Mind you, another hero of mine, the Emperor Julian, would passionately disagree with me on that!

Beard of Glory on 27 December 2012

Curiousity

Just curious, at what episode do you think you will be starting the Islamic period? (al-Kindi, al-Farabi, Averroes, Avicenna, etc.)

Peter Adamson on 27 December 2012

Islamic philosophy

It will begin about 10 episodes from now, round about 119 or 120 I think. So, early March! A lot of Augustine to get through first, plus Boethius.

Omar Ali-de-Unzaga on 26 December 2012

Simeon Stylites

Dear Peter,

I heard one of your recent podcasts where you mention Simeon Stylites. It brought to mind Buñuel's hilarious short movie that I saw when I was an undergraduate. You get to go into Simeon's mind!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nSKhKxOQ70I (this is the original version with no subtitles, but I'm sure they can be found somewhere…)

Happy Christmas!

Omar

Peter Adamson on 27 December 2012

Spanish Simeon

Hi Omar -- Nice to see you here! This is really cool, I didn't know about this. I found a subtitled one here.

Thanks,

Peter

Glenn Russell on 23 December 2012

Hot topics on Peter's podcasts

I have listened to all of Peter’s podcasts over the past two months, quite a number multiple times. I have also read the questions and comments appertaining to each episode. It has struck me that the top four hot philosophical topics eliciting questions and comments are:

• What is the nature of happiness?
• What gives the most pleasure?
• The problem of evil
• The reality of death

These four certainly are among my personal favorite subjects to engage in philosophical dialogue. Does anybody have any additional favorites or reflections on these four?

Glenn

Joshua on 20 December 2012

St.Jerome

Hi Peter,
I am really enjoying podcast, but are you going to talk about St.Jerome?
If you are going to that is nice. But if you have forgotten I remind you.
Love the podcast,
Joshua

Peter Adamson on 20 December 2012

Jerome

You bet! There's a whole episode coming up (2 weeks from now) on the Latin Church Fathers. So that covers Jerome, Lactantius, Tertullian and Ambrose. I guess that will actually be the last episode of 2012.

Joshua on 15 December 2012

Question

Hi Peter,
I am reading and listening to philosophy. I love it, but I do not understand: what is the difference between Neo-platonism and Stoicism. I understand what Stoicism means and likewise Neo-platonism, but I don't see a real difference.
Cheerio,
Joshua

Peter Adamson on 15 December 2012

Neoplatonists vs Stoics

Well it's true that they have a lot in common - the Neoplatonists borrow ideas from the Stoics about ethics, providence and freedom, for instance. However they are fundamentally different because the Stoics are materialists, i.e. they think only physical things exist. The Neoplatonists have the reverse view: for them physical objects are barely real and true being and causes are immaterial (soul, the Forms/Intellect, and ultimately the One). So that would be the main difference.

Gizawi on 15 December 2012

Ibn Arabi and Ibn Taymiyyah

Hello Prof. Adamson,

I hate to ask a "Will you cover so-and-so" question, but Ibn Arabi and Ibn Taymiyyah are the most misunderstood figures in Islamic thought. The label of philosopher does not fit on either of them comfortably, much more so than any other figure who influenced Islamic Philosophical thought. When it comes to these two figures they are either loved or hated passionately. One feels that few commentators properly read them before taking sides (A point Shah Wali Allah makes about Ibn Arabi).

The reason I feel like I need to ask for Ibn Arabi is that he is not a Hellenising thinker in any way, yet he had a strong influence on Islamic Philosophy after him. Ibn Taymiyyah does what Ghazali did: he fought Philosophy while taking on a lot of interesting philosophical positions doing it. I remember reading that you will cover Ghazali, but the reason I feel I have to ask about Ibn Taymiyyah is because his "followers" today are (to put it nicely) philosophically crude. Many do not really understand his points for rejecting philosophy, they just know that he did and that is more than enough for them which is a detriment to his thought. Are his objections to philosophy rigorous enough to warrant an episode?

Peter Adamson on 15 December 2012

Ibn Arabi and Ibn Taymiyyah

Hi there - In my projected list I do have an episode planned on Ibn Arabi and the impact of philosophy on sufism, and vice-versa. Ibn Taymiyya really should get an episode too I think, if only for his critique of philosophy. Thanks for this suggestion, I was surprised to see I hadn't put him in the list yet!

PPeter

NitaBillS on 10 December 2012

Herzlichen Dank

I am enjoying your podcast immensely and have learned much.

I have been impressed that you have been able to cover so much with so much depth.

Thank you for not being condescending or outright insulting as many other philosophy podcasts are to anyone the podcaster disagrees with.

// signed //

PS

I never knew how much giraffes factor in to western philosophy!

Peter Adamson on 10 December 2012

Disagreement

Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying the podcast! I would actually welcome it if more people wrote in with criticisms, not only because Socrates would say that this is good for me, but also to help in revising the scripts for the book versions. (I am just working through the old Aristotle scripts now in fact.

Thanks again!

Peter

Peter Adamson on 9 December 2012

Me on Wikipedia

Cool, thanks! Couple of mistakes actually, "In the Age of Averroes" is already out and I am also (in fact primarily) at the LMU in Munich now, not only at King's.