History of Philosophy: India, Africana, China

HPC 50. Bryan Van Norden on Warring States Philosophy

Sun, 29 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

To celebrate reaching 50 episodes in this series, Karyn and Peter both chat to a leading scholar of Warring States philosophy.

HPC 49. Hans-Georg Moeller on the Zhuangzi

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

An interview on humor and amoral ethics in a Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi - and its relation to Confucianism and Legalism.

HPC 48. Off the Beaten Path: Wandering in the Zhuangzi

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

How is it possible to walk two roads simultaneously? And where does wandering lead us?

HPC 47. Live and Let Die: the Zhuangzi on Death

Sun, 15 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Why does the Zhuangzi tell us that death is nothing to fear, to the point that it recommends celebrating the death of loved ones?

HPC 46. Turning the Tables: Confucius in the Zhuangzi

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 04:00:00 +0000

How are we to make sense of the different images of Kongzi (Confucius) in the Zhuangzi?

HPC 45. Practice Makes Perfect: Skill Stories in the Zhuangzi

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 04:00:00 +0000

In addition to sages who show us the way, the Zhuangzi features people taking on daily activities such as woodworking and butchering: we discuss how these figures serve as counterpoints to officials in the Zhuangzi’s time.

HPC 44. Like a Fish Out of Water: Animal Stories in the Zhuangzi

Sun, 04 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The many stories about animals in the Zhuangzi encourage us to adopt a perspective that goes beyond the human point of view.

HPC 43. Chiu Wai-Wai on the Zhuangzi and Mohism

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

An interview on debates over language and reasoning between the Mohists and the Daoist classic, the Zhuangzi.

HPC 42. A Black and White World: the Zhuangzi on Shi-Fei Dogmatism

Sun, 07 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The Zhuangzi’s critique of dogmatic approaches to argumentation and governing the state.

HPC 41. To Speak or Not to Speak: Skepticism in the Zhuangzi

Sun, 23 Nov 2025 04:00:00 +0000

We introduce the second great classic of Warring States Daoism, the Zhuangzi, and ask whether it adopts a position of radical skepticism.

HPC 40. Antiheroes: Sunzi’s Art of War

Sun, 09 Nov 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Are the methods of warfare proposed in the famous Art of War an example of “applied Daoism”?

HPC 39. Robin Wang on Yin-Yang Thinking

Sun, 26 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

An interview on the pervasive use of the yin-yang relational pair in classical Chinese thought generally, and in Daoism in particular.

HPC 38. Easy Does It: Non-Action in the Laozi

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The concept of wuwei or “non-action”: does it mean that the perfect sage or political ruler simply never does anything?

HPC 37. She Stoops to Conquer: Femininity in the Laozi

Sun, 28 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

How the Laozi (Daodejing) applies the lessons of complementarity to the contrast between male and female.

HPC 36. Fishing for Complements: Polarities in Daoism

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The significance of the Laozi’s use of opposing pairs, which are treated as complementary rather as exclusive dichotomies.

HPC 35. Way Better than Greenwashing: Daoism on Nature

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The Laozi (Daodejing) refers to the winds, the rain and the waters. We discuss how these ideas express the Laozi’s views on nature.

HPC 34. You Don’t Say! the Dao That Cannot Be Told

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

The first rule of dao is: don’t talk about dao. We do so nonetheless, focusing on its role in metaphysics and language.

HPC 33. Let Us Count the Ways: What is Daoism?

Sun, 29 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What does “Daoism” refer to in a range of contexts, and how have excavated texts changed our understanding of the tensions between Daoism and Confucianism?

HPC 32. Chris Fraser on Mohism

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

We conclude our series on Mohism with an interview that looks at the Mohists' dialectic and its relationship to their ethics.

HPC 31. Push and Pull: Mohist Dialectic

Sun, 01 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Later Mohists explained in the Canons how to provide compelling philosophical arguments, and how to avoid mistakes in argumentation. Does this count as “logic”?

HPC 30. Horse of a Different Color: the Mohists on Language and Knowledge

Sun, 18 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

What Mohist dialectics and Gongsun Long’s “White Horse Not Horse” argument tell us about the connection between language and knowledge.

HPC 29. Ghost Writers: the Mohists on Religion

Sun, 04 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Did Mozi tell people that ghosts exist and that we can change our fate because he thought these things are true, or because it would be beneficial for people to believe them?

HPC 28. Ting Mien Lee on Mohism and Confucianism

Sun, 20 Apr 2025 04:00:00 +0000

An interview on the contrasting views of Mohists and Confucians on ethical duties and warfare.

HPC 27. Give Peace a Chance: the Mohists on War and Politics

Sun, 06 Apr 2025 04:00:00 +0000

How the Mohist principle of “inclusive care” leads to political order and (mostly) forbids the fighting of wars.

HPC 26. Culture Wars: Mohist and Confucian Debates

Sun, 23 Mar 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Disagreements between the Mohists and the Confucians: is seeking benefits the right way to approach life? What motivates us to act morally, care for our loved ones or a doctrine of impartiality?

HPC 25. Benefit, Then Stop: Mohism and Impartial Care

Sun, 09 Mar 2025 04:00:00 +0000

How did the Mohists establish their consequentialist ethic of “impartial care (jian ’ai)”? Was this theory ultimately grounded in the will of Heaven?

HPC 24. Measuring Up: Mohist philosophy

Sun, 23 Feb 2025 04:00:00 +0000

An introduction to the Mozi, the founding text of an anti-elitist school of thought that tests social and political practices by the measure of “benefit.”

HPC 23. Amy Olberding on Confucian Ethics

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In our final episode on classical Confucianism, our interview guest tells us about the surprising moral depth of the concept of "etiquette"

HPC 22. Inside Job: Women in Confucianism

Sun, 26 Jan 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Can classical Confucianism be redeemed from its reputation for rigidly hierarchical thinking when it comes to the relationship between men and women?

HPC 21. Sor-Hoon Tan on Confucian Democracy

Sun, 12 Jan 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Can classical Confucian ideas be adapted to produce a theory of democracy fit for today's world?

HPC 20. Heaven Can Wait: Ritual and Religion in Confucianism

Sun, 29 Dec 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Were Confucian ideas about Heaven, ritual, and fate driven by a religious attitude, or a naturalistic one?

HPC 19. The Kingly Way: Confucian Political Philosophy

Sun, 15 Dec 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Mengzi and Xunzi show that a Confucian political theory need not be idealistic.

HPC 18. Erica Brindley on Music and the Cosmos in Confucianism

Sun, 01 Dec 2024 04:00:00 +0000

An interview about the "resonant cosmos" in early Confucianism, and the role played by music in linking sages to the universe.

HPC 17. Knowing Me, Knowing You: Confucian Epistemology

Sun, 17 Nov 2024 04:00:00 +0000

The role of knowing in Confucian ethics: should it be understood as “knowing how,” or even “knowing to,” rather than “knowing that”?

