Posted on 16 January 2011
World-leading expert Malcolm Schofield of Cambridge University speaks to Peter about the development of Presocratic philosophy, from the Milesians to Parmenides and the reactions he provoked.
5 commentsPosted on 23 January 2011
Peter's colleague Raphael Woolf joins him to discuss Socrates as he is portrayed by Plato: the gadfly of Athens. But was he an ascetic? And could it really be true that virtue is knowledge?
6 commentsPosted on 4 March 2011
What is Plato's understanding of knowledge, and how does he think that knowledge relates to virtue? Peter tackles these questions with his King's colleague MM McCabe in this interview.
12 commentsPosted on 10 April 2011
Peter talks to Fiona Leigh of University College London about Plato's Sophist, which revises the theory of Forms to explain how falsehood is possible.
11 commentsPosted on 7 May 2011
Frisbee Sheffield, an expert on Plato's Symposium and Phaedrus, chats to Peter about love and friendship in the erotic dialogues.
5 commentsPosted on 11 June 2011
Hugh Benson of the University of Oklahoma chats to Peter about Aristotle's views on philosophical method, and whether he practices what he preaches.
33 commentsPosted on 10 July 2011
Peter talks to Sir Richard Sorabji about Aristotle's physics, focusing on the definition of time and the eternity of the universe.
35 commentsPosted on 18 September 2011
Peter chats with Dominic Scott of the University of Virginia, and talks about Aristotle's audience, method and conclusions in the Nicomachean Ethics.
25 commentsPosted on 16 October 2011
Peter's colleagues MM McCabe and Raphael Woolf join him for a special 50th episode interview, to discuss Aristotle's reactions to his teacher Plato.
7 commentsPosted on 18 December 2011
James Warren of Cambridge University talks to Peter about Epicurus, his atomism, his hedonism and the Epicurean arguments against the fear of death.
23 commentsPosted on 22 January 2012
David Sedley of Cambridge University chats with Peter about the development of the Stoic school, from the early days to the imperial age.
4 commentsPosted on 19 February 2012
Peter chats about Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus with John Sellars, an expert on Roman Stoicism and the reception of Stoicism in the early modern era.
10 commentsPosted on 18 March 2012
Peter talks to Raphael Woolf about the method and philosophical allegiance of Cicero, focusing on the work On Ends (De Finibus).
3 commentsPosted on 1 April 2012
Leading Hellenistic philosophy scholar Tony Long talks to Peter about the self, ethics and politics in the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics.
9 commentsPosted on 15 April 2012
Jim Hankinson, a leading expert on philosophical themes in Galen, joins Peter to discuss this greatest doctor of the ancient world.
0 commentsPosted on 20 May 2012
Jan Opsomer helps Peter to understand principles, Plato interpretation, and Plutarch in a wide-ranging discussion of Middle Platonism.
2 commentsPosted on 24 June 2012
How did the mathematics of figures like Euclid and Archimides relate to ancient philosophy? Peter finds out in an interview with Serafina Cuomo.
1 commentsPosted on 25 August 2012
James Wilberding joins Peter to show that contrary to what is often claimed, Neoplatonists did make contributions to the philosophy of nature. Topics include Plotinus on the cosmos and Porphyry on embryology.
1 commentsPosted on 23 September 2012
Anne Sheppard discusses ancient aesthetics, touching on poetry, visual art and music in thinkers from Plato to Proclus.
3 commentsPosted on 30 September 2012
Dominic O'Meara speaks with Peter about political philosophy and mathematics in Neoplatonism.
3 commentsPosted 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 commentsPosted on 28 October 2012
A special double interview with Caroline Humfress (Birkbeck College London) and Michael Trapp (King's College London) celebrates reaching 100 episodes by looking at the cultural status of philosophy in the ancient world.
6 commentsPosted on 23 December 2012
George Boys-Stones joins Peter to discuss philosophy in the Bible and the Greek Church Fathers.
