Astrology and magic
Posted on
Ptolemy uses philosophy in the service of studying the stars, while philosophers of all persuasions evaluate the widespread practice of astrology.
Posted on
Iamblichus fuses Platonism with pagan religious conviction and sets the agenda for Neoplatonism in generations to come.
Posted on
Proclus’ system, presented in original works and in commentaries on Plato and Euclid, integrates Neoplatonic philosophy with pagan religious belief and practice.
Posted on
Abraham Ibn Ezra, Ibn Daud and Maimonides consider the philosophical implications of astrology as science flourishes in the Jewish culture of Andalusia.
Posted on
Roger Bacon extols the power of science based on experience and uses a general theory of "species" to explain light and vision.
Posted on
Charles Burnett tells Peter about the role of magic in medieval intellectual life.
Posted on
Philosophy is put into practice in Kashmir Śaivite Tantra and Buddhist Tantra.
Posted on
Might philosophy be as old as humankind as we know it? We investigate the implications of findings concerning the origins of humankind in Africa.
Posted on
Do the cuneiform writings of Babylonian culture show that it had its own philosophy?
Posted on
Special forms of knowledge and the explanation of misfortunes in African tradition.
Posted on
An interview with Dag Nikolaus Hasse on the Renaissance reception of Averroes, Avicenna, and other authors who wrote in Arabic.
Posted on
Ficino, Pico, Cardano, and other Renaissance thinkers debate whether astrology and magic are legitimate sciences with a foundation in natural philosophy.
Posted on
Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.
Posted on
Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.
Posted on
Was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa a dark magician, a pious skeptic, or both?
Posted on
Paracelsus adapts the tradition of alchemical science for use in medicine, and in the process overturns the scientific theories of Aristotle and Galen.
Posted on
Responses to Copernicus in the 16th century, culminating with the master of astral observation Tycho Brahe.
Posted on
Kepler combines Brahe's observations, Copernicus' astronomy, and Platonist metaphysics.
Posted on
Comets! Magnets! Armadillos! In this wide-ranging interview Lorraine Daston tells us how Renaissance and early modern scientists dealt with the extraordinary events they called "wonders".
Posted on
Two Nigerian activists lead the struggle for independence, and clash over the competing values of national unity and ethnic diversity.
Posted on
A chat with Ann Blair about the "Theater of Nature" by Jean Bodin, and other encyclopedic works of natural philosophy. (Pictured: Prof Blair holding the annotated copy of Bodin's Theatrum she describes in the episode.)
Posted on
How Macbeth reflects the anxieties and explanations surrounding witchcraft and witch-hunting in early modern Europe.
Posted on
The evolution of Aristotelian philosophy from John Mair in the late 15th century to John Case in the late 16th century.
Posted on
Science, intrigue, exploration, angelic seances! It's the life and thought of Elizabethan mathematician and magician John Dee.
Posted on
How scientists of the Elizabethan age anticipated the discoveries and methods of the Enlightenment (without necessarily publishing them).
Posted on
Our last figure of the English Renaissance undertakes daring investigations of chemistry, medicine, agriculture, and cosmology – and gets accused of magic and Rosicrucianism.
Posted on
An expert on Renaissance alchemy tells us how this art related to philosophy at the time... and how she has tried to reproduce its results!