HPC 16. To Become or Not to Become: the Confucians on Our Moral Natures

Sun, 03 Nov 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Morality is what makes us humans, for the Confucians. But does morality come from inside us, outside us, or both?

HPC 15. Flexing Your Moral Muscles: Xunzi on Moral Cultivation

Sun, 20 Oct 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Xunzi, a thinker who shaped the course of Confucian philosophy by showing how deliberate effort can overcome our wicked natural tendencies.

HPC 14. Every Man for Himself: Virtue and the Body

Sun, 06 Oct 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Several ancient Chinese texts speak of an egoist and hedonist known as Yang Zhu: did he pose a coherent challenge to the Confucians and other ethicists?

HPC 13. The Trembling Ox: Mengzi and the Compassionate Heart

Sun, 22 Sep 2024 04:00:00 +0000

In the Mengzi, the text that bears his name, Mengzi ("Mencius") holds that the human heart-mind is the wellspring of goodness.

HPC 12. Gentlemen’s Agreement: Confucian Virtue Ethics

Sun, 08 Sep 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Should the remarkable parallels between Aristotelian and Confucian ethics lead us to classify Confucianism as a type of “virtue ethics”?

HPC 11. Mark Csikszentmihalyi on Early Confucianism

Sun, 28 Jul 2024 04:00:00 +0000

In this interview, we learn how Kongzi become the pivotal sage of early Chinese history, and what new discoveries teach us about the Confucian tradition.

HPC 10. We’re a Pack Animal: Individual and Society in Confucianism

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 04:00:00 +0000

What does the Analects say about living as a human being? How are individuals embedded in society, and how do they develop their unique identities?

HPC 09. Family Values: Confucian Role Ethics

Sun, 30 Jun 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Confucianism puts relationships with family members at the core of their ethical thinking. Is this a strength or a weakness?

HPC 08. Confucius Says: Reading the Analects

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Lessons we can take from the teachings of Kongzi (Confucius) in the Analects: challenging authorities, adhering to “benevolence (ren),” and practicing “propriety (li)” in ritual and everyday life.

HPC 07. Uncrowned King: Kongzi (Confucius) and the Analects

Sun, 02 Jun 2024 04:00:00 +0000

An introduction to Kongzi, the founder of Confucianism, and to the text that has come to represent his thought, the Lunyu (Analects).

HPC 06. Franklin Perkins on Excavated Texts

Sun, 19 May 2024 04:00:00 +0000

In this interview, we learn how newly discovered texts are changing our understanding of Warring States period philosophy.

HPC 05. Going Paperless: Ancient Chinese Texts

Sun, 05 May 2024 04:00:00 +0000

What were ancient Chinese philosophical texts written on? How did writing relate to orally transmitted wisdom? How were texts read and used? And what even counted as a “text” in ancient China?

HPC 04. Open Season: the Historical Context

Sun, 21 Apr 2024 04:00:00 +0000

The historical context of classical Chinese philosophy, and how ancient Chinese historical works themselves became works of philosophy.

HPC 03. Karyn Lai on Classical Chinese Philosophy

Sun, 07 Apr 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Co-host Karyn introduces herself to the listeners and talks about the challenges of tackling classical Chinese philosophical texts.

HPC 02. The Only Constant: Change and the "Yi Jing"

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Early Chinese philosophers were deeply aware of a world that is constantly changing: we look at how Confucians, Legalists, and Daoists responded to this challenge.

HPC 01. Journey of a Thousand Li: Introduction to Chinese Philosophy

Sun, 10 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Introducing Chinese philosophy through the concept of "dao," a fundamental word in classical Chinese philosophy, with a range of meanings across its different traditions.

HAP 142 - Final Chat with Chike Jeffers

Sun, 25 Feb 2024 04:00:00 +0000

How Africana philosophy looked to a young Chike Jeffers, coming into the field in the early 21st century.

HAP 141 - Job Openings - the Rise of Africana Professional Philosophy

Sun, 11 Feb 2024 09:14:52 +0000

The key events and figures in philosophy as an academic discipline, in both Africa and the diaspora.

HAP 140 - Cornel West on Himself

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Cornel West joins us to look back on the development of his thought and the many authors who have inspired him.

HAP 139 - A Love Supreme - Cornel West

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 18:22:11 +0000

An introduction to Cornel West, focusing on his early essay “Philosophy and the Afro-American Experience.”

HAP 138 - Taking it Out of Neutral - Critical Race Theory

Sun, 31 Dec 2023 04:00:00 +0000

A movement of legal scholars diagnoses the limitations of merely “formal” measures against discrimination, a point they connect to issues like affirmative action, democratic process, and intersectionality.

HAP 137 - Asante Sana - Molefi Asante’s Afrocentricity

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 16:14:39 +0000

What inspired Asante's controversial philosophy of Afrocentricity, and its relationship to religion, nationalism, and feminism.

HAP 136 - Civilization Reclaimed - African-Centered Thought

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 15:51:56 +0000

How writers like George G.M. James, John Henrik Clarke, Cheikh Anta Diop, Yosef ben-Jochannan, and Chancellor Williams prepared the way for the Afrocentricity of Molefi Asante and captured the imaginations of hip hop artists and intellectuals like Ta-Nehisi Coates.

HAP 135 - Mastering Ceremonies - Sylvia Wynter

Sun, 19 Nov 2023 06:00:00 +0000

Sylvia Wynter offers a bold and provocative assessment of the role of the humanities in understanding humankind.

HAP 134 - The Marx Brothers - Cedric J. Robinson

Sun, 05 Nov 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Cedric J. Robinson reflects on the power and limitations of Marxism while charting the past and prospects of black radical thought.

HAP 133 - John Drabinski on Edouard Glissant

Sun, 22 Oct 2023 04:00:00 +0000

The author of an important book on Glissant joins us to talk about his approach to this major Caribbean thinker.

HAP 132 - French Creolizing - Edouard Glissant and the Creolité Movement

Mon, 16 Oct 2023 16:30:08 +0000

Poet, novelist, playwright and philosopher Edouard Glissant, his theory of "creolization", and the Creolists who were influence by him.

HAP 131 - Mixed Messages - Black British Cultural Studies

Sun, 24 Sep 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Stuart Hall pioneers “cultural studies,” offering tools for analysis of films, television, fiction and music that were put to use by followers like Paul Gilroy and Hazel Carby.

HAP 130 - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o on... Himself!

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 04:00:00 +0000

The great Kenyan writer Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o joins us to speak about his career, his influences, and the power and politics of language.

HAP 129 - Afrophone Home - Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o

Sat, 05 Aug 2023 06:58:22 +0000

How one of Kenya's greatest writers came to argue that African literature should be written in African languages.

