History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

Richard Sorabji joins Peter to discuss the ancient commentators on Aristotle

John Philoponus refutes Aristotle’s and Proclus’ arguments for the eternity of the universe, and develops new ideas in physics.

Julian the Apostate and the philosophers of Athens and Alexandria try to keep pagan philosophy alive in the late Roman empire

Dominic O'Meara speaks with Peter about political philosophy and mathematics in Neoplatonism

Anne Sheppard joins Peter to discuss aesthetics from Plato to Proclus

Proclus displays late Neoplatonism in all its glory

Iamblichus fuses Platonism with pagan religious conviction and sets the agenda for Neoplatonism in generations to come.

Porphyry defends vegetarianism and the harmony of Plato and Aristotle

James Wilberding joins Peter to examine what Plotinus and Porphyry contributed to the philosophy of nature

Plotinus struggles to explain the presence of suffering, evil and ugliness in a world caused by purely good principles – and tells us what role we should play in that world.

For Plotinus, Soul is on the border between the physical and intelligible realms. Can he convince us to identify ourselves with its highest part?

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

Peter introduces Plotinus, the greatest philosopher of late antiquity and the founder of Neoplatonism

How did the mathematics of figures like Euclid and Archimides relate to ancient philosophy? Peter finds out in an interview with Serafina Cuomo

Ptolemy uses philosophy in the service of studying the stars, while philosophers of all persuasions evaluate the widespread practice of astrology.

Themistius, Quintilian, Lucian and other authors tell us about the connections between rhetoric and late ancient philosophy

Alexander of Aphrodisias writes the greatest ancient commentaries on Aristotle and tries to demolish the Stoic teaching on fate

Peter looks at the history of Aristotelianism up the time of the Roman Empire and the beginning of commentaries on his works

Jan Opsomer helps Peter to understand principles, Plato interpretation, and Plutarch in a wide-ranging discussion of Middle Platonism

Plutarch was a historian, a priest of Apollo, and a Platonist

Philo of Alexandria uses Platonism to understand the Bible of Moses

Pioneering thinkers Eudorus, Alcinous, and Numenius fuse Pythagoreanism with Platonism and pave the way for Plotinus.

In late antiquity, Aristotelianism and Platonism made a comeback, and pagan philosophy developed alongside Judaism and Christianity.

Jim Hankinson tells Peter about the life, work and philosophical contributions of Galen

Hellenistic doctors discover the nerves and argue about method; Galen passes judgment

Leading Hellenistic philosophy scholar Tony Long talks to Peter about the self, ethics and politics in the Stoics, Epicureans and Skeptics

Sextus Empiricus pushes skepticism to its limits with his uncompromising Pyrrhonism

Peter discusses Cicero's method and philosophical allegiances with Raphael Woolf

Cicero, inspired by the skepticism of the New Academy, uses his literary talents to present the wisdom of the Greeks

The Skeptical Academy attacks Stoic claims that certain knowledge is possible

Peter begins to examine ancient Skepticism, beginning with Pyrrho's life and doctrines, or lack thereof

John Sellars joins Peter to discuss the Roman Stoics and their "art of living"

Marcus Aurelius' Meditations are a classic of Stoicism written by the most powerful philosopher who ever lived

Epictetus, greatest of the Roman Stoics, tells you how to set yourself free

Seneca wields his rhetorically charged Latin to advance Stoic ethical theory

David Sedley discusses the Stoic school and its evolution

The Stoic ethical theory insists that perfection is possible, and that moral responsibility is compatible with determinism

The Stoic cosmos: suffused with divinity, surrounded by void, and endlessly repeating

The Stoics set out and defend an ambitious theory of knowledge, where it is possible to avoid all error

Introducing the early Stoics, Zeno, Cleanthes and Chrysippus, and their innovations in logic

James Warren chats with Peter about the pleasures of Epicureanism

In "On the Nature of Things" Lucretius sets Epicureanism into Latin poetic verse

The Epicureans reassure us against the terrors of death and punishment by the gods

Pleasure is the good, according to Epicurus. But how do we live most pleasantly?

Epicurus sets out an empiricist theory of knowledge and atomist physics, in support of hedonism

The Cyrenaics, the ultimate pleasure seekers of ancient philosophy

A recording of Peter's lecture delivered on Oct 25, 2011, at the Arts and Humanities festival on "The Power of Stories" at King's College London.

Diogenes and the other Cynics “deface the currency” by exposing the hypocrisy of Greek society.

Introducing the Stoics, Skeptics, Epicureans and Cynics, the schools of the Hellenistic age

The Old Academy and Theophrastus carry on the legacy of Plato and Aristotle