Comments Page

Sir:

First of all let me thank you both for this wonderful series of podcasts.  I have been trying to educate myself in philosophy in general and the indian philosophy in particular and this series has been a godsend for me.  I have now heard all the episodes at least once and several episodes many times over.

I dont claim to understand all the issues fully but one thing struck me as I tried to understand each school.  All the schools rely on examples drawn from nature or everyday life to propose and support their position on metaphysics, epistemology etc.  It seems logical and justified for schools such as the charvaka, the naiyayikas since they do not deny the reality of this world and everyday experience.  But it seems incongrous for other schools since they all deny the self and worldly reality to some extent.  Particularly egregious is the case of sankara's advaitha who deny everything other than brahman.

I am not capable of articulating it in philosophical terms but isn't it a contradiction for any philosophical school to justify its position by using the very things it is holding to be false or unreal? 

I am not trying to be frivolous or flippant but this troubles me.  If language is the ultimate limit of our knowledge (mimamsakas? Wittgenstein?) and everything one communicates is through language (which is necessarily of this world) then how can one deny this reality using the very same language?  Or postulate about some reality beyond which is by definition not within the reach of language?

Thanks once again for the wonderful podcasts and the education you have provided through them.

- Sreenivas

Greetings Peter,

I'll keep it short. What you are doing is very important and the quality of the podcasts are very good.

I encourage you to keep up the good work and to continue with this series as far as possible. You are expanding minds.

Hey Peter!  I downloaded your podcast with the intention listening to only the stoic-related ones.  Despite my initial plan, I decided to check out the first episode anyways.  Just a few weeks later, I am already twenty episodes in...

I think your podcasts are very effective!  You yourself are an excellent speaker and I appreciate the manner in which you deliver your content.  I believe you speak honestly - with little bias.

Do you have any other projects your working on?  Do you study strictly philosophy?

Thanks a lot man!

Shane

Hey Peter,

Love your work; I'm currently going through both sets of podcasts in series (i.e. without any gaps) and am having a rolliking good time; I intend to purchase the books at some point in the near future (an aging mind is a terrible thing !). But one question has been dogging of me of late and I can't help it ask. What formative experience led to the frequent (and enjoyable) cameos by Hiawatha and his ungulate bretheren ?

I just wanted to say a simple Thank You for this series. I received a BA in Philosophy more than 35 years ago, but never felt I had a comprehensive perspective on the history. I listen nearly every day to at least one episode.

This series of podcasts has been an enormous gift, as far my experience is concerned.  I'm only up to around Episode 105 or so, and feel like my lifelong interest in Philosophy (I'm 64) has been greatly enriched.  Many thanks!

I just want to thank you for your amazing podcast.  I am soon planning on returning to school after a long 10 year break. You are helping me prepare

for this as I have learned, and re-learned, so much from your show!  I have your books in my Amazon shopping cart and cannot wait to read them. 

Hi Peter,

I was wondering why in some publications a mix of Arabic and English is preferred in words like Mu'tazilites and Ash'arites instead of either fully transcribed arabic Mutazila and Asharia or at least versions of the former just without apostrophes?

Cheers!

Hello Peter,

I seem to remember you mentioning in an episode that after finishing medieval philosophy, you will move on to philosophy in the Byzantine empire. Am I remembering that correctly?

Thank you,

Tomas

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! 

When is Vol 4 coming out?

Greetings,

I was wondering if you knew of any good sources for learning about Babylonian / mesopotamian philosophy?

Love your content.

Many thanks

Gino

I'm still at the Plato stage of your wonderful podcast.  You mentioned your version of Plato (complete works) that you would want on a desert island.  If it is in English, would you kindly tell us who the translator is?  Thank you.

Thank you very much for making this podcast! I can only imagine how much work that has been.

But I think it was well worth the effort, the result is very entertaining, and I really like the in-depth coverage of even obscure thinkers.

