Peter Adamson presents an engaging and wide-ranging introduction to two great intellectual cultures: Byzantium and the Italian Renaissance. First he tells the story of philosophy in the Eastern Christian world, from the 8th century to the 15th century, then he explores the rebirth of philosophy in Italy in the era of Machiavelli and Galileo.

Peter Adamson received his BA from Williams College and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He worked at King's College London from 2000 until 2012. He subsequently moved to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy. He has published widely in ancient and medieval philosophy, and is the host of the History of Philosophy podcast.

• Preface


• Philosophy in Byzantium


• 1: The Empire Strikes Back: Introduction to Byzantine Philosophy


• 2: On the Eastern Front: Philosophy in Syriac and Armenian


• 3: Don't Picture This: Iconoclasm


• 4: Behind Enemy Lines: John of Damascus


• 5: Collectors' Items: Photius and Byzantine Compilations


• 6: Consul of the Philosophers: Michael Psellos


• 7: Hooked on Classics: Italos and the Debate over Pagan Learning


• 8: Purple Prose: Byzantine Political Philosophy


• 9: Elements of Style: Rhetoric in Byzantium


• 10: Past Masters: Byzantine Historiography


• 11: Queen of the Sciences: Anna Komnene and her Circle


• 12: Wiser than Men: Gender in Byzantium


• 13: Just Measures: Law, Money, and War in Byzantium


• 14: Made by Hand: Byzantine Manuscripts


• 15: Georgia on My Mind: Petritsi and the Proclus Revival


• 16: People of the South: Byzantium and Islam


• 17: Do the Math: Science in the Palaiologan Renaissance


• 18: Through His Works You Shall Know Him: Palamas and Hesychasm


• 19: United We Fall: Latin Philosophy in Byzantium


• 20: Platonic Love: Gemistos Plethon


• 21: Istanbul (not Constantinople): the Later Orthodox Tradition


• The Italian Renaissance


• 22: Old News: Introduction to the Renaissance


• 23: Greeks Bearing Gifts: Byzantine Scholars in Italy


• 24: Republic of Letters: Italian Humanism


• 25: Literary Criticism: Lorenzo Valla


• 26: Difficult to be Good: Humanist Ethics


• 27: Chance Encounters: Reviving Hellenistic philosophy


• 28: We Built This City: Christine de Pizan


• 29: More Rare Than the Phoenix: Italian Women Humanists


• 30: All About Eve: the Defense of Women


• 31: I'd Like to Thank the Academy: Florentine Platonism


• 32: Footnotes to Plato: Marsilio Ficino


• 33: True Romance: Theories of Love


• 34: As Far as East from West: Jewish Philosophy in Renaissance Italy


• 35: The Count of Concord: Pico della Mirandola


• 36: What a Piece of Work is Man: Manetti and Pico on Human Nature


• 37: Bonfire of the Vanities: Savonarola


• 38: The Sweet Restraints of Liberty: Republicanism and Civic Humanism


• 39: No More Mr Nice Guy: Machiavelli


• 40: Sense of Humors: Machiavelli on Republicanism


• 41: The Teacher of Our Actions: Renaissance Historiography


• 42: No Place Like Home: Renaissance Utopias


• 43: Greed is Good: Renaissance Economics


• 44: Town and Gown: Italian Universities


• 45: I'd Like to Thank the Lyceum: Aristotle in Renaissance Italy


• 46: Of Two Minds: Pomponazzi and Nifo on the Intellect


• 47: There and Back Again: Zabarella on Scientific Method


• 48: The Measure of All Things: Mathematics and Art


• 49: Just What the Doctor Ordered: Renaissance Medicine


• 50: Man of Discoveries: Girolamo Cardano


• 51: Spirits in the Material World: Telesio and Campanella on Nature


• 52: The Men Who Saw Tomorrow: Renaissance Magic and Astrology


• 53: Boundless Enthusiasm: Giordano Bruno


• 54: The Harder They Fall: Galileo and the Renaissance