How Descartes fashioned a “method” to repel even the strongest and most radical forms of doubt, with the cogito argument as its foundation.By Peter Adamson

For Descartes body is purely geometrical. So how does he understand features we can perceive, like color, and causation between bodies?By Peter Adamson

How René Descartes’ understanding of his own intellectual project evolved across his lifetime.By Peter Adamson

A look at the political and religious ferment that made up the historical context of philosophy in 17th century France and the Netherlands.By Peter Adamson

In this interview we learn more about the Republic of Letters: its importance for the history of ideas, it geographic breadth, who was involved, and the contributions of figures including Leibniz and Hartlib.By Peter Adamson

How scholars around Europe created an international network of intellectual exchange. As examples we consider the activities of Mersenne, Peiresc, Leibniz, Calvet, and Hartlib.By Peter Adamson

What is Enlightenment, anyway?By Peter Adamson

We finish our look at philosophy in the Reformation era with an interview about Galileo's use of a revolutionary technology: the telescope.By Peter Adamson

The philosophical issues at the heart of the notorious condemnation of Galileo and Copernican astronomy.By Peter Adamson

Though most famous for his role in persecuting Galileo, Robert Bellarmine was a central figure of the Counter-Reformation, especially in his political thought.By Peter Adamson

Carlo Ginzburg’s innovative historical study The Cheese and the Worms looks at the ideas of an obscure 16th century miller, suggesting how popular culture might be integrated into the history of philosophy.By Peter Adamson

Natural philosophy and medicine in the work of two unorthodox thinkers of the late sixteenth century, both of them women.By Peter Adamson

Why do critics consider Don Quixote the first “modern” novel, and what does it tell us about the aesthetics of fiction?By Peter Adamson

We're joined by Tom Pink, who tells us about Suárez on ethics, law, religion, and the state.By Peter Adamson

Suárez and other Iberian scholastics ask where political power comes from and under what circumstances it is exercised legitimately.By Peter Adamson

Vitoria, Molina, Suárez and others develop the idea of natural law, exploring its relevance for topics including international law, slavery, and the ethics of economic exchange.By Peter Adamson

Did the metaphysics of Francisco Suárez mark a shift from traditional scholasticism to early modern philosophy?By Peter Adamson

What was Luis de Molina trying to say about human free will with his doctrine of “middle knowledge,” and why did it provoke such controversy?By Peter Adamson

To celebrate reaching 450 episodes, Peter looks at the philosophical resonance of two famous artworks from the turn of the 16th century: Dürer’s Self-Portrait and Michelangelo’s paintings in the Sistine Chapel.By Peter Adamson

We learn from Anna Tropia how Jesuit philosophy of mind broke new ground in the scholastic tradition.By Peter Adamson

The “School of Salamanca,” founded by Francisco Vitoria, and the commentators of Coimbra are at the center of a movement sometimes called the “Second Scholastic.”By Peter Adamson

Yes, there were Spanish Protestants! Andrew (Andrés) Messmer joins us to explain how they drew on humanism and philosophy to argue for their religious agenda.By Peter Adamson

Cajetan, Bañez and other thinkers make Aquinas a central figure of Counter-Reformation thought; we focus on their theories about analogy and the soul.By Peter Adamson

Ignatius of Loyola’s movement begins modestly, but winds up having a global impact on education and philosophy.By Peter Adamson

Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross push the boundaries of individual spirituality and offer philosophically informed accounts of mystical experience.By Peter Adamson

Fray Luis de Leon, Antonio Nebrija, Beatriz Galindo and other scholars bring the Renaissance to Spain.By Peter Adamson

In this interview we learn about the main issues in modern-day philosophy of disability, and the relevance of this topic for the European encounter with the Americas.By Peter Adamson

Bartholomé De las Casas argues against opponents, like Sepúlveda, who believed that Europeans had a legal and moral right to rule over and exploit the indigenous peoples of the Americas.By Peter Adamson