5 commentsPosted on 3 February 2013
Peter speaks with Sarah Byers about the Stoic influence on Augustine's ethics and theory of action.
19 commentsPosted on 17 February 2013
In a final episode on Augustine, Charles Brittain joins Peter to discuss the theory of mind presented in "On the Trinity".
9 commentsPosted on 10 March 2013
John Marenbon joins Peter to discuss Boethius' solution to the problem of divine foreknowledge.
16 commentsPosted on 5 May 2013
A double dose of Peters, as Pormann joins Adamson to discuss medicine and philosophy in the Islamic world.
1 commentsPosted on 2 June 2013
Deborah Black joins Peter to talk about al-Farabi's innovations concerning knowledge and certainty.
3 commentsPosted on 7 July 2013
Peter is joined by Farhad Daftary, a leading expert on the Shiite group known as the Ismā'īlīs.
2 commentsPosted on 22 September 2013
Peter talks to leading Avicenna scholar Dimitri Gutas about Avicenna's sources, philosophical methods, and influence.
1 commentsPosted on 13 October 2013
Why did al-Ghazālī judge "the philosophers" to be apostates? Peter finds out from Frank Griffel.
9 commentsPosted on 17 November 2013
A special 150th double interview episode on the transmission of philosophy from Arabic into Latin.
16 commentsPosted on 1 December 2013
Averroes scholar Richard C. Taylor joins Peter to talk about Averroes' views on the relation between Islam and philosophy.
7 commentsPosted on 29 December 2013
Peter chats with Sarah Pessin about the Neoplatonism of Jewish philosophers such as Isaac Israeli, Ibn Gabirol, and Maimonides.
9 commentsPosted on 9 February 2014
Sarah Stroumsa tells Peter about Maimonides' cultural surroundings and attitudes towards philosophy and the Islamic tradition.
5 commentsPosted on 9 March 2014
Tamar Rudavsky joins Peter to talk about the two great medieval Jewish thinkers after Maimonides: Gersonides and Crescas.
24 commentsPosted on 6 April 2014
Leading scholar of medieval Jewish thought Gad Freudenthal joins Peter in a concluding episode on Andalusian thought.
1 commentsPosted on 7 June 2014
Peter is joined by Mohammed Rustom in a discussion about Sufi authors including Ibn 'Arabī, al-Qūnawī, and Rūmī.
19 commentsPosted on 13 July 2014
Robert Wisnovsky joins Peter to discuss the enormous body of unstudied philosophical commentaries in the later Eastern Islamic world.
6 commentsPosted on 10 August 2014
Sajjad Rizvi talks to Peter about Mullā Ṣadrā's views on eternity, God's knowledge and the afterlife.
7 commentsPosted on 26 October 2014
Anke von Kügelgen joins Peter to discuss developments over the last century or so, including attitudes towards past thinkers like Avicenna, Averroes and Ibn Taymiyya.
14 commentsPosted on 30 November 2014
We celebrate reaching episode 200 with a special double interview on the problem of defining medieval philosophy.
16 commentsPosted on 7 December 2014
Stephen Gersh (who was Peter's doctoral advisor!) joins him to discuss the sources and influence of Platonism in the Middle Ages.
4 commentsPosted on 11 January 2015
Anselm expert Eileen Sweeney discusses his approach to philosophy and the devotional aspect of his works.
2 commentsPosted on 8 February 2015
John Marenbon returns to the podcast to discuss Abelard's views on necessity and freedom.
26 commentsPosted on 15 March 2015
In this special episode, Peter chats with the hosts of the History of the Crusades, History of Byzantium, and British History podcasts.
11 commentsPosted on 29 March 2015
Andrew Arlig joins Peter to discuss medieval discussions of mereology (the study of parts and wholes).
2 commentsPosted on 17 April 2015
A discussion about Roman law and its reception in the medieval period, with ancient law expert Caroline Humfress.
2 commentsPosted on 17 May 2015
Kent Emery joins Peter to discuss the effects of monastic and university culture on medieval philosophy.
