Questions please!
What with next week's excitement (not only the new Star Wars movie and Christmas, for those so inclined, but also the first Thomas Aquinas episode) you may not have noticed we're coming up on episode 250. For this special milestone I'm planning to do a question-and-answer episode. Please send in your questions (just commenting below is fine, or on Twitter or Facebook) and I will answer as many as I can.
Hi Peter Adamson,
Hi Peter Adamson,
I was wondering about ancient and medieval philosophy, and how it applies to us today. Namely, how do you think that a thinker such as Aristotle should be read in light of modern science. Although I am very far from being able to call myself a philosopher, it seems to me that Aristotle's four causes aren't something that can't be tossed away lightly, although I'm not exactly knowledgeable on the matter. Do you think it is still justified to think it can be proved that everything is born for a purpose?
I was also wondering whether or not you would eventually move into Eastern philosophy. There were quite a number of great philosophers and philosophical movements over there. Along with well-known giants like Confucius and Laozi, there are also less appreciated thinkers (at least in the west) like Kukai.
In reply to Hi Peter Adamson, by Zachary
Thanks for the question, I'll
Thanks for the question, I'll add that to the list.
As for Eastern philosophy did you see I'm already covering Indian philosophy? (See the India dropdown menu above.) And I do hope to tackle Chinese philosophy in the future, after spending some time in India and then looking at African philosophy.
Hello Peter
Hello Peter
Arrian is said to have written eight volumes of Epcitetus' discourses, but only four survive. The works of Zeno, the founder of Stoicism, I think have all been lost. Sapho is said to be one the "nine lyric poets" of ancient Greece, but only fragments survive and only the work of two of those nine poets has been passed down to us in any great quantity. Livy is supposed to have written well over a hundred volumes about Rome, but all we have now are about thirty.
So, my question is, which missing work of philosophy is the biggest loss to us? To put it another way, if a new batch of scrolls were found, which work would be most exciting to discover? The same question too for missing works of literature, which is most regretable loss?
In reply to Hello Peter by Happy Birthday…
Thanks! Great question, I'll
Thanks! Great question, I'll answer it in the special episode.
Hello Peter
Hello Peter
Just looking through a few of the blog posts, I see you're learning Persian and it also appears you already know Greek and Arabic. Not only that but you can be seen on telly speaking German. Plus English!
How many languages do you speak and could you say a little about your experience of learning languages? Whether you've found a technique that works for you? If it becomes easier the more languages someone already knows? Is it especially tough with a different script? Are their any phonemes you find just impossible to pronounce?
Love the podcast.
Suggested Question for #250
Suggested Question for #250 Concerning the Soul
Despite the many varieties of views throughout the HoP, there seems to be a tension between speaking of an organism as having a soul, in the sense of an object attached to a body or a distinct part of the body, versus an organism being a soul, in the sense of a body's set of powers or faculties that determine what kind of entity the organism is. (Plato versus Aristotle?) Why is there this tension? One answer might be that, after tactile sensations (which are fundamental for the survival of any form of life), humans are primarily visual animals and conceive of themselves and their populated environment as bodies. (Given our sensory equipment that may make good evolutionary sense.) Whereas conceiving of the soul as a variety of functional activities may come from understanding ourselves and the environment as essentially characterized by events, actions, processes or, in general, changes. Is this tension worthy of discussion?
Hello,
Hello,
One question I had (sorry if this is already on the list) was: in the past 3.5 period-regions, are there any figures/topics you didn't cover that you regret not covering? If so, who/what are they and why didn't you cover them?
In reply to Hello, by Raphael
Hi - thanks for the question.
Hi - thanks for the question. I already recorded the Q&A episode actually, but as it happens I did answer your question in passing anyway so you will find out who I think I missed!
Howdy,
Howdy,
At an AT&T hackathon a fortnight ago, I created an internet connected doorbell. Inspired by this podcast, it does not play chimes, but plays a random bit of stoic philosophy and sends you a microblog notification. I call it my Stoic doorbell. I'd like to make variants with other themes and I am looking for categories with a number of nice, short quotes. Do you have any suggestions? Note that this is not a commercial product, although I might try kickstarter if it works out well.
In reply to Howdy, by Ralph
Well, there are other
Well, there are other philosophers who wrote aphoristically - Nietzsche is a good example and he might be a popular choice anyway. Also the Existentialists, I could see that being a hit. Good luck, it's a clever idea!
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Hi Peter Adamson,
Hi Peter Adamson,
Im a big fan of your podcast and thank you very much for your enourmous effort! (fortunately I found a wise solution of the "I-already-caught-up-your-podcast-problem"- I restarted listening!). I look highly exited to your 250th podcast and wanted to contribute with a question.
Since you do the whole history of philosophy you are comparing construct of ideas and usually assess the argumentations. Do you know think, the philosophy made a progress? On which degree? Which new challenges arose since Platon and Aristoteles? Is a more sophisticated argumentation the better one?
Kind regards and please keep on podcasting!
Gabriel Kurz