HAP 128 - Marginal Comments - bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins

Sun, 16 Jul 2023 04:00:00 +0000

We bring the story of black feminism up to the turn of the century with the incisive works of bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins.

HAP 127 - Knowing the Difference - Audre Lorde

Mon, 03 Jul 2023 21:32:37 +0000

In poetry and prose, especially her collection "Sister Outsider," Audre Lorde explores ideas of difference, eroticism, and feminist theory.

HAP 126 - Fugitive for Justice - Angela Davis

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 04:00:00 +0000

The eventful life and penetrating philosophy of Angela Davis, an icon of resistance deeply informed by Marxism and influential on black feminist thought.

HAP 125 - Phenomenal Woman - The Black Women’s Literary Renaissance

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 19:21:51 +0000

Toni Morrison, Maya Angelou and Alice Walker explore the themes of black feminism (or “womanism”) in their fiction. Warning: this episode contains discussion of sexual violence and suicide.

HAP 124 - Double Jeopardy - Black Feminism

Sun, 21 May 2023 08:02:54 +0000

1970s black feminists like Toni Cade Bambara, the Combahee River Collective, and Awa Thiam critique white feminist and black nationalist failures to recognize the unique struggle of the black woman.

HAP 123 - History Teaches Us - Walter Rodney

Sun, 30 Apr 2023 09:42:36 +0000

Another Caribbean thinker, Walter Rodney of Guyana, explores Africana history from a Marxist perspective.

HAP 122 - A More Human Face - Steve Biko

Sun, 16 Apr 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Famous for his killing at the hands of the Apartheid government in South Africa, Steve Biko was also a deep thinker, who introduced the notion of Black Consciousness.

HAP 121 - No Agreement - Fela Kuti and Wole Soyinka

Sun, 02 Apr 2023 11:20:57 +0000

The political and musical revolution of Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, and the social critique of his cousin, the playwright Wole Soyinka.

HAP 120 - Redemption Songs - Reggae and Rastafari

Sun, 19 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0000

How the Rastafari movement grew from trends within Africana philosophy, and then passed into global popular culture in the music of Bob Marley and other reggae artists.

HAP 119 - The Space Race - Afrofuturism

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Sun Ra and Parliament-Funkadelic return to claim the pyramids, and Octavia Butler uses science fiction to confront the brutal past of slavery.

HAP 118 - African Survivals - Abdias do Nascimento

Sun, 19 Feb 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Abdias do Nascimento, a leader in Brazilian theater and politics, and his theory of Qilombismo.

HAP 117 - Spear of the Nation - Nelson Mandela and the ANC

Sun, 05 Feb 2023 04:00:00 +0000

The career and ideas of Nelson Mandela up to the time of his imprisonment, in the context of the founding of the African National Congress.

HAP 116 - Olufemi Taiwo and Olufemi Taiwo on Cabral

Sun, 22 Jan 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Two scholars of the same name join us to shed further light on Amílcar Cabral.

HAP 115 - Weapon of Choice - Amílcar Cabral

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 04:00:00 +0000

Amílcar Cabral, leader of a revolution against colonialism in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, rethinks culture and Marxist theory as bases for his struggle.

HAP 114 - Teacher Taught Me - Julius Nyerere

Sun, 25 Dec 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The first leader of independent Tanzania grounds his socialist ideas in traditional African values.

HAP 113 - A Fighting God - Black Theology

Sun, 11 Dec 2022 04:00:00 +0000

After Albert Cleage and James Cone propose a liberatory interpretation of Christianity, William R. Jones wonders whether God is a white racist. We also follow Black Theology among “Womanist” authors and in South Africa.

HAP 112 - Poems That Kill - the Black Arts Movement

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 04:00:00 +0000

African American literature of the late 1960s reflects the Black Power movement, in the works of such authors as Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, Haki Madhubuti, Larry Neal, and Sonia Sanchez.

HAP 111 - A Kwanzaa Story - Maulana Karenga

Sun, 13 Nov 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The controversial career of the Pan-Africanist philosopher Maulana Karenga, inventor of the holiday Kwanzaa.

HAP 110 - Politics with Bloodshed - the Black Panthers

Sun, 30 Oct 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The philosophical underpinnings of a “vanguard of revolution” led by Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver: the Black Panther Party.

HAP 109 - Say It Loud - Black Power

Sun, 16 Oct 2022 04:00:00 +0000

How the controversial slogan “black power,” used by activists like Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, relates to ideas of militancy, separatism, and the power of language.

HAP 108 - Or Does It Explode? - Lorraine Hansberry

Sun, 02 Oct 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The underestimated radicalism of Lorraine Hansberry, author of the famous play "A Raisin in the Sun".

HAP 107 - Lewis Gordon on Frantz Fanon

Sun, 18 Sep 2022 04:00:00 +0000

We're joined by a leading Fanon expert to talk about a range of themes in his work: Negritude, psychiatry, and violence.

HAP 106 - Combat Literature - Franz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth

Sun, 04 Sep 2022 14:37:18 +0000

Fanon’s incendiary final work explores the violent process of decolonization.

HAP 105 - Meeting the Gaze - Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 06:44:56 +0000

Frantz Fanon combines existentialist philosophy and psychiatry to diagnose the condition of the colonialized target of racism.

HAP 104 - In Unity Lies Strength - Kwame Nkrumah

Sun, 10 Jul 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The first leader of independent Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, writes against neocolonialism and in favor of socialism and Pan-Africanism.

HAP 103 - A Federal Case - Nnamdi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo

Sun, 26 Jun 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Two Nigerian activists lead the struggle for independence, and clash over the competing values of national unity and ethnic diversity.

HAP 102 - From Cuba with Love - Juan Rene Betancourt

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The Cuban activist and author Juan Rene Betancourt urges racial solidarity and reckons with the revolution under Castro and the island’s turn towards Communism.

HAP 101 - Crossing Paths - the Last Years of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr

Sun, 29 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000

After 1963, the views of Malcolm X and MLK came closer together, on topics including internationalism, political engagement, and economics.

HAP 100 - Chike Jeffers on the Early Twentieth Century

Sun, 15 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Chike joins Peter to look back at our coverage of Africana philosophy in the first half of the 20th century.

HAP 99 - American Nightmare - Malcolm X

Sun, 01 May 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The life and career of Malcolm X up to 1963, with a focus on his separatist black nationalism and his critique of non-violent protest.

HAP 98 - Meena Krishnamurthy on Martin Luther King Jr

Sun, 17 Apr 2022 04:00:00 +0000

An interview about the role of the emotions, including anger and feelings of dignity, with MLK expert Meena Krishnamurthy.

HAP 97 - American Dream - Martin Luther King Jr.

Sun, 03 Apr 2022 04:00:00 +0000

The story of Martin Luther King Jr. up to 1963, focusing on the development of his philosophy of nonviolence.

