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
HoP 490 Steven Nadler on Occasionalism
What inspired the occasionalist theory embraced by the 17th century Cartesians? We find out from a leading specialist on the topic.
5 Apr 32min
HoP 489 All Power to Him: Malebranche and Occasionalism
What led Malebranche to his notorious view that all bodily motions and thoughts are caused by God, with created things serving only as “occasions” for divine action?
22 Mar 21min
