When will early modern begin?
For practically as long as I've been doing the podcast people have been asking me when I will start covering early modern philosophy (17-18th centuries). I can now tell you the answer with a fair degree of precision: unless my plans for the rest of the counterreformation series change, the first episode of the new series will be on Jan 26, 2025. It will probably begin with a general discussion of the concept of "Enlightenment," and then I was thinking it would go on to look at the notion of a Republic of Letters, and look at Mersenne as a good example, before diving into Descartes.
In any case that will kick off the first of three series on early modern philosophy, covering philosophy in France and the Low Countries; to be followed by a series on Britain, Ireland and the early USA; and a series on Germany and other parts of Europe. I'm guessing that each of these series will take 2 years or more, so we may well not arrive at the 19th century until the 2030s (!!!).
In reply to Oxford Series for Reformation by Yujia Li
Next volume
Wow thanks for devoting so much time to the book series! Actually three volumes should be hitting your bedside table in the near future since we have the two Africana books (one already with the press) coming and then I will submit the manuscript for Reformation in early 2025, so that should come out next year I hope.
Recap
Since you are doing this geographically in such big temporal chunks, could you start with a recap episode? Maybe not necessary for the France one, since that will only be 2 or 2.5 years removed from when last covered, but the English series will be a minimum of 4 years removed from the previous one, and German a minimum of 8 years removed.
I'm asking because part of the goal was to produce a continuous history so we could see how each thinker builds on or reacts against those that came before, but it will be hard to remember what came before. It might also provide a kind of "reset" to soften the jarring contrast between hearing people, for example, reacting to people, who are reacting to people, who are reacting to Hobbes, and then immediately after hearing about pre Hobbes political philosophy
In reply to Recap by Alexander Johnson
Recaps
Thanks, that's a good idea - I think I probably wouldn't do a whole episode that just recaps but it would make sense to touch on the background again when I am introducing each series.
In reply to Recaps by Peter Adamson
Recaps in context episodes
I agree - while entire recap-only episodes might take up space, it's still helpful to have a little refresher of sorts in the context episodes for the forthcoming series, much like how the closing (or opening) episodes of India allude to, say, Nagarjuna, who is covered in more detail in dedicated episodes.
In other news - I'm curious how you plan to structure North American philosophies in relation to the US series. Where would philosophies of the indigenous Americas go, and would USA begin from the decades prior to 1776 up to 20th century (like Africana's timeline)?
Also, now that the two "tracks" (Europe/'Western' philosophy, and India, Africana, China) are growing, I hope you'll be making links between episodes across these tracks too? For US especially, there's connections to be drawn with Africana philosophy. More generally, I'm curious if you plan to cross-link episodes on episode pages - not as bibliographies, but an "also see" section, like Stanford Encyclopedia's related terms listed at the bottom of each article.
In reply to Recaps in context episodes by G. Tarun
Recaps
Actually a "recap" for the start of early modern would be a really good idea, if only because I am guessing that some listeners may join then who didn't go through all the Reformation and Renaissance episodes.
The "also see" is a nice idea - I kind of do that in the book version anyway, by adding footnotes to refer the reader to chapters in earlier books, and bracketed "see Chapter 34" for internal references within a book.
In reply to Recaps by Peter Adamson
Also see
Those c.f. footnotes are helpful in the books indeed! But online I see them becoming even more revolutionary - especially when the links happen across traditions and time periods.
Think, for instance, Leo Strauss, who I hope will be covered in 20thc/American series. His work comprises of commentaries/re-appraisals of past philosophers like Plato, Maimonides, Hobbes, etc.
Linking to these episodes would offer much context. Even in Plato's Republic episode, for instance, linking to Hobbes's Leviathan episode (when it's out) would be relevant since you do reference social contract theory there. These retroactive references aren't necessary in the books, of course, but the website enables such connections!
In reply to Also see by G. Tarun
Cf.
Yes actually a good example for what you have in mind is the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy which has related entries (both figures and themes) at the bottom of every page. It's a good idea but would be a lot of work to do systematically. I will bear it in mind!
Descartes scripted episode + remaining Catholic reformation
1. Since Catholic reformation will be ending in January 2025, will any of the tentative episodes you listed last year change?
https://historyofphilosophy.net/what-to-expect-catholic-reformation
Political and legal theory in SS
Natural law theory in SS
Metaphysics in SS
Luis de Molina
Foreknowledge and free will in SS
Francisco Suárez
Oliva Sabuco
Cervantes
Velasquez (yes, I mean the painter)
"Outsider" Philosophy (The Cheese and the Worms)
Galileo
That is 11 episodes on scripted material and 2 Interview episodes (Tom Pink on Suarez and Eileen Reeves on Science) - 13 in total.
It doesn't seem like all 13 episodes will be done by your timeline, so it seems like some of the tentative episodes were moved around? please clarify.
2. How many scripted episodes of Descartes do you plan on writing giving his status, looking at past figures of Plotinus, Aquinas, Augustine, Scotus, Ockham, Aristotle/Plato, Maimonides, et al episode count, can we expect 10+ scripted on his thoughts, I hope you also include his musical theory as an episode on aesthetics.
In reply to Descartes scripted episode + remaining Catholic reformation by dukeofethereal
Scripts
Oh right, I dropped the Velásquez idea actually, in part for chronological reasons and in part because I just did the Michelangelo/Dürer thing so that seemed like enough art for now.
The running order now is:
451 Free Will in the Second Scholastic [Sept 1]
452 Metaphysics in the Second Scholastic [Sept 15]
453 Law and Economics in the Second Scholastic [Sept 29]
454 Political Philosophy in the Second Scholastic [Oct 13]
455 INTERVIEW Tom Pink on Suarez [Oct 27]
456 Cervantes [Nov 10]
457 Oliva Sabuco and Camilla Erculiani [Nov 24]
458 The Cheese and the Worms [Dec 8]
459 Bellarmine [Dec 22]
460 Galileo [Jan 5]
461 INTERVIEW: Eileen Reeves on Galileo [Jan 19]
On Descartes I was thinking more like 5-6 including an interview, not as many as 10; I think with the major figures in early modern I won't do the kind of elaborate coverage that Plato and Aristotle got, just to make room for everything else (though I can imagine Kant might creep up towards 10). Not sure though yet how I will divide up the Descartes episodes.
Add new comment
- Add new comment
- 826 views
Blog Archive
- September 2024 (4)
- July 2024 (2)
- March 2024 (1)
- February 2024 (2)
- December 2023 (2)
- November 2023 (2)
- October 2023 (3)
- September 2023 (3)
- August 2023 (1)
- July 2023 (1)
- June 2023 (2)
- May 2023 (3)
- April 2023 (3)
- March 2023 (6)
- February 2023 (2)
- January 2023 (5)
- November 2022 (3)
- October 2022 (1)
- September 2022 (1)
- August 2022 (1)
- July 2022 (6)
- May 2022 (3)
- April 2022 (2)
- March 2022 (3)
- January 2022 (3)
- December 2021 (1)
- November 2021 (3)
- October 2021 (1)
- September 2021 (3)
- August 2021 (4)
- July 2021 (2)
- June 2021 (3)
- May 2021 (2)
- April 2021 (4)
- March 2021 (4)
- February 2021 (1)
Oxford Series for Reformation
Hi, Professor Adamson,
I am glad to hear we are going to the next period! I wanted to know when the Reformation part will be published. I have been enjoying reading one chapter before sleeping, but last summer I finished all the chapters, so I am really looking forward to the publication of the next volume！