How Macbeth reflects the anxieties and explanations surrounding witchcraft and witch-hunting in early modern Europe.

HoP 428 - Weird Sisters - Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Witchcraft

Can Shakespeare’s Tempest be read as a reflection on the English encounter with the peoples of the Americas?

HoP 427 - Brave New World - Shakespeare’s Tempest and Colonialism

How the Renaissance turn towards individual identity is reflected in Shakespeare's most famous play. 

HoP 426 - A Face Without a Heart - Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Individualism

We're joined by Patrick Gray to discuss Shakespeare's knowledge of philosophy, his ethics, and his influence on such thinkers as Hegel.

HoP 425 - Patrick Gray on Shakespeare

How should we approach Shakespeare’s plays as philosophical texts? We take as examples skepticism and politics in Othello, King Lear, and Julius Caesar.

HoP 424 - Hast Any Philosophy In Thee? - William Shakespeare

We begin to look at Elizabethan literature, as Sidney argues that poetry is superior to philosophy, and philosophy is put to use in Spenser’s "Fairie Queene".

HoP 423 - Heaven-Bred Poesy - Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser

Richard Hooker defends the religious and political settlement of Elizabethan England using rational arguments and appeals to the natural law.

HoP 422 - The World’s Law - Richard Hooker

The evolution of ideas about kingship and the role of the “three estates” in 15th and 16th century England, with a focus on John Fortescue and Thomas Starkey.

HoP 421 - With Such Perfection Govern - English Political Thought

What is the message of the famous, but elusive, work "Utopia", and how can it be squared with the life of its author?

HoP 420 - No Place Will Please Me So - Thomas More

Humanism comes to England and Scotland, leading scholars like Thomas Eylot and Andrew Melville to rethink philosophical education.

HoP 419 - Write Till Your Ink Be Dry - Humanism in Britain

A leading expert on the history of the Reformation joins us to explain the very different stories of England and Scotland in the 16th century.

HoP 418 - Diarmaid MacCulloch on the British Reformations

John Knox polemicizes against idolaters and female rulers, while the humanist George Buchanan argues more calmly for equally radical political conclusions.

HoP 417 - To Kill a King - The Scottish Reformation

The historical context of English philosophy in the sixteenth century, with particular focus on Thomas Cranmer, and the role of religion in personal conscience and social cohesion.

HoP 416 - God’s is the Quarrel - The English Reformation

Marie le Jars de Gourney, the “adoptive daughter” of Montaigne, lays claim to his legacy and argues for the equality of the sexes.

HoP 415 - The Tenth Muse - Marie de Gournay

No doubt that we're in good hands with interview guest Henrik Lagerlund, who brings his expertise in the history of skepticism to bear on the French Renaissance.

HoP 414 - Henrik Lagerlund on Renaissance Skepticism

The sources and scope of the skepticism of Montaigne, Charron, and Sanches.

HoP 413 - Don’t Be So Sure - French Skepticism

In his “Essays” Montaigne uses his wit, insight, and humanist training to tackle his favorite subject: Montaigne.

HoP 412 - Not Matter, But Me - Michel de Montaigne

Joseph Scaliger, Isaac Casaubon, and Guillaume du Vair grapple with history and the events of their own day.

HoP 411 - Pen Pals - Later French Humanism

A chat with Ann Blair about the "Theater of Nature" by Jean Bodin, and other encyclopedic works of natural philosophy.

HoP 410 - Ann Blair on Jean Bodin’s Natural Philosophy

The polymath Jean Bodin produces a pioneering theory of political sovereignty along the way to defending the absolute power of the French king.

Get Started

Download the App