Interventions | The Intellectual History Podcast

Interventions | The Intellectual History Podcast

Interventions

Episodes 37
Avg. Duration 41m
Activity Highly Active
Apple Rating 4.8 (16)
Since Oct 2018
Latest Episode May 2026

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Publishing Details

Schedule
Every 2 Months
Format
Episodic
Consistency
85%
Hosting
anchor.fm

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About This Podcast

What do intellectual historians currently investigate? And why is this relevant for us today? These are some of the questions our podcast series, led by graduate students at the University of Cambridge, seeks to explore. It aims to introduce intellectual historians and their work to everyone with an interest in history and politics. Do join in on our conversations!

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Recent Episodes

Decomposing Historians (with Elise Garritzen)

May 29, 2026 1h 5m

Should you judge a book by its cover? Victorian historians and their readers did; and through examining the decisions that went into binding, titling, annotating and prefacing historical works, we…

Plato’s Political Ideas: From Limited Rule to Tyranny (with Melissa Lane)

Mar 30, 2026 1h 15m

Who will rule the rulers? Who will chaperone the chaperones? Who will guard the guardians? These questions are rarely associated with Plato. Usually seen as the arch-defender of the rule of the…

Sketching Characters: from Ancient Moralists to the Mansplainer (with Katie Ebner-Landy)

Feb 10, 2026 1h 1m

Theophrastus was an ancient Greek philosopher. He wrote widely on topics including metaphysics, plant-life, dizziness, odours, and juice. Most notably, though, he was the author of a colourful text…

The Curious Case of Martin Crusius (with Richard Calis)

Dec 08, 2025 40m

Martin Crusius (1526-1607) spent most of his life in the Lutheran town of Tübingen. While there, he became Europe's foremost expert on Ottoman Greece. Drawing on hundreds of conversations he held…

Mary Wollstonecraft: The Honest Educator (with Sylvana Tomaselli)

Oct 22, 2025 57m

By her death in 1797 at the age of 38, Mary Wollstonecraft had produced a body of work unmatched for its honesty and critical acumen. In a society where marriage often amounted to legal prostitution,…

African-American Ideas about Race (with Mia Bay)

Sep 17, 2025 1h

After the founding of the American Republic, African-American Intellectuals never accepted passively the narratives of racial difference maintained by the defenders of slavery and segregation. At a…

Liberty as Independence (with Quentin Skinner)

Jul 21, 2025 1h

Sometime in the eighteenth century, a great transformation took place in the language of liberty. Since the days of the Roman Republic, to be free had meant to be independent of the arbitrary will of…

Abolitionist Ideas: Battling the Slave Trade in Britain

Jun 09, 2025 1h 10m

If you visited Britain around 1700, you’d find hardly a single advocate of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. You’d hear the institution of slavery described as a moral evil, but no one…

Carl Schmitt: The Thoughtful Nazi (with Lars Vinx and Samuel Zeitlin)

Apr 27, 2025 1h 54m

Why is Carl Schmitt one of the most widely read political theorists of the twentieth century? A lifelong antisemite, a petty careerist, a Nazi ideologue who only avoided being tried at Nuremberg…

Indigenous Ideas: A Global Perspective (with Saliha Belmessous)

Mar 04, 2025 59m

In 1686, a French witness spoke openly of a Native American declaration of independence. ‘We have to assume’, he said, ‘that the Iroquois do not accept any master’. Claims such as this were made…

Slavery, Empire, and John Locke (with Mark Goldie)

Feb 04, 2025 1h 6m

John Locke continues to excite controversy. For American liberals, he is an honorary Founding Father, one of the architects of modern democracy. In their view, as Allan Bloom put it, ‘the whole world…

Francis Bacon: A Lion under the Throne (with Richard Serjeantson)

Dec 17, 2024 1h 27m

According to some, Francis Bacon accomplished nothing less than a scientific revolution. Some even say he was the founder of modern science itself. Born into a world where natural magic, astrology,…

Big States, Small States, and the End of Enlightenment (Prof. Richard Whatmore)

Sep 24, 2024 39m

What lessons can we draw from eighteenth-century thought about the relationship of big and small states? What are the limits of intellectual history? How and why did the Enlightenment end? Richard…

Equality, Intellectual Traditions, and the Seventeenth Century (Prof. Teresa Bejan)

Apr 26, 2024 40m

What can the seventeenth century teach us about equality? Why do philosophers construct intellectual traditions and how do we use them? In what ways is political theory an educative endeavour? These…

Hume, the History of Philosophy, and the Concept of the People (Prof. James Harris)

Feb 13, 2024 35m

How can we understand thinkers in their own terms? Why is such an approach particularly fruitful to understanding Hume? What can philosophy and the history of political thought learn from one…

Representation, Public Debt, and the Ends of History (Dr Michael Sonenscher)

Nov 07, 2023 36m

What is the relationship between war and representation? Why can't we understand the French Revolution without thinking about the political management of public debt? And what does the future have to…

Hegel, Revolution, and Historicism (Prof. Richard Bourke)

Jun 30, 2023 31m

How does skepticism serve history? What lessons does Hegel hold for the modern historian? Why is an understanding of historical consciousness so important across the humanities? These are some of the…

Spinoza, Feminism, and the History of Philosophy (Prof. Susan James)

Feb 11, 2020 28m

What makes the seventeenth century such a fascinating period in the history of philosophy? In what ways does Spinoza speak to contemporary philosophical problems? And in what sense is philosophy an…

Decolonisation, Freedom, and African Intellectual History (Prof. Emma Hunter)

Oct 09, 2019 35m

What can decolonisation in twentieth century Africa tell us about the history of political thought? How might African intellectual history shed light on new methods and modes of inquiry? And what…

Weber, Liberty, and the Anthropocene (Prof. Duncan Kelly)

Aug 23, 2019 30m

What can history contribute to the pursuits of contemporary political theory? What does the notion of the Anthropocene have to do with the history of political thought? And what exactly is the legacy…

Frequently Asked Questions

How many episodes does Interventions | The Intellectual History Podcast have?

Interventions | The Intellectual History Podcast has published 37 episodes since October 2018, covering topics in History.

Is Interventions | The Intellectual History Podcast still active?

Interventions | The Intellectual History Podcast is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 months. Average episode length is 41m.

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