Logic

35 - The Philosopher's Toolkit: Aristotle's Logical Works

Posted on 29 May 2011

Peter discusses Aristotle’s pioneering work in logic, and looks at related issues like the ten categories and the famous “sea battle” argument for determinism.

23 comments
60 - Walking on Eggshells: the Stoics on Logic

Posted on 25 December 2011

Peter arrives at the most influential of the Hellenistic schools, the Stoics, focusing on the early school from Zeno to Chrysippus, and on Stoic innovations in logic.

12 comments
82 - Lost and Found: Aristotelianism after Aristotle

Posted on 27 May 2012

Peter looks at the history of Aristotelianism up the time of the Roman Empire and the beginning of commentaries on Aristotle's works.

6 comments
118 - Fate, Hope and Clarity: Boethius

Posted on 3 March 2013

Boethius ushers in the medieval age with expert works on Aristotle, subtle treatises on theology, and the Consolation of Philosophy, written while he awaited execution.

9 comments
128 - Aristotelian Society: the Baghdad School

Posted on 12 May 2013

A group of mostly Christian philosophers transpose the practices of antique Aristotelian philosophy to 10th century Baghdad.

10 comments
129 - The Second Master: al-Fārābī

Posted on 19 May 2013

Peter begins to look at the systematic rethinking of Hellenic philosophy offered by al-Fārābī, focusing on his logic and metaphysics.

7 comments
174 - Leading Light: Suhrawardī

Posted on 4 May 2014

Suhrawardī, founder of the Illuminationist (ishrāqī) tradition, proposes a metaphysics of light on the basis of his theory of knowledge by presence.

27 comments
180 - Proof Positive: The Logical Tradition

Posted on 15 June 2014

Logicians ply their trade across a millennium of Islamic history, considering such issues as the status of logic itself and the Liar Paradox.

13 comments
181 - By the Book: Ibn Taymiyya

Posted on 22 June 2014

The controversial jurist Ibn Taymiyya sets forth an originalist theory of law and a searching criticism of the philosophers’ logic.

28 comments
183 - Family Feud: Philosophy at Shiraz

Posted on 6 July 2014

Ill-tempered debates in early modern Iran, as we examine the rivalry between Dawānī and the Dashtakīs at Shīrāz.

7 comments
202. Philosophers Anonymous: the Roots of Scholasticism

Posted on 14 December 2014

Little-known authors prepare the way for scholasticism with glosses on logic, metaphysical debate, and a poem about a cat.

5 comments
208. Get Thee to a Nunnery: Heloise and Abelard

Posted on 25 January 2015

Peter Abelard and Heloise prove themselves to be fascinating thinkers as well as star-crossed lovers.

4 comments
225. No Uncertain Terms: Thirteenth Century Logic

Posted on 24 May 2015

The terminist logicians William of Sherwood and Peter of Spain classify the various ways that language can relate to the world.

Thanks to Catarina Dutilh Novaes for help with this episode.

11 comments
238. Binding Arbitration: Robert Kilwardby

Posted on 11 October 2015

Robert Kilwardby is infamous for his ban on teaching certain philosophical ideas at Oxford, yet made contributions in logic and on the soul.

0 comments
239. Catarina Dutilh Novaes on Medieval Logic

Posted on 25 October 2015

Was medieval logic "formal"? Peter finds out from Catarina Dutilh Novaes.

7 comments
31. Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire: Gautama’s Nyāya-Sūtra

Posted on 11 December 2016

The Nyāya-Sūtra inaugurates a tradition of logical and epistemological analysis.

3 comments
33. Standard Deductions: Nyāya on Reasoning

Posted on 8 January 2017

Gautama and his commentators tell us how to separate good inferences from bad ones.

2 comments
35. Ujjwala Jha and V.N. Jha on Nyāya

Posted on 5 February 2017

The First Family of Indian Epistemology joins us to discuss the theories and later influence of the Nyāya school.

2 comments
277. Trivial Pursuits: Fourteenth Century Logic

Posted on 7 May 2017

The scholastics discuss the ambiguity of terms, the nature of logical inference, and logical paradoxes, and play the game of “obligations.”

