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 cultural phenomena such as iconoclasm and conceptions of gender. The little-known traditions of philosophy in Syriac, Armenian, and Georgian are also discovered. These chapters 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. Famous names such as Christine de Pizan, Niccolò Machiavelli, Giordano Bruno, and Galileo are encountered, alongside lesser-known contemporaries 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.

Pages: 512, Dimensions: 15.6x15.6cm