Jan 11

HoP 484 You Bet Your Life: Pascal’s Wager

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

22m 41s

Dec 28

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?

20m 13s

Dec 14

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?

20m 4s

Mar 2006

Friendship

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the concept of friendship. In Greek and Roman times, friendship was thought of as being an essential constituent of both a good society and a good life; a good society because it lay at the heart of participative civic democracy; a good life becaus ... Show More

41m 46s

Nov 2022

Edith Hall on Aristotle's Way

How should we live? This is the basic question for all of us. In this episode of the Philosophy Bites podcast Edith Hall, author of the book Aristotle's Way, gives a sympathetic answer to Aristotle's take on this question.

17m 14s

Feb 2023

Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Aristotle and Plato ICYMI

The Greek thinker Socrates was put to death for encouraging his students to question everything - from their own beliefs to the laws and customs of Athenian society. But his ideas didn't die with him. Here's a chance to hear two episodes from our archive examining the legacy of ... Show More

56m 2s

Mar 2021

Ep. 266: Jonathan Lear's Plato: Psyche and Society (Part One)

On essays from Lear's Open Minded: Working Out the Logic of the Soul (1988): "Inside and Outside the Republic," "Eros and Unknowing: The Psychoanalytic Significance of Plato's Symposium," and "An Interpretation of Transference," which compares Socrates' questioning wi ... Show More

51m 5s

Sep 2020

Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Aristotle

He gave us biology, physics and drama... but Greek philosopher Aristotle also thought deeply about how humans can flourish and live happy lives of virtue.Yale professor Tamar Gendler tells Dr Laurie Santos about Aristotle's wellbeing insights and how he recommended taking daily " ... Show More

28m 25s

Jan 2020

Ep. 233: Plato's "Protagoras" on Virtue (Part One)

On the Platonic dialogue written around 380 BCE about an encounter between Socrates and one of the leading Sophists of his day. What is virtue ("the political art" according to Protagoras), and can it be taught? What are the relations of the various virtues to each othe ... Show More

53m 56s

Jul 2013

Episode #006 ... Aristotle Pt. 2

On this episode of the podcast, we continue learning about Aristotle, a man who created the first system of biological classification, the first system of logic, and the first formal scientific method. We find out why Aristotle was anti-women and pro-slavery, and learn how Plato ... Show More

37m 45s

Jul 2022

Ep. 298: Marsilio Ficino on Love (Part One)

On Commentary on Plato's Symposium on Love (1475), with guest Peter Adamson. What is the role of love in the universe? Ficino tries to combine Plato's theory of love as reproduction in the presence of beauty with an unorthodox take on Christian theology. Get more at partiallyexam ... Show More

45m 46s

HoP 045 - The Second Self - Aristotle On...