Sciences (e.g. astronomy, optics, zoology)

13 - Good Humor Men: the Hippocratics

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Early Greek medicine up until Hippocrates, and its relation to Pre-Socratic philosophers like Empedocles.

43 - Classified Information: Aristotle's Biology

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Aristotle’s scientific outlook is perhaps best displayed in his zoology. Peter looks at his theories of inheritance, spontaneous generation, and the eternity of animal species.

85 - Sky Writing: Astronomy, Astrology, and Philosophy

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Ptolemy uses philosophy in the service of studying the stars, while philosophers of all persuasions evaluate the widespread practice of astrology.

 
91 - James Wilberding on Nature and Neoplatonism

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James Wilberding joins Peter to show that contrary to what is often claimed, Neoplatonists did make contributions to the philosophy of nature. Topics include Plotinus on the cosmos and Porphyry on embryology.

132 - Eye of the Beholder: Theories of Vision

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Ibn al-Haytham draws on the tradition of geometrical optics to explain the mystery of human eyesight.

170 - Gad Freudenthal on Jewish Philosophy and Science

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Leading scholar of medieval Jewish thought Gad Freudenthal joins Peter in a concluding episode on Andalusian thought.

182 - Aftermath: Philosophy and Science in the Mongol Age

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Philosophy and science survive and even thrive through the coming of the Mongols.

191 - The Young Ones: Encounters with European Thought

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18th and 19th century intellectuals in India and the Ottoman empire, from Shāh Walī Allāhto the Young Turks, continue Islamic traditions and grapple with European science.

230. A Light That Never Goes Out: Robert Grosseteste

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Translator, scientist and theologian Robert Grosseteste sheds light on the cosmos, human understanding, and the rainbow.

231. Origin of Species: Roger Bacon

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Roger Bacon extols the power of science based on experience and uses a general theory of "species" to explain light and vision.

240. Animal, Vegetable, Mineral: Albert the Great’s Natural Philosophy

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Albert the Great earns his nickname “universal doctor” by devoting himself to the whole of nature, from geology and botany to the study of human nature.

281. Monica Green on Medieval Medicine

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An interview with Monica Green reveals parallels between medicine and philosophy in the middle ages.

60. The Buddha and I: Indian Influence on Islamic and European Thought

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The impact of ancient Indian thought upon the Muslim scholar al-Bīrūnī and upon European thinkers like Hume, Hegel, and Schopenhauer.

313. Queen of the Sciences: Anna Komnene and her Circle

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Princess Anna Komnene makes good use of her political retirement by writing her Alexiad and gathering a circle of scholars to write commentaries on Aristotle.

24. Professionally Speaking: The Reaction Against Ethnophilosophy

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Paulin Hountondji (pictured) and other African philosophers criticize ethnophilosophy and advocate a universalist approach.

322. Do the Math: Science in the Palaiologan Renaissance

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Mathematics and the sciences in Byzantium, focusing on scholars of the Palaiologan period like Blemmydes and Metochites.

35. Letters from the Heart: Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker

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Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker make their mark on the history of Africana thought through letters that reflect on the power of sentiment.

55. Planting the Seeds: James Africanus Beale Horton

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Africanus Horton looks toward a future of self-government for West Africa beyond slavery and colonialism.

58. A Common Circle: Anténor Firmin

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Haitian anthropologist Anténor Firmin debunks racist pseudo-science and argues that inequalities among humans are caused by social, not biological, factors.

355. Town and Gown: Italian Universities

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The blurry line dividing humanism and scholastic university culture in the Italian Renaissance.

356. I’d Like to Thank the Lyceum: Aristotle in Renaissance Italy

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Aristotle’s works are edited, printed, and translated, leading to new assessments of his thought among both humanists and scholastics.

360. Dag N. Hasse on Arabic Learning in the Renaissance

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An interview with Dag Nikolaus Hasse on the Renaissance reception of Averroes, Avicenna, and other authors who wrote in Arabic.