I hope you enjoy making this podcast as much as I do listening to it!

Hi Peter,

I am writing on the occasion of just having passed my hundredth episode of THOPWAG. First of all, thank you. You always break down but never water down ideas (I have no background in philosophy), condense (by necessity) but don't leave gaps (naturally), and all with an entertaining sprinkling of questionable puns. Also, who knew the history of philosophy was good to work out to! ... Of course my listening has surged and ebbed — the Hellenistic schools had me holding on to the edge of my exercise bike, the neo-Platonists not so much — but even when my mind wanders, and I can't remember which Cappadocian you're talking about, I find myself pleasantly afloat on the vastness of human thought. So cheers, thanks again, and may you one day "catch up" with history, so that you can truly say, at the end of the final podcast, "... and then I said the words I am saying right now!"

Yours sincerely,

Cullen Gerst

Berkeley, CA

Hi Dr. Adamson,

I am wondering if you plan to spend some time on sixteenth century protestant philosophy. Even if you don't plan to deal with the debates on free will or reason, I think you might be interested in the ethical thought of that period. So here's my case. First, the chapters that exist on that period in histories of ethics written by philosophers (you won't blame me if I don't name names) wouldn't pass muster if studied with the same care as other periods. Second, the thought of that period is intrinsically interesting and beneficial. For instance, I just gave a paper to the historical society on the way Peter Martyr Vermigli completes Aristotle's function argument. I have another paper in the works on how Vermigli uses Aristotle's discussion of arguing "to or from first principles" to interpret the 'Nicomachean Ethics' as a whole, and how this interpretation in turn attempts to reconcile what some 20th century folks call first and third personal perspectives or impartial and partial ethical considerations. Third, and if the first and second aren't persuasive enough for you, ethical thought in the sixteenth century goes virtually ignored by philosophers, which is a problem best remedied by your podcast.

There's an argument for you! I know that your resources are limited, but I'd love to see some attention given to that period if possible!

Best,

Dan

In addition to my previous comment on the Modern phase of the Indian Timeline, I notice J.N. Mohanty’s reflections, analysis and  interpretations of classical Indian Philosophy—ry Handbook of Indian Philosophy (my will be coming from Amazon.ca on November 23rd) has systematically excluded Aurobindo’s works—

fin

Hello Peter,

Excellent job with the timeline, but why Nehru and not Aurobindo? I don’t think Nehru’s History of India is comparable with The Life Divine, Synthesis of Yoga, Savitri, etc, etc?

Does he not worth mentioning?

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your excellent podcast. I've been a faithful listener since the pre-Socratics. I was a little disappointed to see that in the Medieval philosophy timeline you have not really touched on any Iberian or Hispanic thinkers or literature (aside from Petrus Hispanus). I thought you'd talk about Raymond Lull at the end of the 13th century, on Alfonso X and his remarkable collection of law, the Partidas, or on the University of Salamanca, founded in the 12th century). True, some of them are not as well-known (though Lull is, I think), but then again, this is without any gaps!

Anyhow, just a suggestion. Thanks again for your great work.

First- Thanks for the series- it's awesome! 

I recently went through and studied Ecclesiastes, and I was surprised by how much of the philosophy there reminded me of Stoicism. The main tenants seems to be a lack of certain knowledge about anything, determinism, and the life philosophy to accept and be happy with one's lot in life. Most of the ideas expressed sound like they could have been lifted off a Stoic manuscript. 

Traditional Jewish dating predates Ecclesiastes to the hellenistic movements by several centuries (ascribed to King Solomon in the 10th centrury BC), though most modern studies place the text around the Hellenistic era. 

I was wondering if any works have been done comparing Ecclesiastes to stoicism and analyzing ideas drawn from each other?

First, what a treasure this site is.  I have downloaded and look forward to listening during my daily commutes.

