History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

Peter Adamson

Don't miss the sister podcast, the History of Indian and Africana Philosophy.

  • 21 minutes 17 seconds
    HoP 489 All Power to Him: Malebranche and Occasionalism

    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?

    22 March 2026, 4:00 am
  • 19 minutes 34 seconds
    HoP 488 No Particular Reason: Nicolas Malebranche

    We begin to explore Malebranche’s controversial development of Cartesian philosophy by looking at his theodicy.

    8 March 2026, 4:00 am
  • 21 minutes 58 seconds
    HoP 487 Showing Good Judgment: The Port Royal Logic

    Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole update the study of logic to take account of the ideas of Descartes.

    22 February 2026, 9:27 am
  • 19 minutes 32 seconds
    HoP 486 Friends of the Truth: Arnauld and Jansenism

    Antoine Arnauld combines Cartesian philosophy with Jansenism, one of the most controversial religious movements of the 17th century.

    8 February 2026, 4:00 am
  • 38 minutes 41 seconds
    HoP 485 Liz Jackson on Pascal's Wager

    An interview on contemporary approaches to Pascal's Wager: where decision theory meets philosophy of religion.

    25 January 2026, 10:12 am
  • 22 minutes 41 seconds
    HoP 484 You Bet Your Life: Pascal’s Wager

    Should we gamble on belief in God to have a chance at infinite reward?

    11 January 2026, 4:00 am
  • 20 minutes 13 seconds
    HoP 483 Between Infinity and the Void: Blaise Pascal

    Blaise Pascal was a pioneering scientist and deeply spiritual religious thinker; what united these two sides of his thought?

    28 December 2025, 4:00 am
  • 20 minutes 4 seconds
    HoP 482 Indivisible, Under God: the Revival of Atomism

    Why did Sébastian Basso and Pierre Gassendi think ancient atomism was the key to developing a new, modern science?

    14 December 2025, 4:00 am
  • 20 minutes 19 seconds
    HoP 481 True Fool’s Gold: Pierre Gassendi

    Gassendi’s path from skepticism to “baptized Epicureanism.”

    30 November 2025, 4:00 am
  • 21 minutes 30 seconds
    HoP 480 Honorable Ignorance: French Skepticism

    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?

    16 November 2025, 4:00 am
  • 33 minutes 57 seconds
    HoP 479 Gideon Manning on Cartesian Medicine

    An interview exploring Descartes' interest in medicine, how his medical ideas relate to his dualism, and his influence on medical science.

    2 November 2025, 4:00 am
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