The Ancient Philosophy Podcast

With Monte Johnson

Monte Johnson discusses reconstructing Aristotle's lost Protrepticus with Doug Hutchinson from excerpts preserved by later authors and papyri fragments, work he calls part of a wider loss: 99% of ancient Greek literature.

Plato's famous lecture on the Good , with much of the discussion a reflection on Konrad Gaiser's 1980 article in Phronesis, 'Plato's Enigmatic Lecture on the Good.'

With Cecilia Li

With Jacob Stump

Jacob Stump joins to discuss the Stoic view of emotions, and the second half turns to objections and problems raised against that view.

Stylometry lets scholars date the composition of Plato's dialogues and the episode explains the basic stylometric methods and their application in that case.

With Justin Vlasits

Justin Vlasits joins to discuss Aristotle's criticisms of Plato's theory of Forms, opening with a brief summary of that theory for newcomers.

Should Plato's characters be read as his own mouthpieces? Debra Nails' essay 'Mouthpiece Schmouthpiece,' from Who Speaks for Plato?, is where the episode focuses.

A recorded lecture lays out Plato's theory that the soul has parts, covering the principle of opposites, the definitions of justice and moderation, and the soul-state analogy.

The so-called Sisyphus fragment preserves a rare bit of atheistic philosophy from the fifth century BCE, in an episode from Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Alma College.

Socrates' last words, spoken in Plato's Phaedo, have been given different interpretations, and Doug Campbell of Alma College talks through them.

Heraclitus' doctrine that scholars call 'the unity of opposites,' taken up by Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Alma College.

Aristotle did believe in the wandering womb, though his view of it is different from, say, Plato's.

Plato's allegory of the cave, from the seventh book of the Republic, taken up by Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Alma College.

Timaeus, who appears in Plato's Timaeus and Critias, raises a question of his own: was he a real person?

What did Aristotle think the soul was? Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Alma College, spends the episode on that question.

The ancient Stoic philosophers held that a great conflagration will one day consume the cosmos, in an episode from Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Alma College.

The Four Causes, one of Aristotle's most famous philosophical ideas, taken up by Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Alma College.

The sacred disease in antiquity, taken up by Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Alma College.

Plato's view that the whole world had a soul, and why he thought so, from Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Alma College.

Anaximander gave an unusual account of human origins, holding that humans used to be born inside fish, in an episode from Doug Campbell of Alma College.

The practice of human dissection, and even vivisection, in antiquity, taken up by Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Alma College.

Ancient Greek intellectuals almost universally avoided human dissection throughout antiquity, a deep-seated tendency with an exception in the early Hellenistic period, and the most important reasons why.

Was 'Plato' Plato's real name? Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Alma College, takes the question on.

The wandering womb, an important idea in ancient biology, taken up by Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor of philosophy at Alma College.

The Stoic conception of philosophy: what the Stoics thought philosophy was, set out by Doug Campbell of Alma College.

Plato's views of exercise in the Timaeus, taken up by Doug Campbell, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Alma College.