When you get to modern philosophers, I hope you will give a good treatment to Ayn Rand.  She hits the diversity button and in all cases of philosophical dichotomies, she comes down on integration rather than extremism. (empiricism v rationalism, mind v body, idealism v materialism, etc)

Hi Peter,

I am sure you have used the word "transcendence" or its variants somewhere in the medieval episodes, but I can't recall exactly in which. Meanwhile I am not sure if I really understood its meaning in different philosophical contexts, or even at all. Apparently Kant has coined the word in his Critique but I see the term is also used in connection with the literature on the islamic philosophy e.g. the title of the book of by Sadra who lived much earlier than Kant. And one often speaks of the transcendental realm/world in opposition to this/material world or maybe as an indication to the world of intellect.

So I am a bit confused and am looking for a kind of straightforward definition of the concept. Any hints is appreciated.

Thank you Peter for the enjoyable cruise down the history of ideas. I only wish I could upload the link to Salo ( the amiable droid from Tralfamdore in Vonnegut's Sirens of Titan ) on his lonely mission of peace to the edge of the Cosmos.

Blessings on you.

Richard Leader

Hi Peter!



Firstly I would like to thank you for you wonderful series. Secondly I would like to ask you if you maybe plan to cover pre-islamic middle eastern philosophy like Babylonian or Persian?



Thank you for what you're doing again!

Hi Peter,

I am a long time / big time zealot of HoPwaG. You're doing an amazing job so here's my chance to congratulate and thank you for this admirable edifice you're building.

Kind regards,

Thomas

[from Switzerland]

how can I donate to this fantastic podcast

Hi Peter,

First of all, my sincere thanks for the series that I follow from Morrocco since months (I've just reached the safavide period).

Just in case you may be interested, I share with you below the link of a new album of the Morrocan Nabyla Maan, where you'll find some andalusian classics poems revived on a new modern form.

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmyDMOpPJlUOvL_MB91Q60rQlOFP3MNmn

Hope you'll enjoy.
With kind regards
Ihsane

Hi Peter,

do you have a kind of visual map or diagram of the indian philosophy, at least the way it is presented in the podcast? I have some difficulties keeping the relationships, names, epochs etc. in my mind. By checking the map from time to time it would then be easier to classify the already learnt topics and get ready for the future episodes.

thanks!

I love this series! Thank you!

Hi Peter,

it is often stated that the philosophy in the islamic world is a continuation of the greek heritage. Has there been any "new" trends that didn't have roots in greek philosophy (e.g. maybe the illuminationism)? Also I wonder why philosophers in the islamic world drew more on Aristotle rather than Plato, whereas it seemed to me, that the description of God in Plato is rather a better match to that of Abrahamic religions?

thanks!

Thank you for the all the episodes that give in depth analysis of Indian philosophy. Jainism being one of the mjaor schools of thought that has emerged and flourished in Ancient India definitely needs our attention. Hope you will cover Jainism in detail in the coming podcasts. I am sorry if it has already been announced in the podcasts.

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the time and effort you put into these podcasts. I am new to Philosophy and find your podcasts a fantastic resource for helping guide me though a subject I have for a long time wanted to learn more about.  I am determined to work through each one, and hopefully catch you up.

Thanks again

Chris

Greetings Professor Adamson,

I have been a listener of the podcast for a little over two years now, and not too long after I started listening it became my favorite podcast to listen to by far. As a philosophy major who dropped out of college roughly five years ago, listening to your podcast makes it feel like I never really left the classroom. Learning about the general development of philosophy in the context of their historical periods and traditions provides an excellent way to engage with philosophy even as someone who is not presently enrolled in school; furthermore, we get to watch how new philosophical schools organically develop out of existing philosophical schools, which is a very "active" way to learn philosophy, so to speak. 

