The Origins of the Modern Historiography of Ancient Philosophy

A new approach to historiography of history of was first proposed near end of eighteenth century. It is useful to regard it as an alternative to two others, sometimes conceived of as exhausting possibilities: a purely approach, and a purely historical one, both of which I consider in section I. The bulk of article is devoted to what I call the historiography of history of philosophy (briefly characterized in section II). Its origins are closely tied to renewal of philology. Section III recounts methodological innovations of New Philology and their relevance for approaching texts including ones from past. In section IV, I consider some moves made by early proponents of modern historiography-in particular their implicit demand for an internal rather than an external history of philosophy, that is, an account that allows us to understand how and why has changed through time, in terms of factors: how, for example, one set of considerations led to a certain view; how reflecting on that view led philosophers to perceive various difficulties, and to perceive responses to those difficulties, and so on. The goal is to exclude, to as great an extent as possible, external factors, that is, factors which are not themselves views or arguments. In section V, I turn to Christian A. Brandis (1790-1867) whose methodological reflections and historiographical practice mark an enormous advance over his predecessors and even over some of his successors, like W. Jaeger. I conclude (section VI) by arguing that some philosophical objections brought against way of proceeding advocated by Brandis fail. In course of describing this new approach and its origins, I hope also to make clear why it is more attractive than two other possibilities briefly considered in section I

Archaeology · Art · Epistemology · Historiography · Literature · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Historical and Literary Studies · History · Philosophy · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought

• The Cambridge History of Philosophy in the Nineteenth Century (1790–1870)

  Open Access•Allen W Wood, Songsuk Susan Hahn•Cambridge History of Philosophy…•2012

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