Podcast
Peter Adamson
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". www.historyofphilosophy.net
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Callsign:NERD is a comedy journey through the nerdy world of spaceships, swords, and the supernatural, hosted in our plush passenger starliner by your pilots, Captain Orson and Orson's dad. Join us every other Thursday as we run down …
History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Aug 16, 2026
Go to www.glennadamson.com to find out more about Glenn's books including A Century of Tomorrows
42:13History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jul 26, 2026
Is Pierre Bayle’s pioneering reference work, the Historical and Critical Dictionary, a monument to skepticism or to fideism?
20:31History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jul 12, 2026
The “Quietists” Jeanne Guyon and François Fénelon argue that self-love can be overcome by cultivating a “pure love” for God. Their reward: to be accused of heresy.
19:10History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jun 28, 2026
How the “neo-classical” tragedies of Racine explore the battle between passion and reason.
16:51History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jun 14, 2026
Molière’s famous comedies scandalize Paris and dramatize themes from French moralism, especially the danger of hypocrisy.
18:03History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · May 31, 2026
La Rochefoucauld and other “moralists” offer a penetrating and witty critique of human pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Is this just cynicism, or does it support a positive ethic?
23:01History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · May 17, 2026
How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy.
21:18History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · May 3, 2026
How philosophy at the universities evolved in response to Cartesianism and the “new science.”
21:18History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Apr 19, 2026
Arnauld’s attack on Malebranche’s theory of the “vision in God” leads to a nuanced debate over the nature of ideas.
19:05History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Apr 5, 2026
What inspired the occasionalist theory embraced by the 17th century Cartesians? We find out from a leading specialist on the topic.
32:15History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Mar 22, 2026
What led Malebranche to his notorious view that all bodily motions and thoughts are caused by God, with created things serving only as “occasions” for divine action?
21:17History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Mar 8, 2026
We begin to explore Malebranche’s controversial development of Cartesian philosophy by looking at his theodicy.
19:34History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Feb 22, 2026
Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole update the study of logic to take account of the ideas of Descartes.
21:58History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Feb 8, 2026
Antoine Arnauld combines Cartesian philosophy with Jansenism, one of the most controversial religious movements of the 17th century.
19:32History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jan 25, 2026
An interview on contemporary approaches to Pascal's Wager: where decision theory meets philosophy of religion.
38:41History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jan 11, 2026
Should we gamble on belief in God to have a chance at infinite reward?
22:41History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Dec 28, 2025
Blaise Pascal was a pioneering scientist and deeply spiritual religious thinker; what united these two sides of his thought?
20:13History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Dec 14, 2025
Why did Sébastian Basso and Pierre Gassendi think ancient atomism was the key to developing a new, modern science?
20:04History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Nov 30, 2025
Gassendi’s path from skepticism to “baptized Epicureanism.”
20:19History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Nov 16, 2025
So-called “libertines” like Mothe le Vayer revive ancient skepticism, provoking a backlash from Mersenne and Arnauld. Were they right to see the skeptics as anti-religious?
21:30History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Nov 2, 2025
An interview exploring Descartes' interest in medicine, how his medical ideas relate to his dualism, and his influence on medical science.
33:57History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Oct 19, 2025
From comets to blood transfusions, embryology, and the debate over the pineal gland: Descartes’ impact on science, especially medicine.
24:16History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Oct 5, 2025
Why Cartesianism appealed to women and became the inspiration for a pioneering feminist, Poullain de la Barre; and why Cartesianism was not the only option for women philosophers of the age.
20:44History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Sep 21, 2025
Early Cartesians including Cordemoy and de La Forge develop but also challenge Descartes’ ideas, defending atomism and occasionalism.
26:07History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Sep 7, 2025
We finish our look at Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes by talking to Ariane Schneck about their correspondence, focusing on the mind-body problem and the passions.
34:33History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jul 20, 2025
What do emotions reveal about the connection between mind and body? We turn to Descartes’ correspondence with Elisabeth and his On the Passions to find out.
19:20History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jul 6, 2025
A royal scholar and philosopher sets aside the tribulations of her family to debate Descartes over the relation between mind and body and the nature of happiness.
21:44History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jun 22, 2025
Descartes’ “provisional” morality and his views on free will and virtue.
20:31History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · Jun 8, 2025
Descartes’ Meditations caused controversy as soon as it appeared. In this episode we look at criticisms including the “Cartesian Circle,” and how Descartes answered them.
21:51History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps · May 25, 2025
We're joined in this episode by a leading expert on one of the most famous works of philosophy ever written: Descartes' Meditations.
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