I am still catching up to the current point in the podcast, but I am taking my time to digest the episodes thoroughly and enjoy the overall journey. Currently I am listening to the episodes on Avicenna, but learning about Islamic philosophy in general has been so much fun, since these figures are not mentioned in most undergraduate philosophy courses here in the US. Specifically, I enjoyed learning about the Baghdad School and their relationship to al-Farabi's and later Avicenna's philosophical ideas and approach. During those episodes, you mention a figure named Yahya ibn 'Adi, whom has greatly piqued my interest. However, in trying to find further resources online about ibn 'Adi, I find that there is not as much literature readily available about him as I might have hoped. Do you know where I can find out more about him and about the other members of the Baghdad School prior to al-Farabi?

Again, thank you so much for all the effort and time you dedicate to this project, and I have enjoyed hearing about giraffes and Buster Keaton with you. It has been a pleasure to be a long-term listener and student of yours, and I look forward to finally catching up to the current point one day, haha.

Kind Regards,

Cierra D. P. 

Hello Peter

I like to listen to the podcast by bingeing on all the episodes in a zip file. I found that when listening week by week, if you referred to somebody from a few episodes back, I had completely forgotten who they were. Now that I'm up-to-date I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms waiting for the next zip file to be available.

One of the things I enjoy about your podcast is that you manage to explain something at just the right depth. On some podcasts, something fairly simple is given too much time and on some others, something fairly deep is rushed through. I was listening recently to a podcast about the Stoic atttude to death. Something they say we should be indifferent to. Quite profound with many implications. The podcast flashed through the ideas so fast I had to play it back again a couple of times to get an opportunity for those ideas to percolate and sink in. I nearly always find you pitch your explanations at just the right depth for me. Not dwelling on the straightforward and taking time to unpack the complex or counterintuitive. It's sometimes said you don't notice good writing, but you do notice bad writing. Maybe it's the same with podcasts. Or maybe there are podcasts out there at differing depths for differing people and this just happens to be the one suited to me. Whatever, it's a pleasure to listen to.

Thanks again for a great podcast.

This is a great service.
I hope you can continue it for a long time!
I love that it is free.

Dear Prof Adamson

Thank you so much for your wonderful podcasts on the History of Philosophy, which I discovered a couple of weeks ago. I studied Philosophy at A-level and loved it, but always had aspirations of becoming a medical doctor. When it came to applying to university, I was so torn and decided I would try for medical school and if I didn't get in, I would pursue philosophy. I did get in and it's 12 years later and I still feel the pangs of what might have been. 

Hopefully one day I will have the time and resources to go back and study philosophy, but in the mean time your podcasts have filled the void and brightened up my commute, my household chores, my grocery shopping!

Thank you so much again, for the effort you put in to create such a rich resource. It is so appreciated.

Warm wishes

Jemma

Dear Mr. Adamson,

I just discovered the podcasts a few weeks ago, and I've been listening to nothing else on my morning commute. I just wanted to say how brilliant they are, and how much they've rekindled my love for the subject. I don&'t think I've ever had history or philosophy explained so clearly to me while I was at school

It's a shame that more places don't teach philosophy. I grew up in Romania before I moved to the UK aged 18. Philosophy, logic, latin and economics were all in the curriculum around years 11 and 12 (before the baccalaureate exam/A level equivalent) and you can actually choose one of them as part of your final examination. They are some of the most underrated subjects while at school, yet consistently some of the most useful things I've ever learnt in my entire life.

Since I started listening to your podcast I felt both happy because of all of the above, but als sad, because I felt like I had a huge void in the form of islamic philosophy that was never taught in school. I'm really eager to fill that gap though I have a few hundred more episodes to go!

I guess this is a very long and enthusiastic post to say thank you for doing what you're doing!

Kind regards,
Andreea

hope this didn't get deleted when i missed the captcha. anyways - love the podcast. i'm wondering if anyone has ever got in touch with you re: best practices for putting something like this together. i think yours is an amazing resource, and one of the best uses i've seen of the podcast format to do more than just duplicate various characteristics of talk-shows/audiobooks. do you have a set of rules you follow in determining what gets an episode, how to structure them, where the big arcs will go, etc.? would love to listen to a history of music with no gaps - maybe someone in your music department wants to email pitchfork and get it started? i'd listen for sure!