HAP 96 - A Lover’s War - James Baldwin

Sun, 20 Mar 2022 04:00:00 +0000

In "The Fire Next Time" and other writings, the essayist and novelist James Baldwin seeks to dispel the illusions surrounding racial and sexual difference.

HAP 95 - Black and Blue - Ralph Ellison

Sun, 06 Mar 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Ralph Ellison provides a new metaphor for the experience of racism in his Invisible Man and tackles topics of art and identity in his essays.

HAP 94 - How Did You Happen? - Richard Wright

Sun, 20 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Famous for his incendiary novel Native Son, Richard Wright responds in his multifaceted writings to sociology, communism, colonialism, and existentialism.

HAP 93 - Carole Boyce Davies on Claudia Jones

Sun, 06 Feb 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Interview guest Carole Boyce Davies joins us to talk about the radical ideas of Claudia Jones.

HAP 92 - Half the World - Claudia Jones

Sun, 23 Jan 2022 04:07:00 +0000

Claudia Jones argues that Communism provides the remedy for racism and imperialism.

HAP 91 - Massa Day Done - Oliver Cox and Eric Williams

Sun, 09 Jan 2022 04:00:00 +0000

Two Trinidadian political thinkers: sociologist Oliver Cox analyzes the nature of racial prejudice, and historian Eric Williams connects capitalism to slavery.

HAP 90 - Move Fast and Break Things - C.L.R. James

Sun, 26 Dec 2021 04:00:00 +0000

The Trinidadian historian and cultural critic C.L.R. James applies Marxist analysis to the Haitian Revolution, American cinema, and Shakespeare.

HAP 89 - Separate but Unequal - E. Franklin Frazier

Sun, 12 Dec 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Sociologist E. Franklin Frazier critiques the Harlem Renaissance and the “black bourgeoisie” for failing to embrace values that will empower black Americans.

HAP 88 - The Surreal Deal - Aimé and Suzanne Césaire

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Negritude thinkers Aimé and Suzanne Césaire embrace surrealism and reflect on the relationships between poetry, knowledge, and identity.

HAP 87 - Call It Intuition - Leopold Senghor

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Leopold Senghor compares different ways of knowing while developing his theory of Negritude and combining the roles of poet and politician.

HAP 86 - French Connection - The Negritude Movement

Sun, 31 Oct 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Our first look at the emergence of the Negritude movement in Paris in the 1930s, with a focus on the early leadership of the Nardal sisters and Leon Damas.

HAP 85 - Liam Kofi Bright on Du Bois‘ Philosophy of Science

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Guest Liam Kofi Bright discusses Du Bois' ideal of value-free science and the place of science within his wider thought.

HAP 84 - Live Long and Protest - W.E.B. Du Bois, 1920-1963

Sun, 03 Oct 2021 05:20:21 +0000

Du Bois moves to the left, and revisits and refines older positions during the latter half of his very long life.

HAP 83 - Songs of the People - Paul Robeson and the Negro Spiritual

Sun, 19 Sep 2021 06:43:17 +0000

The career of the multi-talented activist and performer Paul Robeson, and the place of the Negro spiritual in the Harlem Renaissance.

HAP 82 - The Florida Project - Zora Neale Hurston

Sun, 05 Sep 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Zora Neale Hurston’s interest in Africana folklore feeds into her great novel Their Eyes Were Watching God.

HAP 81 - Making History - Carter G. Woodson

Sun, 25 Jul 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Pioneering historian Carter G. Woodson argues for a new approach to education and economic uplift.

HAP 80 - Scholarly Contributions - African American Professional Philosophers

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 05:00:00 +0000

From the latter half of the nineteenth century to the 1970s, African Americans only rarely obtain jobs as philosophy professors but bring distinctive perspectives to the profession.

HAP 79 - Leonard Harris on Alain Locke

Sun, 27 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Leonard Harris explains how Locke's value theory was the basis for his aesthetics and theories of democracy and race.

HAP 78 - Freedom Through Art - Alain Locke

Sun, 13 Jun 2021 04:00:00 +0000

The aesthetics of Alain Locke and its basis in his theory of value judgments.

HAP 77 - A Race Capital - The Harlem Renaissance

Sun, 30 May 2021 04:00:00 +0000

The artistic flowering of the 1920s known as the Harlem Renaissance raises important questions about identity and the purpose of art.

HAP 76 - Michael Dawson on Garvey and Black Nationalism

Sun, 16 May 2021 04:00:00 +0000

An interview with Michael Dawson, who explains Marcus Garvey's black nationalism and how this and other political ideologies, like socialism and liberalism, have fared from the time of Garvey down to the present day.

HAP 75 - Now I Have a Rival - The Two Amy Garveys

Sun, 02 May 2021 03:00:00 +0000

Marcus Garvey’s two wives, Amy Ashwood Garvey and Amy Jacques Garvey, establish themselves as activists in their own right and bring feminism into the Pan-African movement.

HAP 74 - Black Star - Marcus Garvey

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 03:00:00 +0000

Marcus Garvey leads a powerful movement, inspires racial pride, and feuds with other thinkers like Du Bois.

HAP 73 - Vanessa Wills on Africana Marxism

Sun, 04 Apr 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Vanessa Wills speaks to us about Marx and his Africana legacy, with a special focus on black women Marxists.

HAP 72 - In A Class of Their Own - Early African American Socialism

Sun, 21 Mar 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Around the time of World War One, Hubert Harrison, A. Philip Randolph, and other black socialists argue that racial oppression is caused by capitalism.

HAP 71 - In Blyden’s Wake - West African Intellectuals of the Early Twentieth Century

Sun, 07 Mar 2021 04:00:00 +0000

West African intellectuals like J.E. Casely-Hayford and Mojola Agbebi build upon Edward Blyden’s ideas at the dawn of the twentieth century.

HAP 70 - Tommy Curry on the Early 20th Century

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 04:00:00 +0000

We chat with Tommy Curry about African-American thought between the turn of the century and the Harlem Renaissance.

HAP 69 - The Best We Have - The American Negro Academy

Sun, 07 Feb 2021 08:14:53 +0000

The ANA unites leading African American scholars of the early 20th century, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, William Ferris, Archibald Grimké, and Kelly Miller.

HAP 68 - The Problem of the Color Line - Introducing the Twentieth Century

Sun, 24 Jan 2021 04:00:00 +0000

By exploring the work and activities of W.E.B. Du Bois around the turn of the twentieth century, we introduce some of the themes of our coverage of that century.

HAP 67 - Chike Jeffers on Slavery and Diasporic Philosophy

Sun, 10 Jan 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Co-host Chike joins Peter to look back at series 2 and ahead to series 3.