In this initial interview with musician, author and old friend, Tim Benson, we review some of the main themes of his new book, "The New Eon", which, building on the work of David Hawkins, advances that we are on the cusp of a historically unprecedented time. Check out Tim's site here:https://theneweon.org/what-is-an-eon-...His work is also availabl…

Iberian expeditions to the Americas inspire scientists, and Matteo Ricci’s religious mission to Asia becomes an encounter between European and Chinese philosophy.By Peter Adamson

How religious persecution and censorship shaped the context of philosophy in Catholic Europe in the sixteenth century.By Peter Adamson

How the Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation created a context for philosophy among Catholics, especially in Spain, Portugal, and Italy.By Peter Adamson

An expert on Renaissance alchemy tells us how this art related to philosophy at the time... and how she has tried to reproduce its results!By Peter Adamson

Our last figure of the English Renaissance undertakes daring investigations of chemistry, medicine, agriculture, and cosmology – and gets accused of magic and Rosicrucianism.By Peter Adamson

The cosmological and methodological implications of breakthroughs in the understanding of magnetism and electricity at the turn of the 17th century.By Peter Adamson

In a conversation that in some way draws many of our previously discussed themes to a point, James Tunney and I consider the manner in which contemporary modes of culture and technology are driving us not merely to a diminuition of thinking, but, perhaps even its loss altogether.Please check out James' work here:https://www.jamestunney.com/…

Changing ideas about eyesight, light, mirror images, and refraction – and the skeptical worries they may have inspired.By Peter Adamson

How scientists of the Elizabethan age anticipated the discoveries and methods of the Enlightenment (without necessarily publishing them).By Peter Adamson

Science, intrigue, exploration, angelic seances! It's the life and thought of Elizabethan mathematician and magician John Dee.By Peter Adamson

In an opening discussion, WD James and I discuss elements of the Western Tradition that loosely constitute what could be termed "Egalitarian Anti-Modernism": Building upon and expanding on aspects of his ongoing essay series at Winter Oak, and WD's substack, Philosopher's Holler, themes we explore include aspects of Plato's 'Republic', the debate b…

In another conversation with James Tunney, we take up the question of how relevant the distinction between the political Left and Right are, exploring whether its function is merely propagandist in quality. In turn, we scrutinize whether it is connected to deeper cultural currents, and how we are to relate to them....…

A discussion of the history and philosophical significance of scholasticism from medieval times to early modernity, and even today.By Peter Adamson

The evolution of Aristotelian philosophy from John Mair in the late 15th century to John Case in the late 16th century.By Peter Adamson

In a sequel conversation with Eric Coppolino of Planet Waves FM and Chiron Return, we begin considering the degraded state of journalism in the wake of digital's ascendency, and move over the course of the conversation to reflections upon the importance of embodiment and embodied relationship as an antidote to the dilemmas of the present.Here is th…

In another ranging conversation with James Tunney, we survey the curiously mythological dimensions of the scientific project as prologue to considering the symbolism of the skull, the implications of Golgotha, and how these things ramify for our relationship to the technological. James Tunney's work can be found here: https://www.jamestunney.com/ar…

How women’s writing in England changed from the early fifteenth century, the time of Margery Kempe, to the late sixteenth century, the time of Anne Lock.By Peter Adamson

This conversation opens considering the surprising dearth of imagery around the death of Jesus until the late fourth century, a circumstance which clues one into questions of how, otherwise, is the death of Jesus remembered and understood for early Christianity: this segues into reflections of text, historicity, facticity, myth and imagination. The…

From the interrogation of the conceptual shifts which were crystallized by the events of recent years through the lens of Ivan Illich and beyond, this conversation with David Cayley turns over a bushel of stones, from the idolization of 'Life', to the unconsciously Christian character of secular society, to the problematics around the relationship …

How Macbeth reflects the anxieties and explanations surrounding witchcraft and witch-hunting in early modern Europe.By Peter Adamson

In a conversation with the fierce and gracious Eleanor Goldfield, we consider some of the themes of her latest film, "To The Trees", which documents the defense of the Redwood forests against the encroaching destruction of development and lumber companies. Numerous are the points along the way, leading to a surprising coda, which is a reflection on…