Earlier today, I posted a link to an exceptional, accessible podcast introduction to the philosophies of the ancient cynics. The whole series that that podcast comes from is a marvelous idea and the few I’ve listened to are just great. It’s called “The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps” and it’s a must listen, basically a free, amazingly thorough course in ancient philosophy so far. Here is a description of the series, which has been produced for 11 months now:
Peter Adamson, Professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at King’s College London, takes listeners through the history of Western philosophy, “without any gaps.” Beginning with the earliest ancient thinkers, the series will look at the ideas and lives of the major philosophers (eventually covering in detail such giants as Plato, Aristotle, Avicenna, Aquinas, Descartes, and Kant) as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition.
Below the fold are links to all 55 podcasts produced so far, covering everything from Thales through Epicurus. On the off chance that you don’t have 17 hours to listen to all the podcasts today, bookmark this page linking to all the episodes .
Episode 2: Anaximander & Anaximines
Episode 6: MM McCabe on Heraclitus
Episode 12: Schofield Presocratics
Episode 15: Socrates without Plato
Episode 18: Plato’s Life and Works
Episode 19: Charmides and Euthydemus
Episode 22: Plato’s Theaetetus
Episode 25: Plato’s Republic pt.1
Episode 26: Plato’s Republic pt.2
Episode 27: Plato’s Parmenides
Episode 28: Leigh on the Sophist
Episode 31: Plato’s Erotic Dialogues
Episode 32: Sheffield on Platonic Love
Episode 34: Aristotle’s Life and Works
Episode 36: Aristotle’s Epistemology
Episode 37: Hugh Benson on Aristotle
Episode 38: Aristotle on Substance
Episode 39: Aristotle’s Four Causes
Episode 40: Aristotle’s Physics
Episode 41: Sorabji on Aristotle
Episode 43: Aristotle’s Biology
Episode 44: Aristotle’s Ethics 1
Episode 45: Aristotle’s Ethics 2
Episode 46: Scott on Aristotle
Episode 47: Aristotle on Mind and God
Episode 48: Aristotle’s Political Philosophy
Episode 49: Aristotle’s Rhetoric, Poetics
Episode 50: Aristotle on Plato
Episode 52: Hellenistic Schools
Episode 55: Epicurus’ Principles
Your Thoughts?