HAP 66 - Lifting the Veil - Introducing W.E.B. Du Bois

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 04:00:00 +0000

W.E.B. Du Bois emerges as a historian, sociologist, and innovative philosophical thinker in the 1890s, and introduces his famous idea of "double consciousness."

HAP 65 - Separate Fingers, One Hand - Booker T. Washington

Sun, 13 Dec 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Was Booker T. Washington’s “accomodationist” approach to race relations a failure to stand up to injustice or a cunning strategy for incremental change?

HAP 64 - God is a Negro - Henry McNeal Turner

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 04:00:00 +0000

A late 19th-century churchman tries to explain how slavery fit into God’s plan, and decide whether the future for African-Americans lies in Africa or America.

HAP 63 - Brittney Cooper on Black Women Activists

Sun, 15 Nov 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Brittney Cooper on activists connected to the National Association of Colored Women, including Fannie Barrier Williams, Mary Church Terrell, and Ida B. Wells.

HAP 62 - American Barbarism - Ida B. Wells

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Ida B. Wells, her tireless crusade against lynching, and her analysis of the underlying purpose of racial violence.

HAP 61 - When and Where I Enter - Anna Julia Cooper

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Anna Julia Cooper’s "A Voice from the South", an unprecedented contribution to black feminist theory.

HAP 60 - Though Late, It Is Liberty- Abolitionism in Brazil

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Abolitionists Luiz Gama and Joaquim Nabuco, and the great novelist Machado de Assis, react to the injustices of slaveholding in Brazil.

HAP 59 - Frowning at Froudacious Fabrications - J.J. Thomas and F.A. Durham

Sun, 20 Sep 2020 04:00:00 +0000

John Jacob Thomas argues for self-government in the English colonies of the Caribbean but his fellow Trinidadian Frederick Alexander Durham recommends repatriation to Africa instead.

HAP 58 - A Common Circle - Anténor Firmin

Sun, 06 Sep 2020 05:00:00 +0000

Haitian anthropologist Anténor Firmin debunks racist pseudo-science and argues that inequalities among humans are caused by social, not biological, factors.

HAP 57 - Race First, Then Party - T. Thomas Fortune

Sun, 19 Jul 2020 04:00:00 +0000

T. Thomas Fortune uses newspaper editorials to put forth a theory of civil rights and set out a plan of political action for protecting them.

HAP 56 - African Personality - Edward Blyden

Sun, 05 Jul 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Edward Blyden gains appreciation for Islam in West Africa and gradually moves from political nationalism to cultural nationalism.

HAP 55 - Planting the Seeds - James Africanus Beale Horton

Sun, 21 Jun 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Africanus Horton looks toward a future of self-government for West Africa beyond slavery and colonialism.

HAP 54 - Wilson Moses on the Roots of Black Nationalism

Sun, 07 Jun 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Wilson Moses speaks to us about his research into early black notionalism, as represented by Crummell, Douglass, and others.

HAP 53 - Pilgrim’s Progress - Alexander Crummell

Sun, 24 May 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Alexander Crummell moves from pan-Africanism to reform of African American culture, identifying progressive “civilization” as a means of liberation.

HAP 52 - Great White North - Emigration to Canada

Sun, 10 May 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Mary Ann Shadd and Samuel Ringgold Ward reflect on what Canada can offer African Americans, differing on the problem of racism.

HAP 51 - I Read Men and Nations - Sojourner Truth and Frances Harper

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 04:00:00 +0000

The moral crusades of Sojourner Truth and Frances Harper, activists against racial and gender oppression.

HAP 50 - Nation Within a Nation - Martin Delany

Sun, 12 Apr 2020 04:00:00 +0000

He is called a “father of black nationalism,” but Martin Delany also promoted integration in American society. Can the apparent tension be resolved?

HAP 49 - Let Your Motto Be Resistance - Henry Highland Garnet

Sun, 29 Mar 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Henry Highland Garnet encourages, or actually demands, that enslaved Americans throw off their chains and debates Douglass over how best to resist slavery.

HAP 48 - Happy Holidays - Two Speeches by Frederick Douglass

Sun, 15 Mar 2020 07:22:28 +0000

In two speeches marking holidays, Frederick Douglass champions the idea of world citizenship, the power of appeals to conscience to bring change, and the role of violence.

HAP 47 - Written by Himself - the Life of Frederick Douglass

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 05:00:00 +0000

Frederick Douglass' journey from slave to leading figure of 19th century American thought.

HAP 46 - Melvin Rogers on 19th Century Political Thought

Sun, 16 Feb 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Melvin Rogers joins us to discuss Hosea Walker, Maria Stewart, and Hosea Easton.

HAP 45 - Unnatural Causes - Hosea Easton’s Treatise

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Hosea Easton’s Treatise provides an overlooked but fascinating theory of race and racism.

HAP 44 - Religion and Pure Principles - Maria W. Stewart

Sun, 19 Jan 2020 04:00:00 +0000

Maria W. Stewart’s public addresses bring the concerns of African American women into the struggle against racial prejudice.

HAP 43 - Kill or Be Killed - David Walker’s Appeal

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 05:00:00 +0000

David Walker defends violent resistance and encourages self-improvement in his incendiary and influential Appeal.

HAP 42 - James Sidbury on African Identity

Sun, 22 Dec 2019 04:00:00 +0000

An interview with James Sidbury about the emergence of a self-conscious African identity in the diaspora.

HAP 41 - Should I Stay or Should I Go? - The Colonization Controversy

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Questions of political autonomy and group identity in the emigration movement led by Paul Cuffe, Daniel Coker, John Russwurm and others.

HAP 40 - American Africans - Early Black Institutions in the US

Sun, 24 Nov 2019 04:00:00 +0000

Building black institutions in early American history, with Prince Hall and the Masons in Boston, and Richard Allen and the Methodists in Philadelphia.

HAP 39 - Doris Garraway on the Haitian Revolution

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 04:00:00 +0000

An interview with Doris Garraway on the background, intellectual basis, and legacy of the Haitian Revolution.

HAP 38 - My Haitian Pen - Baron de Vastey

Sun, 27 Oct 2019 05:00:00 +0000

The Baron de Vastey unveils the horror of colonialism as a system and defends the monarchy of King Christophe in the tense early years of Haiti’s independence.

HAP 37 - Liberty, Equality, Humanity - The Haitian Revolution

Sun, 13 Oct 2019 04:00:00 +0000

In an age of revolutions and revolutionary ideas, the Haitian Revolution of 1791-1804 stands out as the most radical of them all.

HAP 36 - Sons of Africa - Quobna Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Quobna Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano advance the goals of the abolitionist movement through a groundbreaking political treatise and an influential autobiography.

HAP 35 - Letters from the Heart - Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker

Sun, 15 Sep 2019 01:00:00 +0000

Ignatius Sancho and Benjamin Banneker make their mark on the history of Africana thought through letters that reflect on the power of sentiment.

