Peter Adamson

Peter Adamson is an American historian of philosophy, professor of late ancient and Arabic philosophy at LMU Munich and formerly at King's College London. He specialises in Neoplatonism and the philosophy of the Islamic world, including al-Kindī and the Arabic Plotinus. Since 2010 he has presented the podcast History of Philosophy without Any Gaps, which covers the subject in short episodes and gives space to minor figures and to Islamic, Indian, African and Byzantine thought. Classical Philosophy (2014), the first volume of the book series, covers the Presocratics, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

Key ideas

• The history of philosophy is best told without gaps, including minor figures alongside famous ones.
• Philosophy has many traditions, and Islamic, Indian, African and Byzantine thought belong in its history.
• Late ancient Neoplatonism shaped both Christian and Islamic philosophy through texts such as the Arabic Plotinus.
• Understanding a thinker means reading them in their own historical setting before judging their arguments.

Major works

• Classical Philosophy (A History of Philosophy without Any Gaps, Volume 1) (2014)
• The Arabic Plotinus (2002)
• Al-Kindī (2007)

In the Book corner

• Classical Philosophy (A History of Philosophy without Any Gaps, Volume 1) 2014 · Beginner
  The first volume of Adamson's book series based on his podcast, A History of Philosophy without Any Gaps, which aims to cover…
• Philosophy in the Islamic World 2016 · Beginner
  Volume three of Adamson's History of Philosophy without any Gaps, covering philosophy in the Islamic world in short, readable chapters. It begins…

In the conversation

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