Blaise Pascal was a pioneering scientist and deeply spiritual religious thinker; what united these two sides of his thought?
Why did Sébastian Basso and Pierre Gassendi think ancient atomism was the key to developing a new, modern science?
Gassendi’s path from skepticism to “baptized Epicureanism.”
So-called “libertines” like Mothe le Vayer revive ancient skepticism, provoking a backlash from Mersenne and Arnauld. Were they right to see the skeptics as anti-religious?
An interview exploring Descartes' interest in medicine, how his medical ideas relate to his dualism, and his influence on medical science.
From comets to blood transfusions, embryology, and the debate over the pineal gland: Descartes’ impact on science, especially medicine.
Why Cartesianism appealed to women and became the inspiration for a pioneering feminist, Poullain de la Barre; and why Cartesianism was not the only option for women philosophers of the age.
Early Cartesians including Cordemoy and de La Forge develop but also challenge Descartes’ ideas, defending atomism and occasionalism.
We finish our look at Elisabeth of Bohemia and Descartes by talking to Ariane Schneck about their correspondence, focusing on the mind-body problem and the passions.
What do emotions reveal about the connection between mind and body? We turn to Descartes’ correspondence with Elisabeth and his On the Passions to find out.
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 of happiness.
Descartes’ “provisional” morality and his views on free will and virtue.
Descartes’ Meditations caused controversy as soon as it appeared. In this episode we look at criticisms including the “Cartesian Circle,” and how Descartes answered them.
We're joined in this episode by a leading expert on one of the most famous works of philosophy ever written: Descartes' Meditations.
The word “Cartesian” is synonymous with a radical contrast between mind and body. What led Descartes to his dualism, and how can he explain vital activities in humans and animals having rejected the Aristotelian theory of soul?
How Descartes fashioned a “method” to repel even the strongest and most radical forms of doubt, with the cogito argument as its foundation.
For Descartes body is purely geometrical. So how does he understand features we can perceive, like color, and causation between bodies?
How René Descartes’ understanding of his own intellectual project evolved across his lifetime.
A look at the political and religious ferment that made up the historical context of philosophy in 17th century France and the Netherlands.
In this interview we learn more about the Republic of Letters: its importance for the history of ideas, it geographic breadth, who was involved, and the contributions of figures including Leibniz and Hartlib.
How scholars around Europe created an international network of intellectual exchange. As examples we consider the activities of Mersenne, Peiresc, Leibniz, Calvet, and Hartlib.
What is Enlightenment, anyway?
We finish our look at philosophy in the Reformation era with an interview about Galileo's use of a revolutionary technology: the telescope.
The philosophical issues at the heart of the notorious condemnation of Galileo and Copernican astronomy.
Though most famous for his role in persecuting Galileo, Robert Bellarmine was a central figure of the Counter-Reformation, especially in his political thought.
Carlo Ginzburg’s innovative historical study The Cheese and the Worms looks at the ideas of an obscure 16th century miller, suggesting how popular culture might be integrated into the history of philosophy.
Natural philosophy and medicine in the work of two unorthodox thinkers of the late sixteenth century, both of them women.
Why do critics consider Don Quixote the first “modern” novel, and what does it tell us about the aesthetics of fiction?
We're joined by Tom Pink, who tells us about Suárez on ethics, law, religion, and the state.
Suárez and other Iberian scholastics ask where political power comes from and under what circumstances it is exercised legitimately.
