Last August, we featured Peter Adamson‘s podcast The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps (iTunes – RSS Feed – Web Site), a chronologically uninterrupted “look at the ideas and lives of the major philosophers (eventually covering in detail such giants as Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes, and Kant) as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.” Continuing at the rate of one episode a week, Adamson and his guest philosophical experts have since covered names like Lucretius, Seneca, and Plutarch. They’ve most recently reached Alexander of Aphrodisias, an especially astute ancient commentator on Aristotle and opponent of Stoic attitudes toward fate; Quintilian, Lucian, Themistius, and the interplay between rhetoric and philosophy in the Roman Empire; and the emergence of astronomy, ushered in by Ptolemy during a time when observers still had much to say about astrology.
Don’t miss the episodes where Adamson brings in specialists on the particular philosopher, philosophical subfield, or quirk in philosophical history to which his podcasting journey brings him. Since our last post on the show, we’ve heard Richard Sorabji talk about time and eternity in Aristotle, James Warren on Epicureanism, and Raphael Wolf on Cicero, to name but a few. Such is Adamson’s attention to detail — and dedication to the Zeno‘s Paradox-reminiscent cause of pure continuity — that, after putting out 85 episodes, he remains in the ancient world. Imagine the bounty of discussion when he reaches, say, the eighteenth century, let alone the twentieth. To prepare yourself for that, you’d better start listening now; a show expressly created without gaps must, it seems only natural, be experienced without them.
Related content:
The Partially Examined Life: A Philosophy Podcast
Philosophy Bites: Podcasting Ideas From Plato to Singularity Since 2007
Colin Marshall hosts and produces Notebook on Cities and Culture. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall.
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