12 commentsPosted on 10 July 2015
Charles Burnett tells Peter about the role of magic in medieval intellectual life.
14 commentsPosted on 2 August 2015
Medieval ideas about what animals do and do not have in common with humans, and how we should treat them.
6 commentsPosted on 25 October 2015
Was medieval logic "formal"? Peter finds out from Catarina Dutilh Novaes.
7 commentsPosted on 6 December 2015
Therese Cory tells Peter what 13th century philosophers thought about self-awareness.
3 commentsPosted on 13 December 2015
An interview with Brian Black about the philosophical and social aspects of the Upaniṣads.
4 commentsPosted on 21 February 2016
Peter speaks to Rupert Gethin about the no-self theory, and its implications for Buddhist ethics and meditation practices.
5 commentsPosted on 28 February 2016
Scott MacDonald joins Peter to discuss Thomas Aquinas' views on human knowledge.
2 commentsPosted on 1 May 2016
An interview with Jessica Frazier about philosophical ideas and arguments in the Vedas, Upanisads and later Hindu texts.
2 commentsPosted on 5 June 2016
Does medieval art tell us anything about medieval theories of aesthetics? Peter finds out from Andreas Speer.
11 commentsPosted on 3 July 2016
An interview with Martin Pickavé on voluntarism and the interaction of will and intellect, according to Henry of Ghent.
3 commentsPosted on 10 July 2016
Mīmāṃsā expert Elisa Freschi speaks to Peter about philosophical issues arising from the interpretation of the Veda.
2 commentsPosted on 31 July 2016
Medieval discussions of the Trinity charted new metaphysical territory, as we see in this interview with Richard Cross.
9 commentsPosted on 2 October 2016
Francis Clooney joins us to discuss the religious and philosophical aspects of Vedānta.
9 commentsPosted on 6 November 2016
Peter hears about Duns Scotus' epistemology from expert Giorgio Pini.
10 commentsPosted on 27 November 2016
A leading expert on the founding text of Yoga tells us why, when, and by whom it was written, and what it has to do with modern day yoga practice.
1 commentsPosted on 4 December 2016
A conversation with Tom Pink about medieval theories of freedom and action.
14 commentsPosted on 5 February 2017
The First Family of Indian Epistemology joins us to discuss the theories and later influence of the Nyāya school.
2 commentsPosted on 26 March 2017
An interview with Susan Brower-Toland covering Ockham's views on cognition, consciousness, and memory.
0 commentsPosted on 30 April 2017
Monima Chadha takes Peter through Buddhist-Hindu debates over mind and self.
12 commentsPosted on 21 May 2017
Sara Uckelman soundly defeats Peter in the medieval logical game of "obligations."
10 commentsPosted on 2 July 2017
An interview with Monica Green reveals parallels between medicine and philosophy in the middle ages.
4 commentsPosted on 23 July 2017
A discussion with Jan Westerhoff, an expert on the great Buddhist thinker Nāgārjuna, dealing with the notion of emptiness, the tetralemma, and Nāgārjuna's reception in India and Tibet.
4 commentsPosted on 30 July 2017
Peter speaks to Jack Zupko about John Buridan's secular and parsimonious approach to philosophy.
0 commentsPosted on 24 September 2017
The medievals were too firm in their beliefs to entertain skeptical worries, right? Don't be so sure, as Peter learns from Dominik Perler.
5 commentsPosted on 1 October 2017
We're joined by Marie-Hélène Gorisse for a look at the Jain theory of knowledge.
5 commentsPosted on 26 November 2017
Graham Priest joins Peter to discuss non-classical logic and its connections with Buddhist patterns of reasoning.
11 commentsPosted on 3 December 2017
Martin Pickavé returns to the podcast to talk about theories of the emotions in Aquinas, Scotus and Wodeham.
7 commentsPosted on 21 January 2018
An interview about the status of nonhuman animals in ancient Indian philosophy and literature.
