Podcast Episodes

HoP 481 True Fool’s Gold: Pierre Gassendi

Episode 482

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

9 months, 4 weeks ago

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HoP 480 Honorable Ignorance: French Skepticism

Episode 481

So-called “libertines” like Mothe le Vayer revive ancient skepticism, provoking a backlash from Mersenne and Arnauld. Were they right to see the skep…

10 months, 1 week ago

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HoP 479 Gideon Manning on Cartesian Medicine

Episode 479

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

10 months, 3 weeks ago

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HoP 478 This Gland Is Your Gland: Cartesian Science

Episode 478

From comets to blood transfusions, embryology, and the debate over the pineal gland: Descartes’ impact on science, especially medicine.

11 months, 1 week ago

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HoP 477 The Mind Has No Sex: Cartesianism and Gender

Episode 480

Why Cartesianism appealed to women and became the inspiration for a pioneering feminist, Poullain de la Barre; and why Cartesianism was not the only …

11 months, 3 weeks ago

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HoP 476 What He Should Have Said: the Early Cartesians

Episode 477

Early Cartesians including Cordemoy and de La Forge develop but also challenge Descartes’ ideas, defending atomism and occasionalism.

1 year ago

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HoP 475 Ariane Schneck on Elisabeth and Descartes

Episode 476

We finish our look at Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes by talking to Ariane Schneck about their correspondence, focusing on the mind-body problem a…

1 year ago

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HoP 474 States of the Union: Descartes on the Passions

Episode 475

What do emotions reveal about the connection between mind and body? We turn to Descartes’ correspondence with Elisabeth and his On the Passions to fi…

1 year, 2 months ago

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HoP 473 As Rational As You: Elisabeth of Bohemia

Episode 474

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 …

1 year, 2 months ago

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HoP 472 Less Cheer, More Knowledge: Descartes’ Ethics

Episode 472

Descartes’ “provisional” morality and his views on free will and virtue.

1 year, 3 months ago

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