Overview
Peter Adamson presents an engaging and wide-ranging introduction to the thinkers and movements of two great intellectual cultures: Byzantium and the Italian Renaissance. First, he traces the development of philosophy in the Eastern Christian world, from such early figures as John of Damascus in the eighth century to the late Byzantine scholars of the fifteenth century. Adamson introduces major figures like Michael Psellos, Anna Komnene, and Gregory Palamas, and examines the philosophical significance of such cultural phenomena as iconoclasm and conceptions of gender. We discover the little-known traditions of philosophy in Syriac, Armenian, and Georgian. These chapters also explore the scientific, political, and historical literature of Byzantium. There is a close connection to the second half of the book, since thinkers of the Greek East helped to spark the humanist movement in Italy. Adamson tells the story of the rebirth of philosophy in Italy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. We encounter such famous names as Christine de Pizan, Niccolò Machiavelli, Giordano Bruno, and Galileo, but as always in this book series such major figures are read alongside contemporaries who are not so well known, including fascinating figures like Lorenzo Valla, Girolamo Savonarola, and Bernardino Telesio. Major historical themes include the humanist engagement with ancient literature, the emergence of women humanists, the flowering of Republican government in Renaissance Italy, the continuation of Aristotelian and scholastic philosophy alongside humanism, and breakthroughs in science. All areas of philosophy, from theories of economics and aesthetics to accounts of the human mind, are featured. This is the sixth volume of Adamson's History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps series, taking us to the threshold of the early modern era.
Full Product Details
Author: Peter Adamson (Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy, Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 15.60cm
, Height: 3.60cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 0.634kg
ISBN: 9780198942115
ISBN 10: 0198942117
Pages: 512
Publication Date: 13 March 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Each brief chapter immediately captures the interest of the reader in a way that is entertaining, informative, and a genuine pleasure to read. Excellent notes and bibliography of further reading. * P. A. Streveler, CHOICE * The understanding that philosophy is a purely rational endeavor is a form of presentism that arises out of modern rationalism and, more generally... we should be grateful to Adamson for addressing the issue and for providing students of Byzantine and Renaissance philosophy with an accessible overview of the respective material. * Speculum 98/4 *
Each brief chapter immediately captures the interest of the reader in a way that is entertaining, informative, and a genuine pleasure to read. Excellent notes and bibliography of further reading. * P. A. Streveler, CHOICE * The understanding that philosophy is a purely rational endeavor is a form of presentism that arises out of modern rationalism and, more generally... we should be grateful to Adamson for addressing the issue and for providing students of Byzantine and Renaissance philosophy with an accessible overview of the respective material. * Speculum 98/4 * This magisterial volume...is an extraordinary achievement… * Paradigm Explorer *
Author Information
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. Adamson subsequently moved to the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where is Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy. He has published widely in ancient and medieval philosophy, and he is the host of the popular History of Philosophy podcast.
