I love this so much! I laugh all the time, and I love how Hiawatha is a staple of the show. Every time I forget about her, she’s used in another example haha. I really enjoy how there’s clear connection between thinkers. I like that someone has a desire to leave no “gaps”. Thanks, Peter! From also Peter

Such an interesting podcast! Professor Adamson is clearly brilliant, but he also has a fantastic, easy-to-listen-to voice, and is funny without being silly. I love the format of moving slowly through the history of philosophy and not skipping over the “minor” players. I am listening from the beginning so I have quite a few episodes to go to catch up. But it is a fun journey and I’m so grateful he is committed to this project long-term.

WHUT??? Bacon is the “patron saint of the enlightenment” according to Peter Gay. He inspired Descartes. Descartes and Leibniz and Kant etc etc etc. what a Gap! Bizarre

This is a masterpiece of a podcast. Each episode builds on the one before it. Just the right mix of history, detail and humor. There are also some great guest interviews. It’s the perfect companion for reading the classics.

Many happy hours spent on my walks listening to this podcast, deciding to walk another hour so I can listen to another episode! ❤️

This is an excellent introduction to philosophy. The balance between depth and entertainment is perfectly achieved. The scholars invited are first-rate. Spectacular work, people! This is how public philosophy should look like.

A wonderful podcast with a wonderful host

Yet something seems to have changed in the last few episodes, and not exactly for the better.

Really enjoy and have learned so much from this podcast. I’ve laughed out loud, I’ve reexamined my beliefs. Hooked ever since lockdown. Thank you, Peter and associated giraffes.

I just want to say that I really appreciate everybody involved in making this podcast. What a huge undertaking! Thank you for sticking with it.

One of the best and most informative podcasts I’ve listened to. Perfect length and a wonder introduction to great thinkers

The best!

The ability of an educational podcaster, or any writer, is to be concise is very under appreciated. I think a good indicator of the quality of the podcast is that the episodes are not so long that you get lost in the intricacies, while still coming away with a solid, basic understanding of the material. Many my criticize it, but I think his narrative style calming, and suits the material if you are giving it the attention you would a scholarly lecture. people commonly use podcasts as background noise for multitasking or for winding down right before sleep, and I think that’s unfair to what is happening here.

I originally wanted to listen to the episodes about the Ancient Roman Stoics. But I was impressed by the quality of the show, and started at the first episode. I intend to listen to them all!

A great joy to listen closely to Adamson’s podcasts—and to be invited and inspired to think more deeply!

The podcast I have listened to the longest. I truly hope it doesn’t end!

Very worthwhile;succinct but informative

He makes life so much more bearable.

Helps me fall asleep :))

One of my top favorite podcasts

Despite having a philosophy degree already, I never knew how critical giraffes were to philosophical inquiry. Nor did I realize how many philosophical problems could be illustrated with silent film criticism. Thank you for all that you do!

Peter does a great job of bringing together many different strands of philosophy and making it into an interesting story.

Hey. Well if numbers are infinite and we measure size by numbers, how is the universe not infinite? Checking out Buster Keaton movies presently. Awesome and insanely in depth podcast! In my top 5.

Philosophy is a topic I can't just dive into the source material and experience and understand like some other topics, and this podcast has been a long favorite of mine. Peter Adamson covers well known and less well known philosophers and philosophies with humor and grace, talking to topic experts and covering them in an easy to understand way. Don't go into it expecting just to look at the big names, but if you're interested in the topic this is a great place to start where you can find more places to dig in deeper if you find interesting people/ideas.

No wokism or right-wing digs, just plain history and philosophy. His tone is a little didactic, but he does an excellent job of explaining philosophy and digging in to the details.

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I have restarted this series several times and like someone else said. It is hard to find the beginning! This must also discourage new listeners picking up a new podcast through their iPhone who want something easy to grab. Otherwise, I love it. Bought the book on Amazon <3

Absolutely fantastic! I love that there are “no gaps.” If you want to find podcasts prior to episode 73 try searching “HoP 001” or 002, all the way to 073. It’s annoying but I really wanted to start from the beginning.

