Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchHoP 139 - By the Time I Get to Phoenix - Avicenna on Existence
Avicenna revolutionizes metaphysics with groundbreaking ideas about necessity and contingency, and his new distinction between essence and existence.
13 years, 2 months ago
HoP 138 - The Self-Made Man - Avicenna's Life and Works
Despite a tumultuous life, Avicenna manages to become the most influential of all medieval philosophers.
13 years, 2 months ago
HoP 137 - God Willing – the Asharites
Al-Ash‘arī puts his stamp on the future of Islamic theology by emphasizing God’s untrammeled power and freedom.
13 years, 2 months ago
HoP 136 - Farhad Daftary on the Ismailis
Peter is joined by Farhad Daftary, a leading expert on the Shiite group known as the Ismā'īlīs.
13 years, 2 months ago
HoP 135 - Undercover Brothers – Philosophy in the Buyid Age
Miskawayh, al-‘Amiri, al-Tawhidi, the Brethren of Purity and Ismaili missionaries bring together philosophy with Persian culture, literature and Isla…
13 years, 3 months ago
HoP 134 - Balancing Acts - Arabic Ethical Literature
Drawing on Galen and Aristotle, philosophers from al-Kindi to Miskawayh compose ethical works designed us to achieve health in soul, as well as body.
13 years, 3 months ago
HoP 133 - Strings Attached - Music and Philosophy
Peter turns DJ, with some actual music interspersed with discussion about theories of music in Arabic philosophical texts.
13 years, 3 months ago
HoP 132 - Eye of the Beholder - Theories of Vision
Ibn al-Haytham draws on the tradition of geometrical optics to explain the mystery of human eyesight.
13 years, 3 months ago
HoP 131 - Deborah Black on al-Farabi's Epistemology
Deborah Black joins Peter to talk about al-Farabi's innovations concerning knowledge and certainty.
13 years, 4 months ago
HoP 130 - State of Mind - al-Farabi on Religion and Politics
Al-Fārābī combines Islam and Greek sources to present the ideal ruler as a philosopher who is also a prophet.
13 years, 4 months ago