Analytic Philosophy and History of Philosophy

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