Robert Pasnau, “Metaphysical Themes: 1274-1671” (Oxford UP, 2011)
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What is the scholarly background of Robert Pasnau and why did he write *Metaphysical Themes*?
Hi everyone, this is Marshall Poe. I'm the founder of the New Books Network, and I'm also a historian. I used to be a history professor, and I love maps, so I'm especially happy to tell you that this episode is sponsored by What's Your Map, which was the winner of the Best Education Podcast at the 2025 British Podcast Awards. What's Your Map is hosted by historian and prize-winning author Professor Jerry Broughton. In each episode, he invites a guest to share a map close to their heart and unfurl the ideas, inspirations, and stories behind it. I can tell you I've listened and it's fascinating. The podcast is in its sixth series and is enjoyed by audiences around the globe. You can explore all the maps in the podcast online.
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Hello, and welcome to New Books and Philosophy, the podcast channel in the New Books Network where philosophers discuss their new ideas as expressed in their newly published books. I'm Carrie Figdor, and I'm co-host of the channel along with Robert Talese. In introductory survey courses in the history of philosophy, the figures that get emphasized are largely stable from course to course. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, Descartes, Locke and Hume, Kant and a few others. After that, specialization sets in and one or another of the periods or philosophers gets covered in more depth. One specialization that has never gotten as much attention as the others is medieval philosophy, which can be defined broadly as Christianity inflected thought from roughly St.
Augustine in the late 4th and early 5th centuries up to the beginning of modern philosophy in the early 17th century when Descartes comes on the scene. That's about 1300 years. In other words, the medieval period is about as long as the rest of philosophical time combined, and longer if we don't go back as far as Thales. Moreover, even within medieval philosophy, there are long periods that are to a large extent virgin territory. Our guest today on New Books and Philosophy has done a great deal to change that. Professor Robert Pasnow is a medieval specialist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and his new book is titled Metaphysical Themes 1274-1671, just out from Oxford University Press. In this monumental work, eight years in the writing and no doubt more in the thinking, Professor Pausner focuses on a 400-year period that as a whole is characterized by a rigid orthodoxy enforced, most notably, by the Inquisition.
Certain ideas, that is, were punishable by death. But Professor Paznow's purpose is not to be an apologist. Even he admits that this period includes a trough of two particularly stultifying centuries, sandwiched between two that were a bit more lively. The medieval period, after all, is what gave us the still unsolved problem of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Instead, he traces the development of the scholastic metaphysics of substance, in which ordinary objects such as dogs and cats and stones are conceptualized as composites of matter and form. What was this metaphysics in its main permutations, and why did it come crashing down so quickly and completely as it did towards the end of the 17th century?
Why was it replaced by the corpuscularianism of the modern era? Why didn't philosophy itself simply fall apart at that point? Let's get Robert Posnow on the line to find out. I have with me here today Professor Robert Posnow from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Professor Posnow?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the scholarly background of Robert Pasnau and why did he write *Metaphysical Themes*?
0:00–12:40
2
How does Pasnau define the “scholastic metaphysics of substance” and why is it important for ordinary objects?
12:40–24:52
3
Why are the years 1274 and 1671 chosen as the book’s chronological limits?
24:52–38:05
4
What happened in 1347 that marked a turning point for medieval metaphysics?
38:05–51:07
5
How did the Inquisition and the 1347 condemnations suppress innovative metaphysical ideas?
51:07–57:21
6
What is corpuscularianism and why did it replace scholastic metaphysics in the 17th century?
57:21–1:01:04
7
Why does Pasnau argue that the shift to corpuscularianism was not inevitable?
1:01:04–1:02:53
8
How do modern philosophers balance descriptive (common‑sense) metaphysics with revisionary approaches?
1:02:53–1:03:04
Speakers
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Philippe Huneman, "When Metaphysics Meets Biology: Kantian Approaches to the Concept of An Organism" (Routledge, 2026)
Rivka Weinberg, "The Meaning of It All: Ultimate Meaning, Everyday Meaning, Cosmic Meaning, Death, and Time" (Oxford UP, 2026)
PJ DiPietro, "Sideways Selves Travesti and Jotería, "Struggles Across the Américas" (U Texas Press, 2025)