Peter Scott Adamson (born August 10, 1972) is an American philosopher and

intellectual historian Intellectual history (also the history of ideas) is the study of the history of human thought and of intellectuals, people who conceptualize, discuss, write about, and concern themselves with ideas. The investigative premise of intellectual histor ...

. He holds two academic positions: professor of philosophy in

late antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

and in the

Islamic world The terms Muslim world and Islamic world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is practiced. In ...

at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

; and professor of

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the History of writing, beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian language, Sumerian c ...

and

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

philosophy at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. Adamson hosts the weekly podcast History of Philosophy without any gaps, surpassing 25 million downloads in 2019. It attempts to make accessible the global history of

philosophies Philosophical schools of thought and philosophical movements. A Absurdism - Action, philosophy of - Actual idealism - Actualism - Advaita Vedanta - Aesthetic Realism - Aesthetics - African philosophy - Afrocentrism - Agential realism - ...

in all cultures. It has covered

Greek philosophy Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empir ...

Islamic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, ...

, and

European philosophy Western philosophy encompasses the philosophical thought and work of the Western world. Historically, the term refers to the philosophical thinking of Western culture, beginning with the ancient Greek philosophy of the pre-Socratics. The word ' ...

up to the early modern era, and also launched series on

Indian philosophy Indian philosophy refers to philosophical traditions of the Indian subcontinent. A traditional Hindu classification divides āstika and nāstika schools of philosophy, depending on one of three alternate criteria: whether it believes the Veda ...

(with co-author Jonardon Ganeri),

Africana philosophy Africana philosophy is the work of philosophers of African descent and others whose work deals with the subject matter of the African diaspora. The name does not refer to a particular philosophy, philosophical system, method, or tradition. Rather ...

(with co-author

Chike Jeffers Chike or Chiké is an Igbo masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Chike (singer) or Chike-Ezekpeazu Osebuka, Nigerian singer, runner up in ''The Voice Nigeria'' *Chike Aniakor (born 1939), Nigerian painter *Chike Augustine (bo ...

), and

Chinese philosophy Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn period () and Warring States period (), during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developmen ...

(planned, with co-author

Karyn Lai Karyn is an English-language given name and may refer to: *Karyn Bailey (born 1986), Australian netball player in the National Netball League *Karyn Bosnak (born 1974), American author of two published books: ''Save Karyn'' and ''20 Times a Lady'' ...

). Next to his other academic publications, Adamson has turned the podcast into an eponymous book series. He received the

Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize schem ...

in 2003 for "outstanding research achievements of young scholars of distinction and promise based in UK institutions", a subsequent grant in 2010. In 2020, he received the Schelling Prize from the

Bavarian Academy of Sciences The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities (german: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften) is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledg ...

for work on

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for "Pluralism (political theory), ethnic pluralism", with the tw ...

in historical perspective. His latest book is ''Don't Think for Yourself. Authority and Belief in Medieval Philosophy'' (2022).

Biography

Adamson received his bachelor's degree from

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

with ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' in 1994 and his Ph.D. from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

in 2000. He has worked at

from 2000, becoming professor of ancient and medieval philosophy there in 2009. In 2012, he obtained a joint appointment as professor of late ancient and Arabic philosophy at the

Personal life

Adamson lives in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

with his wife (who is Bavarian) and children. He is fluent in English and German and can also work with texts in Ancient Greek, Arabic, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, and more recently Persian. He advocates respecting religion as inseparable from philosophy, seeing religious thought as "philosophically fascinating and fruitful". In a 2019 interview, Adamson stated: "If I could live ten times, I’d like to spend nine of those lives specializing in different areas of the

history of philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

Works

''History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps''

Adamson is the host of the ''History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps''

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

, which started in 2010 and is ongoing as of 2022. The podcast examines philosophers and philosophical traditions throughout history. By 2014, it had more than four million downloads and thousands of followers. The podcast led to the publication of a series of book adaptations. The first installment was titled ''Classical Philosophy: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps'' and was published in 2014. The second volume, ''Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps'', was published in 2015 and covered the period after

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...

up to the death of St. Augustine. The third installment, ''Philosophy in the Islamic World: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps'', covered philosophical traditions in the

, including Muslim, Jewish and Christian philosophers. Adamson said that the goal of the series was to tell the history of philosophy in "an entertaining but not overly-simplified way". ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman.

'' contributor Daniel J. Levy described the podcast as "popular", "fun" and "easy to listen to". Levy also reviewed the third book, ''Philosophy in the Islamic World'', and praised it for its presentation and wide coverage. Bruce Fleming, reviewing ''Philosophy in the Hellenistic and Roman Worlds'' for ''

The Washington Free Beacon ''The Washington Free Beacon'' is an American conservative political journalism website launched in 2012. The website is financially backed by Paul Singer, an American billionaire hedge fund manager and conservative activist. History The ' ...

'', praised the book for being "full of clear summaries" of the subjects as well as for using "groan-inducing puns" and "cute allusions to our day". Malcolm Thorndike Nicholson of '' Prospect'', reviewing ''Classical Philosophy'', criticised the puns as "a problem", and the book in general for having "painful prose" and chapters that are "less comprehensive and less interesting" than the corresponding

Wikipedia Wikipedia is a multilingual free online encyclopedia written and maintained by a community of volunteers, known as Wikipedians, through open collaboration and using a wiki-based editing system. Wikipedia is the largest and most-read refer ...

article.

Others

Other than the ''History of Philosophy'' series, Adamson wrote ''The Arabic Plotinus: a Philosophical Study of the 'Theology of Aristotle, focusing on the ''

Theology of Aristotle ''The Theology of Aristotle'', also called ''Theologia Aristotelis'' ( ar, أثولوجيا أرسطو, Athulujiya Aristu) is a paraphrase in Arabic of parts of Plotinus' '' Six Enneads'' along with Porphyry's commentary. It was traditionally att ...

'' in 2002 and ''Great Medieval Thinkers: al-Kindi'' on the Islamic philosopher

Al-Kindi Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (; ar, أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي; la, Alkindus; c. 801–873 AD) was an Arab Muslim philosopher, polymath, mathematician, physician ...

in 2007. As of 2014, he has published at least 40 articles and edited or co-edited at least nine books, mostly on philosophy in the

and on

ancient philosophy This page lists some links to ancient philosophy, namely philosophical thought extending as far as early post-classical history (). Overview Genuine philosophical thought, depending upon original individual insights, arose in many cultures ...

. He and Richard C. Taylor co-edited the ''Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy''. He has also appeared on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

, including several ''In Our Time'' programmes, and the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

, to discuss his areas of work in history of philosophy.

Awards

Adamson received the

in 2003, for "outstanding research achievements of young scholars of distinction and promise based in UK institutions". In 2010, he received a nearly £250,000 grant from the same institution.

References

External links

History of Philosophy without any gaps podcast

Adamson's King's College London home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Adamson, Peter (academic) Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich faculty 21st-century American philosophers American historians of philosophy American podcasters People from Boston 1972 births Living people Williams College alumni University of Notre Dame alumni Academics of King's College London Scholars of medieval Islamic philosophy