Eternity of the Universe

11 - All You Need is Love, and Five Other Things: Empedocles

Posted on 16 January 2011

Peter discusses the Presocratic philosopher Empedocles and his principles: Love, Strife, and the four “roots,” or elements.

14 comments
30 - A Likely Story: Plato's Timaeus

Posted on 23 April 2011

Peter looks at Plato's Timaeus, focusing on the divine craftsman or demiurge, the receptacle, and the geometrical atomism of Plato's elemental theory.

15 comments
94 - The Platonic Successor: Proclus

Posted on 16 September 2012

Proclus’ system, presented in original works and in commentaries on Plato and Euclid, integrates Neoplatonic philosophy with pagan religious belief and practice.

13 comments
98 - For a Limited Time Only: John Philoponus

Posted on 14 October 2012

John Philoponus refutes Aristotle’s and Proclus’ arguments for the eternity of the universe, and develops new ideas in physics.

14 comments
99 - Richard Sorabji on the Commentators

Posted on 21 October 2012

Sir Richard Sorabji, founder of the Ancient Commentators Project, joins Peter to discuss the history of ancient commentary on Aristotle.

1 comments
123 - Philosopher of the Arabs: al-Kindī

Posted on 7 April 2013

Al-Kindī uses Hellenic materials to discuss the eternity of the world, divine attributes, and the nature of the soul.

18 comments
125 - Reasoned Belief: Saadia Gaon

Posted on 21 April 2013

Saadia Gaon draws on philosophy and Islamic theology to provide a rational account of Jewish belief.

10 comments
140 - By All Means Necessary: Avicenna on God

Posted on 4 August 2013

Avicenna’s proof of the Necessary Existent is ingenious and influential; but does it amount to a proof of God’s existence?

56 comments
144 - Miracle Worker: al-Ghazālī against the Philosophers

Posted on 6 October 2013

In his Incoherence of the Philosophers, al-Ghazālī attacks Avicenna’s theories about the eternity of the universe and insists on the possibility of miracles.

9 comments
161 - He Moves in Mysterious Ways: Maimonides on Eternity

Posted on 2 February 2014

Peter tests different approaches to interpreting Maimonides, focusing on his discussion of the eternity of the world, which tries to settle the debate by declaring a draw.

15 comments
190 - Turkish Delights - Philosophy under the Ottomans

Posted on 24 August 2014

Kātib Çelebi defends cigarettes and coffee and Khojozāda wins a prize for evaluating the Incoherence of the Philosophers, along with several other philosophical and religious debates in the Ottoman empire.

12 comments
252. Neverending Story: the Eternity of the World

Posted on 24 April 2016

Aquinas, Bonaventure, and the so-called “Latin Averroists” take up the question of whether the universe has always existed, and settle once and for all which comes first, the chicken or the egg.

12 comments
298. Renaissance Men: Ramon Llull and Petrarch

Posted on 25 March 2018

The Renaissance ideals of humanism and universal science flourish already in the medieval period, in the works of Petrarch and Ramon Llull.

5 comments
309. Hooked on Classics: Italos and the Debate over Pagan Learning

Posted on 7 October 2018

The trial of John Italos and other signs of Byzantine disquiet with the pagan philosophical tradition.

4 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