Dear Prof. Adamson,

Some years ago, when I was at a point in my life where I really was not quite sure what to do with it, I listened to the podcast a lot working random jobs. It kindled and confirmed my love for philosophy to the extend that it played a significant role in me choosing to study it at university. So as I am about to start working on my bachelor thesis next semester I would like to sincerely thank you for this excellent podcast. It truly is a great resource for anyone interested in (the history of) philsophy.

Kind regards,

Herman

Dear Prof. Adamson
It was entertaining and enlightening to me discovering this website also refreshing after reading your book a short history.
I'm sure you are familiar with many other names of authors that are not really covered in the classical curriculum that we are alll in I want to mention some names here if you allow me:

From Al Andalua perhaps lisan ul Din Ibn Khatib (lived in the same period as Ibn Khaldoun) he wrore several treatises on Literature, Geography Philosophical sufism and political Philosophy such as Risalat fi al Siyasah and numerous others.

Perhaps from the Levant Sayf ul Din al-Amidi he has also unpublished manuscripts (one in Bratislava) that are still not reviewed.

And from the ottoman empire you did already had a podcast about Katib Calabi which I liked but but I am also interested to hear more from author's like Aghisari and Ibrahim Müferikka.
Least not last in Muslim india I am intersted to hear something about Shah Wallillah and Ahmad Sirhindi am not sure you sonsider them philosopher bus still I had to ask.
Sincerely
Ebnomer

Hello Dr. Adamson

Will you also cover - within your Indian series - monistic Saiva philosophy, especially what is termed "Kashmir Shaivism" within an indological framework (including its most famous 10th century exponent Abhinavagupta)?

Kashmir Shaivism has been experiencing quite a scientific as well as popular reception within the last decades and as a student of Indian religion, I think it cannot be missed in any comprehensive approach on Indian philosophy.

Especially the works by Oxford professor Alexis Sanderson, Mark Dyczkowkski or David Lawrence ("Rediscovering God with transcendental argument") have been very influencing in this field. One of the densest and most important philosophical texts of this "tradition" is the Isvarapratyabhijnakarika by Utpaladeva which has been rendered into a nice English critical edition by Raffaelle Torella. There the influences of various philosophical schools of that time - Vedanta, Nyaya, Bartrihari's language school as well as Buddhist Sautrantika (the main "opponent" of this text in terms of the momentariness theory) - become very apparent. Not to mention the Tantric "encyclopedia" Tantralokah by Abhinavagupta himself who tried to do an exegesis of the existent Tantric traditions of the Kashmir valley of that time.

I'd say (and this can be taken in a normative sense) that this monistic Tantric philosophy can be considered as one of the most profound philosphical streams not only within Indian philosophy, but philosophy as a whole.



All the best,

Raphael

Dr. Adamson, if you don't mind my asking, why didn't Raymond Lull make the cut for the poscast?

Dear Dr. Adamson

Is there any philosophical, not historical, necessity to read Islamic philosophy? I know Avicenna, Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra were leading figures of this philosophy, but I do not know why I ought to reflect on their philosophy.

Hi Professor Adamson,

First off I would like to thank you for rekindling my interest in philosophy with you excellent podcast -- I must confess that I started at, and am working my way through, the Arab section of the episodes -- but I plan to go back to the beginning after that.

I wonder if you could recommend books/resources for a self-study path I have in mind: tracing Aristotle to the Copenhagen Interpretation of Physics, with a special emphasis on the potential compatibility of the latter with Ashari occasionalism e.g. al-Ghazali.

I realize this is probably ambitious verging on the absurd, but I would be interested to try. I imagine a path from Organum to Incoherence of the Philosophers to Newton to Heisenberg, but I am not sure which texts would be best, nor whether authors prior to Aristotle would be worth studying for such a focus.