1 commentsPosted on 28 January 2018
Peter is joined by Isabel Davis to discuss marriage, sex and chastity in Chaucer, focusing on the Wife of Bath's speech.
3 commentsPosted on 18 March 2018
The host of the History of India podcast joins us for the final episode on India.
10 commentsPosted on 8 April 2018
Bob Pasnau joins Peter to discuss ideas about substance from Aquinas down to the time of Locke, Leibniz and Descartes.
15 commentsPosted on 22 April 2018
Three guests to celebrate 300 episodes! Rachel Barney, Christof Rapp, and Mark Kalderon join Peter to discuss the importance of ancient philosophy for today's philosophers.
8 commentsPosted on 6 May 2018
Peter King, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, and Russ Friedman discuss their approaches to medieval philosophy and its contemporary relevance.
11 commentsPosted on 24 June 2018
Egyptologist Richard Parkinson joins us to talk about the context and meaning of the Eloquent Peasant and other literary works of ancient Egypt.
2 commentsPosted on 15 July 2018
Peter is joined by Andrew Louth for a discussion of John of Damascus and his theological use of philosophy.
1 commentsPosted on 16 September 2018
Teodros Kiros discusses his work in political philosophy and the history of Ethiopian philosophical thought.
19 commentsPosted on 23 September 2018
Dominic O'Meara speaks to Peter about Michael Psellos, focusing especially on his political philosophy.
0 commentsPosted on 28 October 2018
Peter speaks to Souleymane Bachir Diagne about Islamic scholars in West Africa.
1 commentsPosted on 25 November 2018
A conversation with Sam Imbo on approaching oral traditions as philosophy and the Ugandan thinker and poet Okot p'Bitek.
22 commentsPosted on 16 December 2018
Katerina Ierodiakonou discusses Byzantine commentators on Aristotle, including Michael of Ephesus.
4 commentsPosted on 10 February 2019
Oliver Primavesi tells us how Greek manuscripts are used to establish the text of authors like Aristotle.
Prof Primavesi runs the Munich School of Ancient Philosophy together with Christof Rapp and Peter Adamson.
14 commentsPosted on 3 March 2019
An interview with Nkiru Nzegwu on matriarchy, sexuality, and gender fluidity in Africa (with a quick chat at the end about her work on African art).
13 commentsPosted on 24 March 2019
Historian Judith Herrin joins us to talk about competition and mutual influence between Islam and Byzantium.
5 commentsPosted on 14 April 2019
An interview with Kai Kresse (pictured here with Ustadh Mahmoud Mau) who discusses his efforts to do "anthropology of philosophy" on the Swahili Coast.
2 commentsPosted on 12 May 2019
Co-host Chike Jeffers and Peter chat about the themes and questions raised by the podcast so far.
11 commentsPosted on 16 June 2019
The series on Byzantium concludes as guest Michele Trizio discusses the mutual influence of Byzantium and Latin Christendom.
6 commentsPosted on 23 June 2019
Justin E.H. Smith joins us to discuss Anton Wilhelm Amo against the background of ideas about race in early modern philosophy, including Leibniz.
0 commentsPosted on 22 September 2019
Jill Kraye returns to the podcast to discuss the nature of humanism, its relation to scholasticism, and its legacy.
0 commentsPosted on 3 November 2019
An interview with Sabrina Ebbersmeyer about the relation of emotion to reason and the body, and panpsychism, in the Renaissance.
1 commentsPosted on 10 November 2019
An interview with Doris Garraway on the background, intellectual basis, and legacy of the Haitian Revolution.
2 commentsPosted on 22 December 2019
An interview with James Sidbury about the emergence of a self-conscious African identity in the diaspora.
4 commentsPosted on 9 February 2020
An interview with Denis Robichaud on how, and why, Plato was read in the Italian Renaissance.
0 commentsPosted on 16 February 2020
Melvin Rogers joins us to discuss David Walker, Maria Stewart, and Hosea Easton.
