#215 Peter Adamson: The Origins of Philosophy, and the Pre-Socratics
Dr. Peter Adamson is Professor of Philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and at King’s College London. He has written articles, monographs and edited books, mostly on philosophy in the Islamic world and ancient philosophy. He is the host of the weekly podcast “History of Philosophy without any gaps”, which by 2014 had more than four million downloads and led to the publication of a book series. He received the Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2003, for “outstanding research achievements of young scholars of distinction and promise based in UK institutions” and received a grant from the same institution in 2010.
In this episode, we talk about the origins of philosophy, and the Pre-Socratics. We first discuss what we should consider to be “philosophy” and where it might have started, and we also refer to the relationship between religion and philosophy. We then get into the Pre-Socratics, and what distinguished them from the others. We also talk about the sophists and the ancient poets, before ending with a discussion about the relationship between philosophy and (modern) science.
Time Links:
The origins of Philosophy. Did it really start in Miletus?
The historical relationship between religion and philosophy
What was special about the Pre-Socratics?
Were the Pre-Socratics naturalists? And what was different between what them and modern scientists?
Were the sophists real philosophers?
How to think about the ancient poets
The relationship between philosophy and science
Follow Dr. Adamson’s work!
Follow Dr. Adamson’s work:
Faculty Page (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich): https://bit.ly/2EhahTz
Faculty page (King’s College London): https://bit.ly/2VNPO3m
Articles on ResearchGate: https://bit.ly/2EigOxn
History of Philosophy without any gaps podcast: https://bit.ly/2ladbAX
Books: https://bit.ly/2NiHgOc