Many thanks for a great podcast and all the puns.

Professor Adamson,

Thank you for your incredible work. I would like to add links to some of your podcasts in my online class. I'm writing to ask for permission to do that and also to ask how you would prefer that I ackowledge your work. 

I look forward to hearing from you. 

Many thanks,

Janet

Hello,

I have been slowly working my way through your podcast, which I find very interesting and accessible. I don't have much background in history or philosophy and I'm very grateful for this podcast.

I have a rather odd question I was hoping you wouldn't mind me asking. I am taking a basic world civ history class this semester in college, and this week the unit covered 1000-350 BCE. A few extremely short YouTube videos amounting to basically soundbites about a few famous Greek philosophers, intending to acquaint the class briefly with the subject. The videos were all by someone named Mark Vernon and the series is apparently titled "Plato's Podcasts"; he has also written a book of the same title.

The problem is this: even accounting for the brevity of the videos, they are still very strange and do not accord with what I understood from your podcast. For example, in the minute devoted to Plato, he said that Plato's philosophy was basically all about love, and he read a few lines that he said were Plato speaking in the first person about people he personally was passionately in love with. I remember you saying many times that Plato didn't leave us anything in his own voice, and wrote in dialogues; also, I have not gotten the impression that his philosophy was at root all about love. As another example, in the video on Zeno, he said that Zeno taught in shops because how you shop tells you a lot about a person, and that philosophy should be practical, and that stoicism is named after the Greek word for store or shop. I looked up that last bit and what I found indicated just "the painted porch" not stores or shops in particular.

I am wondering if you are familiar with this person or his work at all, and if you know if it is accurate in general? Do you know of any relatively short multimedia sources I could suggest to the history department to use instead?

Here's a link to the video on Plato: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXEp2kSDf9M&feature=youtu.be

And to the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Platos-Podcasts-Ancients-Modern-Living/dp/185168…

Thanks for your time,

Deborah Bell

Dear Peter,

Since my first comment got deleted it seems, let me quickly summarize it. Thank you ever so much for the wonderful podcast you make, especially for us, who never majored or minored at philosophy for one reason or another, and through your great work, still get the chance to feel part of the philosophy community and enjoy the discussion and think about it. It means very much for me that you do this, and wish you'd never stop making the podcasts.

 And in case noone ever have said this to you: Please don't stop with the puns. I love them

  Thanks for all you do.

  Iván Gábor

Namaskar Peter,

I am an assistant Prof of English Lit/philosophy in Taiwan, researching Tantric, Daoist, and Buddhist thought. I am on episode 213, and episode 10 of Indian Philo. Your work is succint, thought-provoking, and just down-right suitable as background to my daily yoga. I have recommended my colleagues listen in, and they are hooked. I guess CJ is a former classmate of mine at National Taiwan University ;)

Historically speaking, you might find it interesting that the pre-historical dating of the Rg Veda is about as contested as it gets. There are many (myself included) who argue that the oral tradition of proto-Tantra-Yoga and Vedic thought arose several millennia before the 1500 BCE terminus a quo accepted by many Western Indologists. The relevance of the oral traditions and geological data like the flow of the Sarasvati river etc. and the so called Aryan invasion/migration theory to this historiography bears following. The Indian philosopher and Tantric Guru P.R. Sarkar has particularly interesting things to say about proto-Tantra existing before 5500 BCE and that some Vedic hymns were first composed in 10-12000 BCE. As polemical as this may sound, the longevity of oral accounts suggest the Vedic material might have been around long before scripts. Perhaps you know all this but it might be interesting for you listeners to hear this side of the story - kind of like a meta-historiography of Indian though contextualized by the critical role of the religion/spirituality in the narrative of India. (this is also a shameless but well deserved plug for Sarkar who stands out for his reformation of Shiva Tantra, social philosophy, political ideology, and Neo-humanism to name but a few of the areas he has impacted).