0 comments
278. Sara Uckelman on Obligations

Posted on 21 May 2017

Sara Uckelman soundly defeats Peter in the medieval logical game of "obligations."

10 comments
279. Quadrivial Pursuits: the Oxford Calculators

Posted on 4 June 2017

Bradwardine and other thinkers based at Oxford make breakthroughs in physics by applying mathematics to motion.

2 comments
46. No Four Ways About It: Nāgārjuna’s Tetralemma

Posted on 9 July 2017

Nāgārjuna’s four-fold argument scheme, the tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi).

10 comments
47. Jan Westerhoff on Nāgārjuna

Posted 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 comments
283. Jack Zupko on John Buridan

Posted on 30 July 2017

Peter speaks to Jack Zupko about John Buridan's secular and parsimonious approach to philosophy.

0 comments
49. Well Qualified: the Jains on Truth

Posted on 17 September 2017

Does the Jain theory of seven predications (saptabhaṇgī) land them in self-contradiction, or help them to avoid it?

0 comments
53. Follow the Evidence: Dignāga's Logic

Posted on 12 November 2017

Dignāga’s trairūpya theory, which sets out the three conditions required for making reliable inferences.

4 comments
54. Graham Priest on Logic and Buddhism

Posted on 26 November 2017

Graham Priest joins Peter to discuss non-classical logic and its connections with Buddhist patterns of reasoning.

11 comments
300b. The Relevance of Medieval Philosophy Today

Posted on 6 May 2018

Peter King, Catarina Dutilh Novaes, and Russ Friedman discuss their approaches to medieval philosophy and its contemporary relevance.

11 comments
302. On the Eastern Front: Philosophy in Syriac and Armenian

Posted on 3 June 2018

Eastern Christian philosophy outside of Constantinople, focusing on translation and exegesis in the languages of Syriac and Armenian.

8 comments
314. Katerina Ierodiakonou on Byzantine Commentaries

Posted on 16 December 2018

Katerina Ierodiakonou discusses Byzantine commentators on Aristotle, including Michael of Ephesus.

4 comments
320. People of the South: Byzantium and Islam

Posted on 10 March 2019

Intellectual exchange between Christians and Muslims, and the later flowering of Syriac literature including the philosopher Bar Hebraeus.

0 comments
331. Literary Criticism: Lorenzo Valla

Posted on 8 September 2019

Lorenzo Valla launches a furious attack on scholastic philosophy, favoring the resources of classical Latin.

4 comments
355. Town and Gown: Italian Universities

Posted on 13 September 2020

The blurry line dividing humanism and scholastic university culture in the Italian Renaissance.

2 comments
359. There and Back Again: Zabarella on Scientific Method

Posted on 8 November 2020

Jacopo Zabarella outlines the correct method for pursuing, and then presenting, scientific discoveries.

8 comments
373. Lords of Language: Northern Humanism

Posted on 23 May 2021

Rudolph Agricola, Juan Luis Vives and other humanist scholars spread the study of classical antiquity across Europe and mock the technicalities of scholastic philosophy.

8 comments
385. I Too Can Ask Questions: Protestant Scholasticism

Posted on 5 December 2021

In a surprise twist, some Protestant thinkers embrace the methods of scholasticism, and even find something to admire in the work of Catholic authors like Aquinas.

3 comments
401. Word Perfect: Logic and Language in Renaissance France

Posted on 17 July 2022

Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples and Julius Caesar Scaliger fuse Aristotelianism with humanism to address problems in logic and literary aesthetics.

0 comments
403. Make It Simple: Peter Ramus

Posted on 11 September 2022

Peter Ramus scandalizes his critics, and thrills his students and admirers, by proposing a new and simpler approach to philosophy.

2 comments
405. Divide and Conquer: the Spread of Ramism

Posted on 9 October 2022

The methods of Peter Ramus sweep across Europe, winning adherents and facing stiff opposition in equal measure.

1 comments