HAP 34 - New England Patriot - Lemuel Haynes

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 08:40:49 +0000

Preacher and Revolutionary War soldier Lemuel Haynes argues that the principles of the American Revolution demand the abolition of slavery.

HAP 33 - Young, Gifted, and Black - Phillis Wheatley

Sun, 21 Jul 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Phillis Wheatley astonishes colonial Americans with her exquisite and precocious poetry and reflects on the liberating power of the imagination.

HAP 32 - Talking Book - Early Africana Writing in English

Sun, 07 Jul 2019 05:00:00 +0000

18th century black authors touch on philosophical themes in autobiographical narratives, poetry, and other literary genres.

HAP 31 - Justin Smith on Amo and Race in Early Modern Philosophy

Sun, 23 Jun 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Justin E.H. Smith joins us to discuss Anton Wilhelm Amo against the background of ideas about race in early modern philosophy, including Leibniz.

HAP 30 - Dualist Personality - Anton Wilhelm Amo

Sun, 09 Jun 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Anton Wilhelm Amo, brought to Germany from his native Ghana, defends a rigorous dualism of mind and body. Was this philosophy connected to his African origins?

HAP 29 - Out of Africa - Slavery and the Diaspora

Sun, 26 May 2019 05:00:00 +0000

An introduction to Africana philosophical thought as it emerged from the modern experience of slavery and colonization by Europeans.

HAP 28 - Chike Jeffers on Precolonial African Philosophy

Sun, 12 May 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Co-host Chike Jeffers and Peter chat about the themes and questions raised by the podcast so far.

HAP 27 - Beyond the Reaction - The Continuing Relevance of Precolonial Traditions

Sun, 28 Apr 2019 05:00:00 +0000

As the twentieth century draws to a close, the critique of ethnophilosophy gives way to approaches that continue to privilege the study of precolonial traditions.

HAP 26 - Kai Kresse on the Anthropology of Philosophy

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 05:00:00 +0000

An interview with Kai Kresse who discusses his efforts to do "anthropology of philosophy" on the Swahili Coast.

HAP 25 - Wise Guys - Sage Philosophy

Sun, 31 Mar 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Henry Odera Oruka’s new method for exploring philosophy in Africa, based on interviews with wise individuals.

HAP 24 - Professionally Speaking - The Reaction Against Ethnophilosophy

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Paulin Hountondji and other African philosophers criticize ethnophilosophy and advocate a universalist approach.

HAP 23 - Nkiru Nzegwu on Gender in African Tradition

Sun, 03 Mar 2019 05:00:00 +0000

An interview with Nkiru Nzegwu on matriarchy and gender fluidity in Africa.

HAP 22 - Women Have no Tribe - Gender in African Tradition

Sun, 17 Feb 2019 05:00:00 +0000

What archeology and ethnography tell us about the diverse and often ambiguous roles of men and women in traditional African societies.

HAP 21 - The Doctor Will See You Now - Divination, Witchcraft, and Knowledge

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Special forms of knowledge and the explanation of misfortunes in African tradition.

HAP 20 - I Am Because We Are - Communalism in African Ethics and Politics

Sun, 20 Jan 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Emphasis on the value of community as a major theme in African philosophy.

HAP 19 - Behind the Mask - African Philosophy of the Person

Sun, 06 Jan 2019 05:00:00 +0000

Traditional African ideas about personhood, which challenge assumptions about the relation between mind and body, self and other.

HAP 18 - One to Rule Them All - God in African Philosophy

Sun, 23 Dec 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Is traditional African religion in some sense monotheist, despite the worship of many divinities?

HAP 17 - Event Horizon - African Philosophy of Time

Sun, 09 Dec 2018 05:00:00 +0000

John Mbiti’s influential and controversial claim that traditional Africans experience time as having “a long past, a present, and virtually no future.”

HAP 16 - Samuel Imbo on Okot p'Bitek and Oral Traditions

Sun, 25 Nov 2018 05:00:00 +0000

A conversation with Sam Imbo on approaching oral traditions as philosophy and the Ugandan thinker and poet Okot p'Bitek.

HAP 15 - Heard it Through the Grapevine - Oral Philosophy in Africa

Sun, 11 Nov 2018 05:00:00 +0000

An introduction to the “ethnophilosophy” approach inaugurated by Placide Tempels, its promises and potential pitfalls.

HAP 14 - Souleymane Bachir Diagne on Islam in Africa

Sun, 28 Oct 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Peter speaks to Souleymane Bachir Diagne about Islamic scholars in West Africa.

HAP 13 - Renewing the Faith - the Sokoto Caliphate

Sun, 14 Oct 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Uthman Dan Fodio and his family were scholars, poets, and warriors whose jihad in 19th century Nigeria created the Sokoto Caliphate.

HAP 12 - From Here to Timbuktu - Subsaharan Islamic Philosophy

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 05:00:00 +0000

The spread of Islamic scholarship in subsaharan Africa, focusing on intellectuals of the Songhay empire around the Niger River in the 15th-17th centuries.

HAP 11 - Teodros Kiros on Ethiopian Philosophy

Sun, 16 Sep 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Teodros Kiros discusses the history of Ethiopian thought and how it has influenced his own work in political philosophy.

HAP 10 - Think for Yourself - Walda Heywat

Sun, 02 Sep 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Walda Heywat’s reaction to the thought of his teacher Zera Yacob, and the dispute over the authenticity of these two Ethiopian philosophers.

HAP 09 - In You I Take Shelter - Zera Yacob

Sun, 22 Jul 2018 05:00:00 +0000

The 17th century Ethiopian rationalist Zera Yacob, hailed as the first modern Africana philosopher.

HAP 08 - Solomon, Socrates, and Other Sages - Early Ethiopian Philosophy

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Philosophy in Ethiopia, with translations of religious and philosophical texts into Ge’ez and a national epic called the Kebra Nagast.

HAP 07 - Richard Parkinson on Egyptian Poetry

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Egyptioogist Richard Parkinson joins us to talk about the context and meaning of the Eloquent Peasant and other literary works of ancient Egypt.

HAP 06 - Heated Exchanges - Philosophy in Egyptian Narratives and Dialogues

Sun, 10 Jun 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Demands for ma’at (justice or truth) and a confrontation with the soul, in the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant and Dispute Between a Man and his Ba.

HAP 05 - Father Knows Best - Moral and Political Philosophy in the Instructions

Sun, 27 May 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Ethical reflection in ancient Egyptian grave inscriptions and in works of instruction, such as the Maxims of Ptahhotep and the Instructions named for Amenemope, Ani, and Merikare.

HAP 04 - Pyramid Schemes - Philosophy in Ancient Egypt

Sun, 13 May 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Ancient Egyptian figures and writings including the Pyramid Texts, Imhotep, and the "first monotheist" Akhenaten reflect on the nature of things and questions of morality.