362. Just What the Doctor Ordered: Renaissance Medicine

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Connections between philosophy and advances in medicine, including the anatomy of Vesalius.

66. Lifting the Veil: Introducing W.E.B. Du Bois

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W.E.B. Du Bois emerges as a historian, sociologist, and innovative philosophical thinker in the 1890s, and introduces his famous idea of "double consciousness."

367. Brian Copenhaver on Renaissance Magic

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Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.

368. Boundless Enthusiasm: Giordano Bruno

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Giordano Bruno’s stunning vision of an infinite universe with infinite worlds, and his own untimely end.

369. The Harder They Fall: Galileo and the Renaissance

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Did Galileo’s scientific discoveries grow out of the culture of the Italian Renaissance?

80. Scholarly Contributions: African American Professional Philosophers

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From the latter half of the nineteenth century to the 1970s, African Americans only rarely obtain jobs as philosophy professors but bring distinctive perspectives to the profession.

381. More Lutheran than Luther: Philip Melanchthon

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Luther’s close ally Melanchthon uses his knowledge of ancient philosophy and rhetoric in the service of the Reformation.

85. Liam Kofi Bright on Du Bois' Philosophy of Science

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Guest Liam Kofi Bright discusses Du Bois' ideal of value-free science and the place of science within his wider thought.

388. Just Add Salt: Paracelsus and Alchemy

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Paracelsus adapts the tradition of alchemical science for use in medicine, and in the process overturns the scientific theories of Aristotle and Galen.

389. The Acid Test: Theories of Matter

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Schegk, Taurellus, Gorlaeus, and Sennert revive atomism to explain chemical reactions, the composition of bodies, and the generation of organisms.

393. The World Doesn’t Revolve Around You: Copernicus

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How revolutionary was the Copernican Revolution?

394. Best of Both Worlds: Tycho Brahe

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Responses to Copernicus in the 16th century, culminating with the master of astral observation Tycho Brahe.

395. Music of the Spheres: Johannes Kepler

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Kepler combines Brahe's observations, Copernicus' astronomy, and Platonist metaphysics.

396. Lorraine Daston on Renaissance Science

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Comets! Magnets! Armadillos! In this wide-ranging interview Lorraine Daston tells us how Renaissance and early modern scientists dealt with the extraordinary events they called "wonders".

410. Ann Blair on Jean Bodin's Natural Philosophy

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A chat with Ann Blair about the "Theater of Nature" by Jean Bodin, and other encyclopedic works of natural philosophy. (Pictured: Prof Blair holding the annotated copy of Bodin's Theatrum she describes in the episode.)

431. Calvin Normore on Scholasticism

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A discussion of the history and philosophical significance of scholasticism from medieval times to early modernity, and even today.

432. If This Be Magic, Let It Be an Art: John Dee

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Science, intrigue, exploration, angelic seances! It's the life and thought of Elizabethan mathematician and magician John Dee.

433. Nature’s Mystery: Science in Renaissance England

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How scientists of the Elizabethan age anticipated the discoveries and methods of the Enlightenment (without necessarily publishing them).

434. The Eye Sees Not Itself But By Reflection: Theories of Vision

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Changing ideas about eyesight, light, mirror images, and refraction – and the skeptical worries they may have inspired.

435. Metal More Attractive: William Gilbert and Magnetism

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The cosmological and methodological implications of breakthroughs in the understanding of magnetism and electricity at the turn of the 17th century.

437. Jennifer Rampling on Renaissance Alchemy

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An expert on Renaissance alchemy tells us how this art related to philosophy at the time... and how she has tried to reproduce its results!

440. Longitudinal Studies: Exploration and Science

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Iberian expeditions to the Americas inspire scientists, and Matteo Ricci’s religious mission to Asia becomes an encounter between European and Chinese philosophy.

445. Band of Brothers: the Jesuits

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Ignatius of Loyola’s movement begins modestly, but winds up having a global impact on education and philosophy. We also discuss casuistry and the Jesuit concept of "mental reservation."