HoP 498 Probably Probable: Pierre Bayle and his Dictionary
Is Pierre Bayle’s pioneering reference work, the Historical and Critical Dictionary, a monument to skepticism or to fideism?
26 Jul 0s
HoP 497 Pure and Simple: Quietism
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.
12 Jul 19min
HoP 496 He Unwilling, She Unwilling: Jean Racine
How the “neo-classical” tragedies of Racine explore the battle between passion and reason.
28 Jun 16min
HoP 495 Comedy of Errors: Molière
Molière’s famous comedies scandalize Paris and dramatize themes from French moralism, especially the danger of hypocrisy.
14 Jun 18min
HoP 494 Tell the Truth While Laughing: The French Moralists
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?
31 Mai 23min
HoP 493 Better Nature: The French Garden
How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy.
17 Mai 21min
HoP 492 Changing By Degrees: French Scholasticism
How philosophy at the universities evolved in response to Cartesianism and the “new science.”
3 Mai 21min
HoP 491 Image Problems: Arnauld vs Malebranche on Ideas
Arnauld’s attack on Malebranche’s theory of the “vision in God” leads to a nuanced debate over the nature of ideas.
19 Apr 19min
