Cosmology
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In this episode, Peter Adamson of King's College London introduces the podcast as a whole, and the thought of the early Greek philosophers called the Presocratics. He also discusses the first Presocratic philosopher, Thales of Miletus.
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Peter discusses two very early Greek philosophers, both from Miletus: Anaximander and Anaximenes.
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In this episode, Peter talks about the Greek gods in Homer and Hesiod, and the criticism of the poets by the Presocratic philosopher Xenophanes.
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Peter discusses the "father of metaphysics," Parmenides, and his argument that all being is one.
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In this episode Peter discusses the Atomists Democritus and Leucippus, and how they were responding to the ideas of Parmenides and his followers.
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Peter discusses Anaxagoras, focusing on his theory of universal mixture ("everything is in everything") and the role played by mind in Anaxagoras' cosmos.
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Peter discusses the Presocratic philosopher Empedocles and his principles: Love, Strife, and the four “roots,” or elements.
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Peter looks at Plato's Timaeus, focusing on the divine craftsman or demiurge, the receptacle, and the geometrical atomism of Plato's elemental theory.
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Before Isaac Newton (and Olivia Newton John), there was Aristotle. Peter looks at his Physics, focusing on the notions of actuality and potentiality and how they help to explain such concepts as time and motion.
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Peter begins to examine the philosophy of Epicurus, focusing on his empiricist theory of knowledge and his atomic physics.
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Peter looks at the Stoic idea of god, a providential fire that pervades nature, and considers their idea of a deterministic and eternally recurring cosmos.
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David Sedley of Cambridge University chats with Peter about the development of the Stoic school, from the early days to the imperial age.
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Pioneering thinkers Eudorus, Alcinous, and Numenius fuse Pythagoreanism with Platonism and pave the way for Plotinus.
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Origen, greatest of the Greek Church Fathers, sets out a stunning theory of human redemption as he marries philosophical rigor to theological speculation.
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The doctor and philosopher Abū Bakr al-Rāzī sets out a daring philosophical theory involving five eternal principles: God, soul, matter, time and place.
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Peter begins to look at the systematic rethinking of Hellenic philosophy offered by al-Fārābī, focusing on his logic and metaphysics.
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Neoplatonism returns in Ibn Gabirol (known in Latin as Avicebron), who controversially holds that everything apart from God has both matter and form.
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Ḥasdai Crescas shows Aristotelian physics who’s boss, by defending alternative conceptions of time, place and infinity.
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Eriugena delves into the Greek tradition to produce his masterpiece of metaphysics and theology, the Periphyseon.
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The controversial role of Chartres in the philosophical Renaissance of the twelfth century.
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The oldest treatise of Sāṃkhya enumerates the principles of the cosmos and of the human mind.
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Ockham, Buridan, Oresme and Francis of Marchia explore cosmology, atomism, and the impetus involved in motion.
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Be surprised by how many philosophical problems arise in connection with angels (how many can dance on the head of a pin is not one of them).
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Do the cuneiform writings of Babylonian culture show that it had its own philosophy?
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Ancient Egyptian figures and writings including the Pyramid Texts, Imhotep, and the "first monotheist" Akhenaten reflect on the nature of things and questions of morality.
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Henry Odera Oruka’s new method for exploring philosophy in Africa, based on interviews with wise individuals.
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Aristotle’s works are edited, printed, and translated, leading to new assessments of his thought among both humanists and scholastics.
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Was the anti-Aristotelian natural philosophy of Bernardino Telesio and Tommaso Campanella the first modern physical theory?
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How revolutionary was the Copernican Revolution?
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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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Science, intrigue, exploration, angelic seances! It's the life and thought of Elizabethan mathematician and magician John Dee.
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An interview about the "resonant cosmos" in early Confucianism, and the role played by music in linking sages to the universe.
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Carlo Ginzburg’s innovative historical study The Cheese and the Worms looks at the ideas of an obscure 16th century miller, suggesting how popular culture might be integrated into the history of philosophy.
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Were Confucian ideas about Heaven, ritual, and fate driven by a religious attitude, or a naturalistic one?
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We finish our look at philosophy in the Reformation era with an interview about Galileo's use of a revolutionary technology: the telescope.