HAP 03 - Fertile Ground - Philosophy in Ancient Mesopotamia

Sun, 29 Apr 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Do the cuneiform writings of Babylonian culture show that it had its own philosophy?

HAP 02 - It’s Only Human - Philosophy in Prehistoric Africa

Sun, 15 Apr 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Might philosophy be as old as humankind as we know it? We investigate the implications of findings concerning the origins of humankind in Africa.

HAP 01 - Something Old, Something New - Introducing Africana Philosophy

Sun, 01 Apr 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Chike Jeffers and Peter Adamson kick off the new series by explaining the scope and meaning of "Africana philosophy".

HPI 62 - Kit Patrick on Philosophy and Indian History

Sun, 18 Mar 2018 05:00:00 +0000

The host of the History of India podcast joins us for the final episode on India. Coming next: Africana philosophy!

HPI 61 - What Happened Next - Indian Philosophy After Dignaga

Sun, 04 Mar 2018 07:35:41 +0000

A whirlwind tour of developments in Indian philosophy after Dignāga and a few words about the contemporary relevance of the tradition.

HPI 60 - The Buddha and I - Indian Influence on Islamic and European Thought

Sun, 18 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

The impact of ancient Indian thought upon the Muslim scholar al-Bīrūnī and upon European thinkers like Hume, Hegel, and Schopenhauer.

HPI 59 - Looking East - Indian Influence on Greek Thought

Sun, 04 Feb 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Did Indian ideas play a role in shaping ancient Greek philosophy?

HPI 58 - Amber Carpenter on Animals in Indian Philosophy

Sun, 21 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

An interview with Amber Carpenter about the status of nonhuman animals in ancient Indian philosophy and literature.

HPI 57 - Learn by Doing - Tantra

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 05:00:00 +0000

Philosophy is put into practice in Kashmir Śaivite Tantra and Buddhist Tantra.

HPI 56 - Who’s Pulling Your Strings? - Buddhaghosa

Sun, 24 Dec 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Buddhaghosa, a major figure in the history of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, argues against the need for a self to control and coordinate mental activities.

HPI 55 - Doors of Perception - Dignaga on Consciousness

Sun, 10 Dec 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Dignāga argues that all perception is accompanied by self-awareness.

HPI 54 - Graham Priest on Logic and Buddhism

Sun, 26 Nov 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Graham Priest joins Peter to discuss non-classical logic and its connections with Buddhist patterns of reasoning.

HPI 53 - Follow the Evidence - Dignaga's Logic

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Dignāga’s trairūpya theory, which sets out the three conditions required for making reliable inferences.

HPI 52 - Under Construction - Dignaga on Perception and Language

Sun, 29 Oct 2017 05:00:00 +0000

The great Buddhist thinker Dignāga argues that general concepts and language are mere constructions superimposed on perception.

HPI 51 - Change of Mind - Vasubandhu and Yogacara Buddhism

Sun, 15 Oct 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Vasubandhu’s path to Yogācāra Buddhism, a form of idealism which holds that nothing can be mind-independent.

HPI 50 - Marie-Hélène Gorisse on Jain Epistemology

Sun, 01 Oct 2017 05:00:00 +0000

We're joined by Marie-Hélène Gorisse for a look at the Jain theory of knowledge.

HPI 49 - Well Qualified - the Jains on Truth

Sun, 17 Sep 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Does the Jain theory of seven predications (saptabhaṇgī) land them in self-contradiction, or help them to avoid it?

HPI 48 - Taking Perspective - the Jain Theory of Standpoints

Sun, 06 Aug 2017 05:00:00 +0000

The Jain theory of standpoints or non-onesidedness (anekāntavāda) makes truth a matter of perspective.

HPI 47 - Jan Westerhoff on Nagarjuna

Sun, 23 Jul 2017 05:00:00 +0000

A discussion with Jan Westerhoff, an expert on the great Buddhist thinker Nāgārjuna.

HPI 46 - No Four Ways About It - Nagarjuna’s Tetralemma

Sun, 09 Jul 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Nāgārjuna’s four-fold argument scheme, the tetralemma (catuṣkoṭi).

HPI 45 - Motion Denied - Nagarjuna on Change

Sun, 25 Jun 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Nāgārjuna applies his emptiness theory to motion, change, and cognition.

HPI 44 - It All Depends - Nagarjuna on Emptiness

Sun, 11 Jun 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Nāgārjuna founds the Madhyāmaka (“middle way”) Buddhist tradition by “relinquishing all views” and arguing that everything is “empty.”

HPI 43 - We Beg to Differ - the Buddhists and Jains

Sun, 28 May 2017 05:00:00 +0000

An introduction to philosophical developments in Buddhism and Jainism up to the time of Dignāga in the sixth century AD.

HPI 42 - In Good Taste - The Aesthetics of Rasa

Sun, 14 May 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Bharata’s Nāṭya-Śāstra and later works from Kashmir explore the idea of rasa, an emotional response to drama, music, and poetry.

HPI 41 - Monima Chadha on Indian Philosophy of Mind

Sun, 30 Apr 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Monima Chadha takes Peter through Buddhist-Hindu debates over mind and self.

HPI 40 - Mind out of Matter - Materialist Theories of the Self

Sun, 16 Apr 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Pāyasi and the Cārvāka anticipate modern-day theories of mind by arguing that there is no independent soul; rather thought emerges from the body.

HPI 39 - The Wolf’s Footprint - Indian Naturalism

Sun, 02 Apr 2017 05:00:00 +0000

The Cārvāka or Lokāyata tradition rejects the efficacy of ritual and belief in the afterlife, and restricts knowledge to the realm of sense-perception.

HPI 38 - A Day in the Life - Theories of Time

Sun, 19 Mar 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Ancient Indian cosmology and the Vaiśeṣika defense of the reality of time and space.

HPI 37 - The Whole Story - Vaisesika on Complexity and Causation

Sun, 05 Mar 2017 05:00:00 +0000

The Vaiśeṣika response to Buddhist skepticism about wholes made up of parts.

HPI 36 - Fine Grained Analysis - Kanada's Vaisesika-Sutra

Sun, 19 Feb 2017 05:00:00 +0000

The Vaiśeṣika school offers a metaphysical analysis of the world and an atomistic physics.

HPI 35 - Ujjwala Jha and V.N. Jha on Nyaya

Sun, 05 Feb 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Prof Jha and Prof Jha discuss the theories and later influence of the Nyāya school.

HPI 34 - The Truth Shall Set You Free - Nyaya on the Mind

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Nyāya proposes that each of us has both a self and a mind, in addition to the body.

HPI 33 - Standard Deductions - Nyaya on Reasoning

Sun, 08 Jan 2017 05:00:00 +0000

Gautama and his commentators tell us how to separate good inferences from bad ones.

