Dignāga argues that all perception is accompanied by self-awareness.
Martin Pickavé returns to the podcast to talk about theories of the emotions in Aquinas, Scotus and Wodeham.
Graham Priest joins Peter to discuss non-classical logic and its connections with Buddhist patterns of reasoning.
Be surprised by how many philosophical problems arise in connection with angels (how many can dance on the head of a pin is not one of them).
Dignāga’s trairūpya theory, which sets out the three conditions required for making reliable inferences.
Dietrich of Freiberg, Berthold of Moosburg, John Tauler and Henry Suso explore Neoplatonism and mysticism.
The great Buddhist thinker Dignāga argues that general concepts and language are mere constructions superimposed on perception.
The scholastic and mystic Meister Eckhart sets out his daring speculations about God and humankind in both Latin and German.
My guest appearance on the Ancient Greece Declassified podcast
In the unlikely event that you want to hear yet more of me on a podcast, you can hear my appearance on the Ancient Greece Declassified podcast here, discussing Aristotle.
When Your Favorite Philosopher is a Bigot
Here is my latest column for the magazine Philosophy Now, which asks how we should respond when we find figures in the history of philosophy expressing views we now find obviously repugnant, e.g. justifying slavery or making misogynist remarks.
Normore on logic and the history of philosophy
I came across this nice interview with Calvin Normore, which includes some ruminations on the history of philosophy that warmed my heart: "there is a way in which a historian of Philosophy has answerable to the discipline of History, but also to the discipline of Philosophy. You have to be doing Philosophy: you can’t even understand the history, typically, unless you do the philosophy well.
Lethem on abundance
I was just reading an essay by the novelist Jonathan Lethem in which he argues against the temptation to canonize only a few great novelists (the "Rushmore" impulse, he calls it), since there are so many other varied fiction writers worth reading. Of course this resonates with the "without any gaps" approach of the podcast. I was particularly struck by the following passage which, if applied to the history of philosophy, expresses better than I ever could my feelings about trying to narrow our focus to a canon of major figures:
Copy editing: ask the audience!
The paperback versions of volumes 2 and 3 of The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps book series are on the way! So we're talking here about Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds; and in the Islamic World. I am allowed to make small corrections - not adding whole chapters or whatever but I can fix little things. I'd be grateful to know if anyone has spotted typos or factual errors in either book.
Why women choose to study philosophy
An interesting article on Daily Nous about something I take to be a major problem in the philosophy business: disproportionately fewer women choosing to go on in their study of philosophy. This is based on some data collected through student surveys.
Philosophie in der Krise?
For those who can read German: today's "Süddeutsche Zeitung" has an interesting and very critical article in it about the overproduction of PhDs in Germany, and in philosophy in particular, without a correspondingly large number of positions for these doctoral students to occupy after finishing.
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Jim Young
Graham Priest's mention of Aristotle's weak proofs for the principle of non-contradiction reminds me of Ortega y Gasset's delightful discussion of this in The Idea of Principle in Leibniz. This leads me to wonder if Ortega is on the menu?
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Otter Bob
Hi Peter,
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John B
Hello!
Great podcast! Do you plan to add a series on Chinese philosophy? I would personally be interested, and I think it is the most conspicuous gap in the current collection.
Thanks!
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Shashvat Shukla
There were many words and names(both Sanskrit and Polish!) mentioned in this episode that were hard to spell from listening to them. Could you please provide show notes with the episodes with the names spelled out!
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Demetrios
First, thank you very much for the amazing podcast; I deeply appreciate it and all I've learned.
In your introduction to Timaeus in this episode, you juxtapose the theology of the revealed religions with the concept of the demiurge. I heard this and immediately thought of the opening chapter of Genesis Rabbah (בראשית רבה), a sixth c. rabbinic work, which begins with the following [you're probably familiar with it, but nonetheless, here's the relevant section with some explanatory notes]:
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Kieran Boylan
When is Vol 4 coming out?
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Xaratustrah
Hi Peter,
I am not sure if I understood the position of the Jainas with regard to that of Dignaga or Dharmakirti, for instance in the example of the mango. If I give it a thought, basically only that of Dharmakirti sounds different because it requires an underlying principle, whereas both Jainas and Dignaga basically rely on the past experience, one or the other way. The fact that conjunction of taste and color is enough for Dignaga for a judgement is itself based on past experiences and hence a kind of induction. Isn't it?
Cheers!
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Product of my t...
Again, if you or anyone else can make a good case for moral realism, or demonstrate the existence of moral facts, I'm open to being persuaded. People often argue about who has the burden of proof. My approach to that is to try to give my case as best I can, regardless of who I think bears that burden more.
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5932255 Overview
Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through the history of philosophy, "without any gaps." The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.
The latest episodes are listed on the left, or you can view the list of all episodes published so far. If you want to keep up to date with the latest podcasts, you can subscribe to the latest episodes RSS feed or to email notification (via Google Feedburner) that there is a new podcast.
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