Once again, you are doing a sterling job, and if you are ever in Taiwan please look me up. I will hook you up with some fine croissants.

Dear Peter

Just wanted to say hello and thank you for a brilliant and very helpful series of podcasts. I am currently writing a PhD on Shakespeare and Renaissance Poetics, and my areas of of interests touch on the relationship between Plato and Neoplatonist philosophies and Elizabethan Poetry, especially with regards to/in tension with late medieval 'Nominalism'.

Anyway, just wanted to say I am really enjoying the podcast (am some 200 episodes behind though, just started on the Skeptics) even though I seem to have developed a habit of warning my students midway through a seminar with a 'Now, I know what you're thinking'. Can't seem to shake it off.

All the best,

Valentin

Just so you know, I really, really enjoy your blog! As a student of literature, I benefit greatly from your without any gaps strategy in bolstering my own grasp of the history of philosophy.

So how recent do you plan on bringing this podcast? I think recent developments in philosophy are fascinating, but it can take some time for philosophers to be canonized. Also, how do you plan on tackling the analytic-Continental divide?

Cheers, and keep it up!

(PS. I find your work ethic mind-boggling! Do take care of yourself.)

Dr. Adamson, I am a big fan of the podcast, though I'm late to the party (I started listening this spring and I'm almost caught up, which means I will soon have to go at a normal pace instead of blazing through 1-2 episodes a day). I know it's a long way away but I was wondering if you were planning on covering Protestant philosophers like Petrus Ramus, Bartholomäus Keckermann, Johann Heinrich Alsted, and Johannes Althusius when you (eventually) reach the 16th century.

Hello to the HoP crew. Thanks for all the hard work you put into the show. Me and my giraffe just can't get enough of it. There's nothing that we love more than kicking back with a few almond croissants, putting on our Buster Keaton costumes, and bumping this sh**.

Hey Peter, thanks so much for all the work you put into the podcasts, I look forward to every episode. My wife thinks I'm crazy, but it makes my day brighter getting to learn from you.

I wanted to let you know, if you didn't already, that Google Play Music now has a podcast aggregation functionality. That means that every Android phone out there (which is something like 80% of the smartphone market worldwide) finally has a native podcast app! I have been able to find all my technology and history podcasts, but your work was noticeably absent from my searches. Might be worth looking into, that's a huge audience!

Best wishes,
~ Adam

Peter, thanks so much for this podcast! I'm on #208 (started with #1) and I'm now thoroughly enjoying the trip through medieval philosophy. I'm especially grateful for the balanced and fair way you present the faiths that are part of the history of philosophy. I have a background in Christian theology and have developed a passion for philosophy later in life, so I'm playing catch up. This podcast is perfect for that. Keep up the good work! Lonnie 

i need this in my life. your work is a benefit to us all.  thank you for providing this extensive and satisfying podcast. 

Thank you for your way of sharing thoughts.

I'm looking forward to your spotlights on Levinas. Someday.

However, even 'gaps' (Tao Te Ching #11) have their value, so of course I wouldn't even hold your main goal against you. :)

Kind regards,
geert

Hey Peter,

I am a long time listener now and was thinking it would be time to say thanks for the great podcast series. I sometimes imagine that we HoPWAG fans sit around you in a garden and you explain and we listen, all wearing chlamys, yours in black. Then I get lost into the details of the garden: it should be early summer time with the Sun high in the sky, the fresh breeze, fruits hanging from the trees, distant sound of a market musician playing a lyre, the paved paths in the garden, not stone or mosaic, but solid marble (no gaps), and the sign on the entrance that says:

“Μηδείς αντίκαμηλοπάρδαλη είσίτω μον τήν στέγην.”

then I realise that I need to rewind the several minutes of the pod cast that have passed without me paying attention. Maybe the quality of recordings is too good, you need to introduce some additive white noise for more attention! :-)

Thanks again and looking forward to more episodes…

How about some attention to Protagoras, Democritus, and Gorgias, and the tension between their epistemic stance, vs. Plato's idealism?

