HoP 501 Mara van der Lugt on Bayle and Pessimism

The period of political turmoil and experimentation in liberty that set the stage for philosophers including Grotius and Spinoza.

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?