Peter Adamson

In this latest volume of A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Peter Adamson presents a lively and accessible introduction to European philosophy during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.Philosophy in the Reformation focuses on the parallel and intertwining emergence of humanism and of religious reform, as figures like Erasmus, Luther, and Calvin remade the intellectual and spiritual life of Europe. In the first three parts of the book, philosophical developments in central Europe, France, and Britain are examined. A wide range of topics and controversies are discussed, from debates over free will to the legitimacy of tyrannicide. This was also the time of the Northern Renaissance, which saw a resurgence of ancient concepts like skepticism and atomist theories of matter. The volume''s final section charts the Catholic reaction to these epochal events in the Counter-Reformation, and especially the ideas of Spanish thinkers like Molina and Suárez. Quite a few familiar figures are discussed, such as Montaigne and Copernicus. But as always in this series, Adamson lavishes attention on fascinating figures who are often ignored in the history of philosophy, like John Dee, Robert Fludd, and Oliva Sabuco (who is just one of numerous women intellectuals covered). Another feature of the book is its attention to literature and the arts: the reader will learn how the achievements of Dürer, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, and Cervantes relate to philosophical currents of the time. The eighth volume in the A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps series takes us to the threshold of the early modern era and sets the stage for the developments that unfolded during the Enlightenment.

Peter Adamson presents a lively introduction to six hundred years of European philosophy, from the beginning of the ninth century to the end of the fourteenth century. The medieval period is one of the richest in the history of philosophy, yet one of the least widely known. Adamson introduces us to some of the greatest thinkers of the Western intellectual tradition, including Peter Abelard, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William of Ockham, and Roger Bacon. And the medieval period was notable for the emergence of great women thinkers, including Hildegard of Bingen, Marguerite Porete, and Julian of Norwich. Original ideas and arguments were developed in every branch of philosophy during this period - not just philosophy of religion and theology, but metaphysics, philosophy of logic and language, moral and political theory, psychology, and the foundations of mathematics and natural science.

In this latest instalment of the series A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, Peter Adamson and Chike Jeffers delve into the fascinating world of Africana Philosophy. Africana Philosophy from Ancient Egypt to the Nineteenth Century is the first of two volumes in the History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps series to bring readers the story of Africana philosophy. This diverse topic is defined as philosophy emerging from and distinctively related to Africa or the African diaspora. The story starts at the very beginning by asking what it would mean to engage philosophically with evidence left by prehistoric peoples of Africa, and proceeds to discuss the philosophical traditions of ancient Egypt, late ancient and early modern Ethopia, and Islamic philosophy in West Africa. A number of chapters then explore the idea of philosophy in African oral traditions, considering the methodological debates that have raged between African philosophers like John Mbiti, Paulin Hountondji, and Henry Odera Oruka. Peter Adamson and Chike Jeffers also consider philosophical responses to the situation brought about by the transatlantic slave trade and the early colonization of Africa. Starting from early figures like Anton Wilhelm Amo and Phillis Wheatley, and the ideas that drove the Haitian Revolution, extensive discussion is then given to Africana philosophy of the nineteenth century. The incendiary ideas of David Walker, the nuanced rhetoric of Frederick Douglass, and the clashing approaches of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois are among the highlights here. Significant attention is given to female thinkers like Maria W. Stewart, Sojourner Truth, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida B. Wells. The coverage is also geographically diverse, with chapters on figures who worked not only in Africa and the United States, but also Brazil, Canada, Britain, France, and the Caribbean.