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An interview on the surprising comforts to be found in the philosophy of pessimism, focusing on Bayle but looking all the way forward to Schopenhauer.

In the last of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to Daniel Watson about philosophy in early medieval Ireland.

In the fourth of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to Ted Good about philosophy and the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism.

In the third of five episodes to mark the 500 episode milestone, an expert on Paul's letters tells us how Stoic ideas shaped his philosophy and theology.

Our second episode in celebration of reaching the 500 mark fills a significant gap: Melissa Lane helps us to understand the ancient Greek historians Herotodus and Thucydides, including their relationship to Plato.

In the first of five episodes to celebrate reaching the episode 500 mark by looking at things he skipped in earlier series, Peter talks to a leading expert on the poems of Sappho.

Pierre Bayle argues that religious disagreements should be tolerated and that there are powerful arguments against monotheism, even as some contemporaries embrace outright atheism.

Go to www.glennadamson.com to find out more about Glenn's books including A Century of Tomorrows

Is Pierre Bayle’s pioneering reference work, the Historical and Critical Dictionary, a monument to skepticism or to fideism?

The “Quietists” Jeanne Guyon and François Fénelon argue that self-love can be overcome by cultivating a “pure love” for God. Their reward: to be accused of heresy.

How the “neo-classical” tragedies of Racine explore the battle between passion and reason.

Molière’s famous comedies scandalize Paris and dramatize themes from French moralism, especially the danger of hypocrisy.

La Rochefoucauld and other “moralists” offer a penetrating and witty critique of human pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Is this just cynicism, or does it support a positive ethic?

How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy.

How philosophy at the universities evolved in response to Cartesianism and the “new science.”