0 commentsPosted on 5 April 2020
An interview with Cecilia Muratori, an expert on the surprisingly modern ideas about non-human animals that emerged in the Renaissance.
3 commentsPosted on 7 June 2020
Wilson Moses speaks to us about his research into early black nationalism, with reference to Crummell, Douglass, and others.
2 commentsPosted on 14 June 2020
Leading Machiavelli scholar Quentin Skinner joins Peter to discuss morality, history, and religion in the Prince and the Discourses.
5 commentsPosted on 11 October 2020
An interview with David Lines on the Renaissance reception of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
12 commentsPosted on 22 November 2020
An interview with Dag Nikolaus Hasse on the Renaissance reception of Averroes, Avicenna, and other authors who wrote in Arabic.
0 commentsPosted on 10 January 2021
Co-host Chike joins Peter to look back at series two and ahead to series three.
8 commentsPosted on 17 January 2021
An interview with Guido Giglioni, who speaks to us about the sources and philosophical implications of medical works of the Renaissance.
3 commentsPosted on 21 February 2021
We chat with Tommy Curry about African-American thought between the turn of the century and the Harlem Renaissance.
4 commentsPosted on 28 February 2021
Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.
7 commentsPosted on 4 April 2021
Vanessa Wills speaks to us about Marx and his Africana legacy, with a special focus on black women Marxists.
0 commentsPosted 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 commentsPosted on 16 May 2021
An interview with Michael Dawson, who explains Marcus Garvey's black nationalism and how this and other political ideologies, like socialism and liberalism, have fared from the time of Garvey down to the present day.
1 commentsPosted on 20 June 2021
Learned ignorance, coincidence of opposites and religious peace: Paul Richard Blum discusses the central ideas of Nicholas Cusanus.
0 commentsPosted on 27 June 2021
Leonard Harris explains how Locke's value theory was the basis for his aesthetics and theories of democracy and race.
2 commentsPosted on 12 September 2021
How radical was Luther? We find out from Lyndal Roper, who also discusses Luther and the Peasants' War, sexuality, anti-semitism, and the visual arts.
9 commentsPosted on 17 October 2021
Guest Liam Kofi Bright discusses Du Bois' ideal of value-free science and the place of science within his wider thought.
0 commentsPosted on 6 February 2022
Interview guest Carole Boyce Davies joins us to talk about the radical ideas of Claudia Jones.
0 commentsPosted on 12 March 2022
John Sellars returns to the podcast to discuss Lipsius' work on Seneca and the early modern Neo-Stoic movement.
1 commentsPosted on 17 April 2022
An interview about the role of the emotions, including anger and feelings of dignity, in the non-violent protest campaign of King.
0 commentsPosted on 8 May 2022
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".
6 commentsPosted on 15 May 2022
Chike joins Peter to look back at our coverage of Africana philosophy in the first half of the 20th century.
0 commentsPosted on 3 July 2022
Peter celebrates reaching 400 episodes together with the hosts of three great philosophy podcasts: Elucidations, Hi-Phi Nation, and the Unmute Podcast (Matt Teichman, Barry Lam, and Myisha Cherry).
10 commentsPosted on 18 September 2022
We're joined by a leading Fanon expert to talk about a range of themes in his work: Negritude, psychiatry, and violence.
1 commentsPosted on 25 September 2022
A chat with Ramus expert Robert Goulding on the role of mathematics in Ramist philosophy, not to mention some juicy academic quarrels in Paris.
0 commentsPosted on 18 December 2022
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.)
0 commentsPosted on 22 January 2023
Two scholars of the same name join us to shed further light on freedom fighter and political theorist Amílcar Cabral.
0 commentsPosted on 12 February 2023
No doubt that we're in good hands with interview guest Henrik Lagerlund, who brings his expertise in the history of skepticism to bear on the French Renaissance. Including a look ahead to Descartes!
1 comments
Posted on 31 December 2010
Peter's colleague Professor MM McCabe joins him in the first interview of the series of podcasts, to talk about Heraclitus.
26 comments