HPI 32 - What You See Is What You Get - Nyaya on Perception

Sun, 25 Dec 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Nyāya philosophers explain how perception can bring us knowledge.

HPI 31 - Where There’s Smoke There’s Fire - Gautama’s Nyaya-Sutra

Sun, 11 Dec 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The Nyāya-Sūtra inaugurates a tradition of logical and epistemological analysis.

HPI 30 - Philipp Maas on Yoga

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 05:00:00 +0000

A leading expert on the founding text of Yoga tells us why, when, and by whom it was written.

HPI 29 - Practice Makes Perfect - Patanjali’s Yoga-Sutra

Sun, 13 Nov 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Yoga as presented by Patañjali offers a practical complement to the Sāṃkhya theory of the cosmos and the self.

HPI 28 - Who Wants to Live Forever? - Early Ayurvedic Medicine

Sun, 30 Oct 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Philosophical aspects of Ayurveda, focusing on the oldest surviving medical treatise, the Caraka-Samhita.

HPI 27 - The Theory of Evolution - Isvarakrsna’s Samkhya-karika

Sun, 16 Oct 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The oldest treatise of Sāṃkhya enumerates the principles of the cosmos and of the human mind.

HPI 26 - Francis Clooney on Vedanta

Sun, 02 Oct 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Francis Clooney joins us to discuss the religious and philosophical aspects of Vedānta.

HPI 25 - Communication Breakdown - Bhartrihari on Language

Sun, 18 Sep 2016 06:00:00 +0000

The grammarian Bhartṛhari argues that the study of language is the path to liberation, because the undivided reality underlying language is brahman.

HPI 24 - No Two Ways About It - Sankara and Advaita Vedanta

Sun, 04 Sep 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Śaṅkara and his “non-dual” (Advaita) Vedānta, which teaches that only brahman is real, and the world of experience and individual self are mere illusion.

Summer Reading

Sat, 06 Aug 2016 05:00:00 +0000

How to fill the month of August while the podcast is on summer break. Buy the book versions of the podcast at Oxford University Press.

HPI 23 - Source Code - Badarayana’s Vedanta-sutra

Sun, 24 Jul 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The founding text of the Vedānta school, the Vedānta- or Brahma-Sūtra, interprets the Upaniṣads as teaching that all things derive from brahman.

HPI 22 - Elisa Freschi on Mimamsa

Sun, 10 Jul 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Mīmāṃsā expert Elisa Freschi speaks to Peter about philosophical issues arising from the interpretation of the Veda.

HPI 21 - Innocent Until Proven Guilty - Mimamsa on Knowledge and Language

Sun, 26 Jun 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The Mīmāṃsā school put their faith in sense experience, and argue that the Veda, and hence language itself, had no beginning.

HPI 20 - Master of Ceremonies - Jaimini’s Mimamsa-Sutra

Sun, 12 Jun 2016 05:00:00 +0000

In the Mīmāṃsā school’s founding text, Jaimini systematizes Vedic ritual and explores its theoretical basis.

HPI 19 - When in Doubt - the Rise of Skepticism

Sun, 29 May 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Skeptical tendences in Indian thought and responses to skepticism from the Mīmāṃsā and Vedānta schools.

HPI 18 - A Tangled Web - the Age of the Sutra

Sat, 14 May 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Rival philosophical schools proliferate and subdivide in our second major historical period, the “age of the sūtra.”

HPI 17 - Jessica Frazier on Hinduism and Philosophy

Sun, 01 May 2016 05:00:00 +0000

An interview with Jessica Frazier about philosophical ideas and arguments in the Vedas, Upanisads and later Hindu texts.

HPI 16 - Better Half - Women in Ancient India

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Women philosophers and ideas about women in Buddhism, the Upanisads, and the Mahabharata.

HPI 15 - Mostly Harmless - Non-Violence

Sun, 03 Apr 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Vegetarianism and non-violence (ahimsa) in ancient Jainism, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

HPI 14 - World on a String - The Bhagavad-Gita

Sun, 20 Mar 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The Bhagavad-Gītā or “Song of the Lord” from the Mahābhārata ties its theory of detached action to an innovative conception of the divine.

HPI 13 - Grand Illusion - Dharma and Deception in the Mahabharata

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The great Hindu epic Mahābhārata explores moral dilemmas and the permissibilty of lying, against the background of the ethical concept of dharma.

HPI 12 - Rupert Gethin on Buddhism and the Self

Sun, 21 Feb 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Peter speaks to Rupert Gethin about the no-self theory, and its implications for Buddhist ethics and meditation practices.

HPI 11 - Carry a Big Stick - Ancient Indian Political Thought

Sun, 07 Feb 2016 05:00:00 +0000

Two figures from the Mauryan dynasty, Kautilya and the king Ashoka, set out contrasting ideas about the ideal political rule.

HPI 10 - Crossover Appeal - The Nature of the Buddha’s Teaching

Sun, 24 Jan 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The Buddha offers two parables to explain the purpose of his philosophical teaching.

HPI 09 - Suffering and Smiling - the Buddha

Sun, 10 Jan 2016 05:00:00 +0000

The Four Noble Truths of the Buddha, and the function they are supposed to play in our lives.

HPI 08 - Case Worker - Panini's Grammar

Sun, 27 Dec 2015 05:00:00 +0000

The pioneering Sanskrit grammar of Pāṇini and its implications for philosophy of language.

HPI 07 - Brian Black on the Upanisads

Sun, 13 Dec 2015 06:00:00 +0000

An interview with Brian Black about the philosophical and social aspects of the Upanisads.

HPI 06 - You Are What You Do - Karma

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 05:00:00 +0000

The origins of the idea of karma, its moral significance in the Upanisads, and an alternative conception in the Bhagavad Gita.

HPI 05 - Do it Yourself - Indra’s Search for the Self in the Upanisads

Sun, 15 Nov 2015 06:00:00 +0000

The god Indra learns patience and something about the self in a famous passage from the Upanisads.

HPI 04 - Hide and Seek – The Upanisads

Sun, 01 Nov 2015 05:00:00 +0000

The ancient texts known as the Upanisads claim to expose the hidden connections between things, including the self and the world.

HPI 03 - Kingdom for a Horse - India in the Vedic Period

Sun, 18 Oct 2015 05:00:00 +0000

The Vedic period sets the context of the Upanisads, Buddhism and Jainism.

HPI 02 - Sages, Schools and Systems – a Historical Overview

Sun, 04 Oct 2015 05:00:00 +0000

A whirlwind tour of philosophical literature in India.

HPI 01 - Begin at the End - An Introduction to Philosophy in India

Mon, 14 Sep 2015 22:24:03 +0000

In this introduction to the series, Peter Adamson and Jonardon Ganeri propose that Indian philosophy was primarily a way of life and search for the highest good.