What's coming in 2025

Posted on ..

Happy New Year to all podcast listeners! And, why not, even to people who don't listen to the podcast, maybe they'll start soon. 

Actually this would be a good time since 2025 will be an exciting year for HoPWaG! We will finally be arriving at the series of episodes many of you have been waiting for: philosophy in early modern Europe, by which I mean roughly the 17-18th centuries. As I explained in a recent blog post, this will start in February after two final counter-Reformation episodes about Galileo, with a long series on France and the Netherlands, with an interlude on southern Europe. So that means within this first year we'll be talking about figures like Descartes, Gassendi, and Pascal, and of course plenty of less-known thinkers as well (maybe we'll get to Malebranche before the end of the year too). 

In the "non-European" strand, appearing in alternating weeks with this first early modern series, Karyn Lai and I will continue to cover classical Chinese philosophy. The big topics here will be Mohism - we have already written several episodes on them - Legalism, and Daoism. Then in 2026 we'll be moving on to the Han period.

The coming year will also be exciting for the book series, which will definitely see the publication of volume 7, on Africana philosophy from ancient Egypt to the 19th century (written together with Chike Jeffers), and hopefully also volume 8 on Philosophy in the Reformation.

Johannes on 1 January 2025

Looking forward to 2025

I'm looking forward to your take on Montaigne. Will and Ariel Durant had a humorous take on him in their Story of Civilization. 

Eduardo on 2 January 2025

Pulication

Do you have the date of the publication of volume 7?

In reply to by Eduardo

Peter Adamson on 2 January 2025

Volume 7

That's the first Africana volume; it will come out in the next few months, because we have already corrected the page proofs. The OUP website gives April as the target date.

Jonathan McMonigal on 6 January 2025

Excited for the Future

Greetings, 

I've been following your series for years, & I'm excited to encounter your take on early Modern philosophy. The popular imagination has the Enlightenment as a discontinuity & rupture with the past, but I hope you will show the continuity & reform from the Medieval period. Thank you for your great work, & God bless ✝️ 

In reply to by Jonathan McMonigal

Peter Adamson on 6 January 2025

Continuity

In that case you will like the first episode introducing early modern philosophy! A lot of it is about continuities with the periods we have covered already. Thanks so much for listening!

In reply to by Peter Adamson

DukeofEthereal on 3 February 2025

Alexus McLeod interview for Han Dynasty Philosophy

Can you interview Alexus Mcleod when you enter the Han Dynasty period next year?

 

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/han-dynasty/

 He wrote that article

 

 

You can also interview him again in the future when you cover  Meso-American Philosophy

In reply to by DukeofEthereal

Peter Adamson on 5 February 2025

McLeod

Yes good suggestion, I think his name has come up here before - I would have to have him for Meso-American for sure! It's amazing that he covers both of these traditions.

Maddy Grace Webbon on 27 January 2025

Thank you Peter!

I'm so hyped to finally get to early modernity! I binged this series a few years back, but stopped at the start of the Renaissance France chapter because that chapter hadn't yet been completed. Now I'm re-bingeing the entire thing and glad I'll be able to get the full story of the Renaissance era.

In the last few years I've been reading a lot more history and other nonfiction, and the things I've learned in this podcast have really influenced how I see just about everything. Even my own art I'm working on (a narrative videogame) has been highly influenced in subtle ways by the various philosophical methods and distinctions I've learned. Thanks to Peter and his team for making something so utterly essential and valuable <3

In reply to by Maddy Grace Webbon

Peter Adamson on 28 January 2025

Influence

Now that is one thing I never thought might happen when I started this project, that it might influence a videogame! How cool. Glad you are getting so much out of the series and hope you enjoy the part on early modernity! I have already written a few episodes and it has been a lot of fun to work on it.

Christopher Walker on 31 January 2025

Guests - Philosophy in China podcast

Hello Peter! I am listening with great interest to your Philosophy in China podcast. You may have already booked these scholars, but I'd love to hear you speak with two authors whose books have also illuminated ancient Chinese philosophy for me: Michael Puett and Bryan Van Norden. Thank you for considering these guests and keep up the fantastic work.

In reply to by Christopher Walker

Peter Adamson on 2 February 2025

Guests

Yes, good suggestions! I know both of their work and have already read some of it for researching the series.

Nat on 2 February 2025

LULLY

I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT. You chose PHAETON as the intro music! I thought I was the only person in my personal universe who knew that Lully is the MOST glorious composer. I thought I had mistakenly started Spotify rather than your podcast.

 

You may be too busy to ever know me, but anyone who selects such a GOD LEVEL prologue, even for 5 seconds, is a kindred spirit of mine. 

In reply to by Nat

Peter Adamson on 2 February 2025

Lully

Glad you approve of the choice! And I hope you won't get sick of the clip since we'll be using it for a lot of episodes (all the 17th century ones on France and the Netherlands).

Andy on 3 February 2025

Guest Suggestion - Susan Neiman

Hello Peter! Longtime listener, first time commenter.

I am really excited that we are finally entering into the Enlightenment period. I have a suggestion for a guest - Susan Neiman, Kant Scholar and Director of the Einstein Forum in Potsdam. Her major work 'Evil in Modern Thought' which reconceptualises the history of the modern philosophy as driven by different responses to evil - that which threatens ones sense that the world is intelligible. She frames her discussion in the period between the Lisbon Earthquake and the Holocaust, within which the distinction between Natural and Moral evils were clarified. 

I think she would make a fine guest to the podcast at some point. 

In reply to by Andy

Peter Adamson on 5 February 2025

Neiman

Thanks for the suggestion! Good idea. I was actually going to do an episode about the ramifications of the earthquake so maybe I could have her on then.

Add new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.