Astrology and magic
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Ptolemy uses philosophy in the service of studying the stars, while philosophers of all persuasions evaluate the widespread practice of astrology.
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Iamblichus fuses Platonism with pagan religious conviction and sets the agenda for Neoplatonism in generations to come.
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Proclus’ system, presented in original works and in commentaries on Plato and Euclid, integrates Neoplatonic philosophy with pagan religious belief and practice.
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Abraham Ibn Ezra, Ibn Daud and Maimonides consider the philosophical implications of astrology as science flourishes in the Jewish culture of Andalusia.
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Roger Bacon extols the power of science based on experience and uses a general theory of "species" to explain light and vision.
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Charles Burnett tells Peter about the role of magic in medieval intellectual life.
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Philosophy is put into practice in Kashmir Śaivite Tantra and Buddhist Tantra.
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Might philosophy be as old as humankind as we know it? We investigate the implications of findings concerning the origins of humankind in Africa.
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Do the cuneiform writings of Babylonian culture show that it had its own philosophy?
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Special forms of knowledge and the explanation of misfortunes in African tradition.
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An interview with Dag Nikolaus Hasse on the Renaissance reception of Averroes, Avicenna, and other authors who wrote in Arabic.
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Ficino, Pico, Cardano, and other Renaissance thinkers debate whether astrology and magic are legitimate sciences with a foundation in natural philosophy.
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Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.
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Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.
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Was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa a dark magician, a pious skeptic, or both?
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Paracelsus adapts the tradition of alchemical science for use in medicine, and in the process overturns the scientific theories of Aristotle and Galen.
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Responses to Copernicus in the 16th century, culminating with the master of astral observation Tycho Brahe.
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Kepler combines Brahe's observations, Copernicus' astronomy, and Platonist metaphysics.
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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".
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Two Nigerian activists lead the struggle for independence, and clash over the competing values of national unity and ethnic diversity.
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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.)
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How Macbeth reflects the anxieties and explanations surrounding witchcraft and witch-hunting in early modern Europe.
