Analytic Philosophy and History of Philosophy

by Tom Sorell, G. A. J. Rogers

Overview

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

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199278992
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/02/2005
Series:	Mind Association Occasional Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 5.70(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

University of Essex

Keele University

Table of Contents

Introduction, Tom Sorell1. The Philosopher's History and the History of Philosophy, Anthony Kenny2. Why Should Analytic Philosophers Do History of Philosophy?, John Cottingham3. On Saying No to the History of Philosophy, Tom Sorell4. Is the History of Philosophy Good for Philosophy?, Catherine Wilson5. The History of Philosophy as Philosophy, Gary Hatfield6. What's Philosophical About the History of Philosophy?, Daniel Garber7. The Ideology of Context: Uses and Abuses of Context in the Historiography of Philosophy, Yves Charles Zarka8. Locke, Therapy, and Analysis, G. A. J. Rogers9. Richard Burthogge and the Origins of Modern Conceptualism, M. R. Ayers10. Hope, Fear, and the Politics of Immortality, Steven Nadler