Analytic Philosophy and History of Philosophy [Hardcover]

Philosophy written in English is overwhelmingly analytic philosophy, and the techniques and predilections of analytic philosophy are not only unhistorical but anti-historical, and hostile to textual commentary. Analytic usually aspires to a very high degree of clarity and precision of formulation and argument, and it often seeks to be informed by, and consistent with, current natural science. In an earlier era, analytic philosophy aimed at agreement with ordinary linguistic intuitions or common sense beliefs, or both. All of these aspects of the subject sit uneasily with the use of historical texts for philosophical illumination. In this book, ten distinguished philosophers explore the tensions between, and the possibilities of reconciling, analytic philosophy and history of philosophy.

Contributors: M. R. Ayers, John Cottingham, Daniel Garber, Gary Hatfield, Anthony Kenny, Steven Nadler, G. A. J. Rogers, Tom Sorell, Catherine Wilson, Yves Charles Zarka

Introduction,Tom Sorell
1. The Philosopher's History and the History of Philosophy,Anthony Kenny
2. Why Should Analytic Philosophers Do History of Philosophy?,John Cottingham
3. On Saying No to the History of Philosophy,Tom Sorell
4. Is the History of Philosophy Good for Philosophy?,Catherine Wilson
5. The History of Philosophy as Philosophy,Gary Hatfield
6. What's Philosophical About the History of Philosophy?,Daniel Garber
7. The Ideology of Context: Uses and Abuses of Context in the Historiography of Philosophy,Yves Charles Zarka
8. Locke, Therapy, and Analysis,G. A. J. Rogers
9. Richard Burthogge and the Origins of Modern Conceptualism,M. R. Ayers
10. Hope, Fear, and the Politics of Immortality,Steven Nadler