I love this podcast. That is all I have to say

I can only see the episodes from 73. I’d really like to start from 1 But can’t find it. I’m on mobile so i am not sure if that’s the issue, but, yeah, I can’t see any episodes before episode 73. If you can, please fix this but if its a misunderstanding by me, my apologies.

my wife thinks its boring but I listen to it constantly

I can’t even imagine the amount of work that went into this. I’m only seeing from episode 73 onwards currently though. Very strange because I want to go back and relisten to the first 20.

One of the podcasts I really look forward to every week.

The host’s lip-smacking noises make a fine podcast unlistenable.

Fantastic. So well organized—the text and topic choices are yes chronological, but could nevertheless still be more confusing than they are here. And so *clear* — in thinking and speaking. A voice one can listen to, for those who care about such things.

Wonderful podcast.

This is an extremely well done podcast. I majored in philosophy (and religion) in college; I occasionally get the itch to revisit the subject matter. I always enjoyed reading the actual philosophy and commentary about different philosophies/philosophers. I always found the philosophy reading itself difficult, albeit interesting, to understand, but I’d get a much better understanding during class when my professors lectured or we discussed whatever we read. With this podcast, I don’t have to stress out about the difficult reading or assignments, I can just listen to a scholar talk about the subject matter, and I’m enjoying it as much as I remember enjoying it in college! I also like that occasionally other scholars are brought on discuss different topics/philosophers. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in philosophy as a whole.

This podcast is one of the best to fall asleep to; I listen to it every night because I get nightmares every so often. When you fall asleep to the podcast your brain remembers the podcast but when I wake up my brain can never remember the episodes that I heard the night before. I love this podcast and I recommend it to anyone who is a philosophy nerd/geek.

The best podcast to fall asleep to. Enough thoughtful information to be not boring, yet not riveting enough to keep one awake. The voice is calm and measured, and some of the interviewees - especially older British scholars - sound downright soporific.

The depth that is explored is incredible. I’m a total novice and this is just an unbelievable amount of thought provoking information. Highly recommend.

good

I came to this podcast on a recommendation and only downloaded a couple of episodes to “test it out”. What a lovely podcast! I’ve been pleasantly surprised that I’ve become hooked on a topic that I previously avoided due to my nervousness of not being able to engage with the material in a meaningful way. Your style and flow make this podcast a wonderful addition to my weekly routine. Thank you!!

And thorough

History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps, is the best podcast available period. You can listen during the day or when you are about to go to sleep. This podcast has made me a better thinker and better at understanding my own feelings. There are so many ideas and truths we take for granted in the modern day. It has been amazing to see that there were a multitude of ideas that were good ideas that were discarded in service of our modern capitalist society. This podcast has shown me many great thinker that I had never heard of such as Pelagius who advocated for free will in Christianity over divine revelation. I have also gotten to know Aristotle on a deeper and more engaging way. If I could give this podcast 6 stars I would!

This is a wonderful podcast! I greatly appreciate the information AND it is delivered in a way that respects Christianity (despite the author not being a Christian himself) something that unfortunately cannot be said of other philosophy podcasts. I love the puns and humor too.

I’m a student of English literature, so of course philosophy is relevant to my study, but it can’t be my priority. This podcast is such an invaluable tool for me. I have been working my way through some ancient and medieval philosophy for a project I’m working on, and my reading was so much sharper and ... just better overall because I was guided by this podcast. So thank you, Peter. By sharing your expertise with us, you have done a staggering service for others, like me, who are invested in intellectual history.

This podcast is exceptionally good - quite broad coverage, without being too technical. The suggestions for further reading on the website are a fantastic resource - this podcast has definitely widened my awareness of philosophical traditions outside the standard curriculum and expanded my understanding of the historical context of the figures I was already familiar with. Great series - happily recommend it to anyone with even a passing interest in philosophy!

I’ve been listening to this podcast for over four years—definitely my favorite out there. Took me at least half of those years to catch up, but was absolutely worth it. Now I can casually drop names like ibn-tufail and Porphyry and quickly become the most popular person at the party, thanks Peter!

I love the scope and depth of this podcast. Impressive that it also manages to be so engaging while covering often dense material.

He’s amazing, no doubt about that. I can see not liking the topic, but I don’t think it could be done better.