Introduction
Peter Scott Adamson (born August 10, 1972) is an American academic who is professor of late ancient and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He has written articles, monographs and edited books, mostly on philosophy in the Islamic world and ancient philosophy. He is the host of the weekly podcast "History of Philosophy without any gaps", which by 2019 had more than 25 million downloads and led to the publication of a book series. He received the Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2003, for "outstanding research achievements of young scholars of distinction and promise based in UK institutions" and received a grant from the same institution in 2010.
Biography
Adamson received his bachelor's degree from Williams College with summa cum laude in 1994 and his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2000. He worked at King's College London from 2000, becoming professor of ancient and medieval philosophy there in 2009. In 2012 he became a professor of late ancient and Arabic philosophy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
Works
History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps
Adamson is the host of History of Philosophy without any gaps podcasts, which started in 2010 and is ongoing as of 2020 and examines philosophers and philosophical traditions throughout history. By 2014, the podcasts had more than four million downloads and thousands of followers. The podcasts 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 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 up to the death of St. Augustine. The third installment Philosophy in the Islamic World: History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps covered the philosophical traditions in the Islamic world, 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 contributor Daniel J. Levy described the podcasts 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, 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 the first book Classical Philosophy criticised the puns as "a problem", and in general criticised the book for its "painful prose" and for having chapters that are "less comprehensive and less interesting" than the corresponding Wikipedia 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 so-called Theology of Aristotle in 2002 and Great Medieval Thinkers: al-Kindi on the Islamic philosopher Al-Kindi 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 Islamic world and on ancient philosophy. He and Richard C. Taylor co-edited the Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy.
He has also appeared on BBC Radio, including several In Our Time programmes, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, to discuss his areas of work in history of philosophy.
Awards
Adamson received the Philip Leverhulme Prize 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.