What's coming in 2023-24

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As every year we took August off, but not really because we were hard at work here at HoPWaG HQ producing new episodes and turning old episodes into books! On the book front, Chike and I have submitted the manuscript for the first Africana Philosophy volume, which will go up to 1900 (what was episode 67 in the podcast). We hope that this book will appear next year.

As for what's coming in the podcasts, the Africana series still has some excitements to come, starting with our interview with Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o no less, on Sept 9! The Africana series will wrap up somewhere around February 2024, and be followed immediately in the "global" or "non-European" (or whatever you want to call it) feed by the much-anticipated launch of the History of Philosophy in China, with co-author Karyn Lai. That will be about 75 episodes or so, and go up to the Han period.

The Reformation and Renaissance series will continue on for another year or so, starting with more episodes on Shakespeare (the Tempest, Macbeth) and then moving on to British scholasticism and science. The final chunk will be on the counter-reformation, especially in Spain and Portugal though we'll also be back in Italy for some figures and topics. And then, I think right around the beginning of 2025, we will finally get to "early Modern" philosophy starting with a big series (a book worth of episodes) on France and the Netherlands in the 17-18th centuries. I would also hope that the "Philosophy in the Reformation" book could appear in 2025 or early 2026.

Thanks for listening!

Spencer on 4 September 2023

Regarding Chinese philosophy and transliteration

Peter, 

I am looking forward to Chinese philosophy. Something you may wish to consider is how to communicate Chinese sounds to an English-speaking audience. Although I probably knew this before, something that has been made very clear to me from listening to 150 episodes of the History of China (HOC) podcast: many Chinese sounds are very unlike English sounds and many Chinese sounds (and words) do not transliterate well into English. The HOC podcast involves many proper nouns, mostly names and places. To follow the story, it is important that one can "grasp" who's who--unfortunately, I commonly do not. Even when I study the list of names in the episode summaries and check maps, I commonly cannot identify which written name or place corresponds to the sounds that I hear on the podcast. Frankly, all too often, I have no clue what the podcaster is talking about. The HOC podcaster assumes that the listener is familiar and comfortable with Chinese, which, from my vantage point, is not a sound assumption. 

I do not have a specific recommendation for you and Dr. Lai. Just please keep us non-Chinese speakers in mind. 

Peter Adamson on 5 September 2023

Chinese pronunciation

That is a great point and one I've been pondering too. Since I don't know Chinese, there is not too much threat that I'll present everything in a way that only makes sense for people who know Chinese, but I was planning to try to pronounce things more or less correctly. Something I've occasionally done in the past is to put up a little glossary on the site for a given episode listing tricky words that one might not be able to imagine in terms of how they're spelled, just from hearing them (e.g. in French  or Arabic). I should probably do that for the China episodes too. Thanks for the suggestion!

dukeofethereal on 14 September 2023

How many scripted + interviews left of Africana?

How many scripted and interview episodes are left for Africana? 

 

Also when will you be releasing the Tentative list of episodes for China, will it be November? 

Peter Adamson on 14 September 2023

Transition from Africana to China

The switch will be in about February 2024, the last episode by current planning (which could change!) will be numbered 141, which includes 3-4 interviews.

I think more likely January for the tentative list of China episodes, in case we are tinkering with that until the last minute!

Billy on 15 September 2023

Episode suggestion!

Peter, I've been a long time listener and fan of the show. As you approach the end of your Africana series, I would regret not reaching out in hopes you would consider covering a figure - Lorenzo Kom'Boa Ervin - who has been deeply influential in my understanding of socio-economic philosophy. As a former Communist and Black Panther Party member, he proceeded to be a foundational thinker of Black Anarchism, and represents an important positive doctrine that relates closely to your podcast's relationship with Socialism and nearly all of the figures who you have covered's departure from that dogma. Thanks for your consideration, and all the hard work you've put into creating this resource. 

Peter Adamson on 15 September 2023

Ervin

Thanks, I'll run this past Chike and see what he thinks!

dukeofethereal on 14 September 2023

Will you not be covering Iberian + Italy in Dutch/French section

Professor, where will you be covering 1600-1800 Iberian philosophers + Italian philosophers ? 

dukeofethereal on 18 September 2023

Perhaps the biggest chunk of all 3 mini series?

Iberia, Low Countries, Italy and France might be the largest of all 3 mini series you plan, please don't cut corners because of book length if you approach this method due to the amount of content you would have to squeeze in. You could after all produce two books alone on 1600-1800 Iberia/France/Low Countries/Italy titled 'Part I and Part II'. 

 

 

Peter Adamson on 18 September 2023

Big chunk

Yes I was thinking the same thing. Really what I would have here is book sized chunks on France/Low Countries, Britain/Early US, and Germany; but adding southern Europe, Scandinavia and Eastern Europe etc around the edges inflates each series. The good thing is that I have a good deal of leeway in the size of the books, e.g. the one on Medieval was already enormous and OUP gave me no grief about that, they are very supportive of the project being whatever it needs to be.

Seersucker on 18 September 2023

slow and steady

I just want to register how beautiful, good, and true it is to the philosophical enterprise that you have made it through thirteen years and are still not at the place where so many "surveys" of philosophy begin (i.e., with Descartes). Keep going, please, and keep taking your time.  When I first encountered this project back soon after it began, I thought to myself that this was an endeavor whose moment had surely come. This has been, and keeps being, something worth doing, and worth doing right. 

Peter Adamson on 18 September 2023

Slow and steady

Thanks so much! I am (as you can tell) very committed to this approach but I do understand when listeners get a bit impatient to get to the delights of the 17th century. So I'm always glad to hear from people who appreciate the more gradual approach - and I think we'll understand the 17th century much better with all this material on the 16th century under our belts!

Catherine on 17 November 2023

Fantastic project

Hello, just to say I am fairly new to your podcast and books series and hugely enjoying this thorough, gradual approach to the history of ideas. It is both a remarkable and important accomplishment and I am excited to follow its progress for many years to come.

Peter Adamson on 17 November 2023

Thanks

Thanks so much! Hope you will enjoy it as you explore the rest of the series.

VINCENT DESIDERIO on 4 June 2024

Praise

Peter, I just wanted to thank you for doing this enormous and worth project. I have grown so much as I relate your thoughts on Philosophy to my understanding of art history especially in the dramatic blossoming of painting concomitant with the renewed humanist interest in rhetoric. 
Thank you again!

Vincent Desiderio 

Peter Adamson on 4 June 2024

Art history

Thanks so much, glad you’ve been enjoying it! And without giving anything away, your interest in art history is going to resonate very well with an upcoming episode (number 450).

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