Philosophy in the Reformation

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 received his BA from Williams College and PhD in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame. He worked at King's College London from 2000-2012 and retains an affiliation there, but his main position is at the LMU in Munich. He has published widely in ancient and medieval philosophy and is the host of the History of Philosophy podcast.

- Preface - Acknowledgements - Dates - Map - Germany and the Low Countries - 1: European Disunion: Introduction to the Reformation - 2: Strong, Silent Type: The Printing Press - 3: Lords of Language: Northern Humanism - 4: Opposites Attract: Nicholas of Cusa - 5: Books That Last Forever: Erasmus - 6: One Way or Another: Northern Scholasticism - 7: Faith, No More: Martin Luther - 8: Take Your Choice: The Erasmus-Luther Debate - 9: Depicting What Cannot Be Depicted: Two Renaissance Artworks - 10: More Lutheran than Luther: Philip Melanchthon - 11: No Lord but God: the Peasants' War and Radical Reformation - 12: Slowly But Surely: Huldrych Zwingli - 13: We Are Not Our Own: John Calvin - 14: I Too Can Ask Questions: Protestant Scholasticism - 15: Perhaps Not Wrong: Cornelius Agrippa - 16: Just Add Salt: Paracelsus and Chemistry - 17: The Acid Test: Theories of Matter - 18: Born to Be Contrary: Toleration in the Netherlands - 19: Everything is Mine, and Nothing: Lipsius and the Revival of Stoicism - 20: The World Doesn't Revolve Around You: Copernicus - 21: Best of Both Worlds: Tycho Brahe - 22: Music of the Spheres: Johannes Kepler - France - 23: Do As the Romans Did: Early French Humanism - 24: Pearls of Wisdom: Marguerite of Navarre - 25: Seriously Funny: Rabelais - 26: Word Perfect: Logic and Language in Renaissance France - 27: Life Is Not Enough: Medicine in Renaissance France - 28: Make it Simple: Peter Ramus - 29: Divide and Conquer: Ramism - 30: Believe at Your Own Risk: Toleration in France - 31: Constitutional Conventions: the Huguenots - 32: One to Rule Them All: Jean Bodin - 33: Pen Pals: Later French Humanism - 34: Not Matter, But Me: Montaigne - 35: What Do I Know? French Skepticism - 36: The Tenth Muse: Marie Le Jars de Gournay - England and Scotland - 37: God's is the Quarrel: The English Reformation - 38: To Kill a King: The Scottish Reformation - 39: Write Till Your Ink Be Dry: British Humanism - 40: No Place Will Please Me So: Thomas More - 41: With Such Perfection Govern: English Political Thought - 42: The World's Law: Richard Hooker - 43: Heaven-Bred Poesy: Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser - 44: Hast Any Philosophy In Thee? William Shakespeare - 45: A Face Without a Heart: Shakespeare's Hamlet and Individualism - 46: Brave New World: Shakespeare's Tempest and Colonialism - 47: Weird Sisters: Shakespeare's Macbeth and Witchcraft - 48: She Uttereth Piercing Eloquence: Women's Spiritual Literature - 49: I'll Teach You Differences: British Scholasticism - 50: If This Be Magic, Let It Be an Art: John Dee - 51: Nature's Mystery: English Renaissance Science - 52: The Eye Sees Not Itself But By Reflection: Theories of Vision - 53: Metal More Attractive: William Gilbert and Magnetism - 54: Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores: Robert Fludd - The Counter-Reformation - 55: Don't Give Up Pope: Catholic Reformation - 56: Cancel Culture: The Inquisition - 57: Longitudinal Studies: Exploration and Science - 58: Lambs to the Slaughter: Debating the New World - 59: Marketplace of Letters: Iberian Humanism - 60: The Dark Night Rises: Spanish Mysticism - 61: Band of Brothers: the Jesuits - 62: Not Doubting Thomas: the Aquinas Revival - 63: Secondary Schools: Iberian Scholasticism - 64: Could've, Would've, Should've: Free Will in the Second Scholastic - 65: Better Than Nothing: Metaphysics in the Second Scholastic - 66: The Price is Right: Law and Economics in the Second Scholastic - 67: By Appointment Only: Political Philosophy in the Second Scholastic - 68: Touch Me With Your Madness: Cervantes' Don Quixote - 69: Take Your Medicine: Oliva Sabuco and Camilla Erculiani - 70: Outsider Philosophy: The Cheese and the Worms - 71: Cardinal Rule: Robert Bellarmine - 72: Trial and Error: Galileo and the Inquisition - Further reading