Universals and Forms

26 - Ain't No Sunshine: The Cave Allegory of Plato's Republic

Posted on 27 March 2011

The most famous work of Plato is the "Republic" and its most famous passage is the allegory of the cave. In this episode Peter looks at the allegory, along with the Form of the Good and divided line.

17 comments
27 - Second Thoughts: Plato's Parmenides and the Forms

Posted on 3 April 2011

Plato sets out criticisms against his own theory of Forms in the "Parmenides". In this episode Peter looks at the criticisms, including the Third Man Argument, and asks what Plato wants us to conclude from them.

50 comments
28 - Fiona Leigh on Plato's Sophist

Posted 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 comments
36 - A Principled Stand: Aristotle's Epistemology

Posted on 5 June 2011

Peter discusses Aristotle's Posterior Analytics, asking what demands we must meet in order to count as having knowledge. The bar turns out to be set surprisingly high.

11 comments
39 - Form and Function: Aristotle's Four Causes

Posted on 26 June 2011

Aristotle's Physics presents four types of cause: formal, material, final and efficient. Peter looks at all four, and asks whether evolutionary theory undermines final causes in nature.

52 comments
77 - Caesarian Section: Philosophy in the Roman Empire

Posted on 22 April 2012

Peter introduces philosophy in late antiquity, when Aristotelianism and Platonism made a comeback, and pagan philosophy developed alongside Judaism and Christianity.

10 comments
88 - Simplicity Itself: Plotinus on the One and Intellect

Posted on 8 July 2012

Plotinus posits an absolutely transcendent first principle, the One. What is it (or isn’t it), and how does it relate to Intellect?

12 comments
155 - Matter over Mind: Ibn Gabirol

Posted on 22 December 2013

Neoplatonism returns in Ibn Gabirol (known in Latin as Avicebron), who controversially holds that everything apart from God has both matter and form.

17 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
207. All or Nothing: The Problem of Universals

Posted on 18 January 2015

Peter Abelard and other logicians of the 12th century argue over the status of universals: are they words or things?

24 comments
213. On the Shoulders of Giants: Philosophy at Chartres

Posted on 1 March 2015

The controversial role of Chartres in the philosophical Renaissance of the twelfth century.

1 comments
216. One of a Kind: Gilbert of Poitiers on Individuation

Posted on 22 March 2015

Gilbert of Poitiers proposes a unique way to explain how each individual is the individual it is.

14 comments
263. One in a Million: Scotus on Universals and Individuals

Posted on 23 October 2016

Scotus explains how things can share a nature in common while being unique individuals.

12 comments
265. Time of the Signs: the Fourteenth Century

Posted on 20 November 2016

An introduction to philosophy in the 14th century, focusing on two big ideas: nominalism and voluntarism.

14 comments
36. Fine Grained Analysis: Kaṇāda’s Vaiśeṣika-sūtra

Posted on 19 February 2017

The Vaiśeṣika school offers a metaphysical analysis of the world and an atomistic physics.

2 comments
272. A Close Shave: Ockham’s Nominalism

Posted on 26 February 2017

Ockham trims away the unnecessary entities posited by other scholastics with his famous Razor principle.

10 comments
37. The Whole Story: Vaiśeṣika on Complexity and Causation

Posted on 5 March 2017

The Vaiśeṣika response to Buddhist skepticism about wholes made up of parts.

3 comments
275. Keeping it Real: Responses to Ockham

Posted on 9 April 2017

Walter Burley flies the flag for realism against Ockham and other nominalists.

0 comments
282. Portrait of the Artist: John Buridan

Posted on 16 July 2017

The hipster’s choice for favorite scholastic, John Buridan, sets out a nominalist theory of knowledge and language, and explains the workings of free will.

7 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
296. Morning Star of the Reformation: John Wyclif

Posted on 25 February 2018

John Wyclif refutes nominalism and inspires the Lollard movement, which anticipated Reformation thought with its critique of the church.

2 comments
297. The Prague Spring: Scholasticism Across Europe

Posted on 11 March 2018

New ideas and and new universities in Italy and greater Germany including Vienna and Prague, where Jan Hus carries on the radical ideas of Wyclif.

12 comments
300a. The Relevance of Ancient Philosophy Today

Posted 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 comments
303. Don’t Picture This: Iconoclasm

Posted on 17 June 2018

Is it idolatry to venerate an icon of a saint, or of Christ? The dispute leads the Byzantines to ponder the relation between an image and its object.

2 comments
304. Behind Enemy Lines: John of Damascus

Posted on 1 July 2018

John of Damascus helps to shape the Byzantine understanding of humankind and the veneration of images, despite living in Islamic territory.

16 comments
307. Consul of the Philosophers: Michael Psellos

Posted on 9 September 2018

Michael Psellos and his attitude towards pagan philosophy and the political life.

11 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
313. Queen of the Sciences: Anna Komnene and her Circle

Posted on 2 December 2018

Princess Anna Komnene makes good use of her political retirement by writing her Alexiad and gathering a circle of scholars to write commentaries on Aristotle.

0 comments
374. Opposites Attract: Nicholas of Cusa

Posted on 6 June 2021

The radical negative theology of Nicholas of Cusa, and his hope of establishing peace between the religions of the world.

9 comments
377. One Way or Another: Northern Scholasticism

Posted on 18 July 2021

Trends in Aristotelian philosophy in northern and eastern Europe in the fifteenth century, featuring discussion of the “Wegestreit” and the nominalist theology of Gabriel Biel.

0 comments