Censorship and free speech

53 - Beware of the Philosopher: the Cynics

Posted on 6 November 2011

In this episode we unleash the most outrageous ancient philosophers, Diogenes and the Cynics, and their quest to “deface the currency” by exposing the hypocrisy of Greek society.

16 comments
97 - A Tale of Two Cities: The Last Pagan Philosophers

Posted on 7 October 2012

Neoplatonism had a long-standing association with traditional Greek religion. How did philosophers respond when Christians gained ascendancy?

9 comments
145 - Frank Griffel on al-Ghazālī

Posted on 13 October 2013

Why did al-Ghazālī judge "the philosophers" to be apostates? Peter finds out from Frank Griffel.

9 comments
163 - Burnt Offerings: The Maimonides Controversy

Posted on 16 February 2014

Maimonides’ works provoke a bitter dispute among Jews in France and Spain over the relation of philosophy to Judaism.

10 comments
249. Paris When it Sizzles: the Condemnations

Posted on 13 March 2016

Two rounds of condemnations at Paris declare certain philosophical teachings as heretical. But what were the long term effects?

0 comments
43. Kill or Be Killed: David Walker’s Appeal

Posted on 5 January 2020

David Walker defends violent resistance in his incendiary and influential Appeal.

3 comments
347. Bonfire of the Vanities: Savonarola

Posted on 19 April 2020

The prophetic preacher Girolamo Savonarola attacks pagan philosophy and puts forward his own political ideas, before coming to an untimely end.

5 comments
358. Of Two Minds: Pomponazzi and Nifo on the Intellect

Posted on 25 October 2020

Pietro Pomponazzi and Agostino Nifo debate the immortality of the soul and the cogency of Averroes’ theory of intellect.

7 comments
368. Boundless Enthusiasm: Giordano Bruno

Posted on 14 March 2021

Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.

6 comments
370. Ingrid Rowland on Rome in the Renaissance

Posted on 11 April 2021

For our finale of the Italian Renaissance series we're joined by Ingrid Rowland, to speak about art, philosophy, and persecution in Renaissance Rome.

9 comments
372. Strong, Silent Type: the Printing Press

Posted on 9 May 2021

The impact of the printing press on the history of philosophy, and its role in helping to trigger the Reformation.

17 comments
83. Songs of the People: Paul Robeson and the Negro Spiritual

Posted on 19 September 2021

The career of the multi-talented activist and performer Paul Robeson, and the place of the Negro spiritual in the Harlem Renaissance.

2 comments
382. No Lord but God: the Peasants’ War and Radical Reformation

Posted on 24 October 2021

Faced with massive political upheaval and the rise of the Anabaptists, Luther argues for a socially conservative version of the Reformation.

4 comments
383. Slowly But Surely: Huldrych Zwingli

Posted on 7 November 2021

The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.

2 comments
390. Born to Be Contrary: Toleration in the Netherlands

Posted on 13 February 2022

Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.

6 comments
406. Believe at Your Own Risk: Toleration in France

Posted on 23 October 2022

Even as wars of religion in France prompt calls for toleration, hardly anyone makes a principled case for freedom of conscience… apart from Sebastian Castellio.

0 comments
407. Maria Rosa Antognazza on Early Modern Toleration

Posted on 6 November 2022

An interview on the nature of religious tolerance, and the forms it took during the Reformation and in the thought of early modern thinkers like Locke and Leibniz.

Maria Rosa Antognazza is Professor of Philosophy at King's College London.

4 comments
416. God’s is the Quarrel: the English Reformation

Posted on 11 March 2023

The historical context of English philosophy in the sixteenth century, with particular focus on Thomas Cranmer, and the role of religion in personal conscience and social cohesion.

3 comments