Hi Peter, I'm a longtime listener and admirer of your podcast. What has most impressed me is when you have some back-and-forth with interviewees, and we get glimpses of your own views of what might be hidden weaknesses or problems in this or that view. What I would love to know is how, if at all, your own views have changed in the process of working through all of this material. (Maybe it's on the blog, which I haven't read.) It'd be really interesting to hear whether any of the arguments you've had to study to present them have changed your own positions--on metaphysics, ethics, phil. of relig. questions, or whatever. In a similar vein, it'd be fun to hear which philosophers have most impressed or surprised you. Who would make your top 10 for clever insights, or for durability of their contributions, etc. Or are there any who have most surprised you--who turned out on closer inspection to be different from the "textbook" version of them? A 20-minute segment where you summed up how this work has shaped you would be really fun. Keep up the good work!

Dear Peter,

I've been hearing the podcast for about a year now. I'm currently around episode 103 and just loving it. I'm an engineer from Brazil who's very interested on philosophy at an amateur / non-academic level, and I find your podcast THE best around. I also follow others like: Philosophy Bites and The Partially Examined Life (pretty good!), each one has it's own focus, purpose and format, but the HOPWAG is indeed the most instructive and didactic one.
I'd like to see this work going on up to the contemporary philosophers of mind like Daniel Dennett et all. It would be a hell of a journey! Is there any way people can support your project? Do you plan to go all the way to 21th Century?

Well, what you've already accomplished is amazing and I'm grateful for having the opportunity to follow.
Congratulations and don't lose the steam!

Henrique

Hello, reading through a book on animal ethics, during the historical section I came upon a remarkable passage. While stressing that for many ancient thinkers the differences between animals and man were a matter of degrees, the author mentioned that for Plato, the intelligence of a being was indicated by the distance between the ground and it's head. I was extremely excited, as that would de facto promote the giraffe to the title of the most intelligent being. So in your knowledge is there any truth in that? :)

Thank you!

Hello Peter,
Nice work. Loved the podcast. Twice and soon a third time. Can't wait to sink my ears into the indian and the african history of philosophy.

I keep feeling there is a ressemblance the dichotomy of platonic Forms and the material world on one side and the avicennan dichotomy of Essence and Existence. And I keep wishing I could find someone who explicitly distinguishes the notion of Forms from Essence and the notion of the material world from Existence.

Do you think you could answer this question in your 250th episode or simply give some pointers and reminders towards an author or authors who do see the ressemblance and distinguish one from the other

Is there a means to download the podcasts, a friend wishes to listen to them while they drive in their car.

I love the podcast! It must take a lot of work; thanks for doing it :)

A question for the 250th episode:

A couple people have mentioned to me in passing that there was ancient Egyptian and Jewish philosophy which predated Thales, but I've never seen a book that discusses this topic or heard of a class that covers it. Do we have enough information about these very ancient philosophers to say anything much about them at all? Being an expert on filling gaps, maybe you know of some nice books or papers on the topic that I could read?

Thanks!

Thank you for starting the history of Indian philosophy podcast! I have subscribed and am starting to listen. I especially look forward to understanding how Indian philosophy has addressed issues of caste and gender.

Any guess on the timetable for 20th Century Continental Philosophy? Particularly the poststructuralists. It's the bit I'm most looking forward too :)

Hi,

Love the podcast.  I'm at #67 and am looking forward to hearing them all.

At the beginning of each episode you name the sponsor, but the name is unfamiliar so I don't know what I'm hearing.  Can you name them on your website somewhere?

Thanks!

what do you think about the concern of avicenna when he states metaphisical distinction between existene and essence?i mean  this distinction is logical when aristotel talk about it but avicenna speak of metaphisical distinction ant enter it to world and tell every thing has two aspects: one  its existence and another  its essence or quiddity