Philosophy and its history : aims and methods in the study of early modern philosophy /

Making history of philosophy exciting philosophically requires disarming "practices that insulate philosophers from the activity of history of philosophy that have deep roots in analytic philosophy," reasons coeditor Schliesser (Ghent Univ., Belgium; coeditor, Interpreting Newton, 2012). Most of the 15 contributors to this quality collection are committed to the value for contemporary philosophy of thorough, historically situated studies of earlier thinkers' philosophies. Their clear, persuasive articles confront Anglo-American philosophy's tendency to mine earlier philosophical works for precious argumentative nuggets that may be applied to current philosophical problems. Contributors trace this tendency in analytic philosophy's own 20th-century history, as in the nuanced critique of the analytic affection for the method of intuition proffered by Michael Della Rocca (Yale Univ.; Spinoza, 2008). Other contributions, such as those of Justin Smith (Concordia Univ.; Divine Machines, CH, Nov'11, 49-1421) and Koen Vermeir (CNRS, Paris), are methodological. Still others exemplify the fruitfulness of deeply contextual readings of early modern philosophers, such as Ursula Goldenbaum (Emory Univ.; coeditor, Infinitesimal Differences, 2008) on Kant's "What Is Enlightenment?" and Julie Klein (Villanova Univ.) on Spinoza's reception, among others. This text should be required reading for all philosophers who think mere analysis of textual meaning is sufficient for philosophical analysis. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above; general readers. S. Young McHenry County College