The sixteen essays in this volume confront the current debate about the relationship between philosophy and its history. On the one hand intellectual historians have commonly accused philosophers of writing bad--anachronistic--history of philosophy, and on the other, philosophers have accused intellectual historians of writing bad--antiquarian--history of philosophy. The essays here address this controversy and ask what purpose the history of philosophy should serve.

Preface; Introduction; Part I: 1. Philosophy and its history Charles Taylor; 2. The relationship of philosophy to its past Alasdair MacIntyre; 3. The historiography of philosophy: four genres Richard Rorty; 4. Why do we study the history of philosophy? Lorenz Krüger; 5. Five parables Ian Hacking; 6. Seven thinkers and how they grew: Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz; Locke, Berkeley, Hume; Kant Bruce Kuklick; 7. 'Interesting questions' in the history of philosophy and elsewhere Wolf Lepenies; 8. The divine corporation and the history of ethics J. B. Schneewind; 9. The idea of negative liberty: philosophical and historical perspectives Quentin Skinner; Part II: 10. The sceptic in his place and time M. F. Burnyeat; 11. The sceptic's two kinds of assent and the question of the possibility of knowledge Michael Frede; 12. The concept of 'trust' in the politics of John Locke John Dunn; 13. Berkeley and Hume: a question of influence Michael Ayres; 14. Frege: the early years Hans Sluga; 15. Moore's rejection of idealism Thomas Baldwin; 16. The nature of the proposition and the revolt against idealism Peter Hylton; Index.