History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

Responses to Copernicus in the 16th century, culminating with the master of astral observation Tycho Brahe.

How revolutionary was the Copernican Revolution?

John Sellars returns to the podcast to discuss Lipsius' work on Seneca and the early modern Neo-Stoic movement.

Justus Lipsius draws on Seneca and other Stoics to counsel peace of mind in the face of political chaos, but also writes a work on how such chaos can be avoided.

Amidst religious conflict in the Netherlands, Dirck Coornhert pleads for religious toleration and freedom of expression.

Schegk, Taurellus, Gorlaeus, and Sennert revive atomism to explain chemical reactions, the composition of bodies, and the generation of organisms.

Paracelsus adapts the tradition of alchemical science for use in medicine, and in the process overturns the scientific theories of Aristotle and Galen.

An interview with Helen Hattab on the scope and impact of scholastic philosophy among Protestants.

Was Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa a dark magician, a pious skeptic, or both?

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.

John Calvin's views on predestination and the limits of human reason.

The Swiss theologian Zwingli launches the Reformation in Switzerland, but clashes with Luther and more radical Protestants.

Faced with massive political upheaval and the rise of the Anabaptists, Luther argues for a socially conservative version of the Reformation.

Luther’s close ally Melanchthon uses his knowledge of ancient philosophy and rhetoric in the service of the Reformation.

Erasmus clashes with Martin Luther over the question whether our wills are free or enslaved to sin.

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.

How Luther’s doctrine of justification by faith alone and his attack on the Church relate to the history of philosophy.

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.

The “learned piety” of Desiderius Erasmus, the greatest figure of northern humanism.

Learned ignorance, coincidence of opposites and religious peace: Paul Richard Blum discusses the central ideas of Nicholas Cusanus.

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

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

The impact of the printing press on the history of philosophy, and its role in helping to trigger the Reformation.

How humanism and scholasticism came together with the Protestant Reformation to create the philosophy of 15-16th century Europe.

For our finale of the Italian Renaissance series we're joined by Ingrid Rowland, to speak about art, philosophy, and persecution in Renaissance Rome.

Did Galileo’s scientific discoveries grow out of the culture of the Italian Renaissance?

Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.

Our guest Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.

Ficino, Pico, Cardano, and other Renaissance thinkers debate whether astrology and magic are legitimate sciences with a foundation in natural philosophy.

Was the natural philosophy of Bernardino Telesio and Tommaso Campanella the first modern physical theory?

An interview with Guido Giglioni, who speaks to us about the sources and philosophical implications of medical works of the Renaissance.

The polymath Girolamo Cardano explores medicine, mathematics, philosophy of mind, and the interpretation of dreams.

Connections between philosophy and advances in medicine, including the anatomy of Vesalius.

The humanist study of Pythagoras, Archimides and other ancient mathematicians goes hand in hand with the use of mathematics in painting and architecture.

An interview with Dag Nikolaus Hasse on the Renaissance reception of Averroes, Avicenna, and other authors who wrote in Arabic.

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

Pietro Pomponazzi and Agostino Nifo debate the immortality of the soul and the cogency of Averroes’ theory of intellect.

An interview with David Lines on the role of Aristotle in Renaissance ethics.

Aristotle’s works are edited, printed, and translated, leading to new assessments of his thought among both humanists and scholastics.

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

Leon Battista Alberti, Benedetto Cotrugli, and Poggio Bracciolini grapple with the moral and conceptual problems raised by the prospect of people getting filthy rich.

Tommaso Campanella’s “The City of the Sun” and other utopian works of the Italian Renaissance describe perfect cities as an ideal for real life politics.

Bruni, Poggio, Machiavelli, and Guicciardini explore political ideas and historical method in works on Roman and Italian history.

Leading Machiavelli scholar Quentin Skinner joins Peter to discuss morality, history, and religion in the Prince and the Discourses.

Peter celebrates reaching 350 episodes by explaining a single sentence in Machiavelli's "Discourses."

Machiavelli’s seminal work of political advice, "The Prince," tells the ruler how to be strong like a lion and cunning like a fox.

Did “civic humanism” really make republicanism a newly dominant political theory in the Italian Renaissance?

The prophetic preacher Girolamo Savonarola attacks pagan philosophy and puts forward his own political ideas, before coming to an untimely end.

An interview with Cecilia Muratori, an expert on the surprisingly modern ideas about non-human animals that emerged in the Renaissance.

Pico della Mirandola and Giannozzo Manetti praise humans as the centerpiece of the created world. But what about the other animals?