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i
T E N N E G L E C T E D C L A S S IC S OF PH I L OSOPH Y
ii
iii
T E N N EG L ECT E D CL A SSIC S
OF PH I L OSOPH Y
1
iv
1
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v
CON TEN TS
Acknowledgments vii
Author Biographies ix
Introduction: On Being a Classic in Philosophy
Eric Schliesser xiii
v
vi
Contents
Index 273
vi
vii
vii
viii
viii
ix
ix
x
x
xi
xi
xii
xii
xiii
Introduction
On Being a Classic of Philosophy
ER IC SCH LI E SSER
For several years, I have been posing the following choice for
my fellow philosophers: if Mephistopheles offered you the fol
lowing two options, which would you choose?
xiii
xiv
Introduction
2. I apologize for this ugly locution. I mean to be picking out professionally trained philoso
phers that, on the whole, work on the history of philosophy within philosophy depart
ments; I do so to distinguish them from historians of philosophy who work in history
or literature departments as well as from other professional philosophers with an inter
est in the history of the philosophy. For recent debate, see Lærke, M., Smith, J. E., and
Schliesser, E. (eds.) (2013), Philosophy and Its History: Aims and Methods in the Study of
Early Modern Philosophy, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
xiv
xv
Introduction
While (A*) and (B*) do not exhaust all possible options, I have
found—based on unscientific sampling methods—that most schol
ars, after protesting that a conclusive solution to a genuine inter
pretive problem seems too demanding an aspiration, happily and
promptly settle for (A*); that’s what we are trained to aim at, after all.
But a few respondents are, after some hesitation, tempted by
(B*). For ever since some professional philosophical historians
of philosophy started to study canonical works in context, it was
likely they would stumble across texts that might seem candidates
for (B*). 3 And while getting the past right is a nontrivial task, doing
justice to the past and thereby shaping a better future may be nobler
yet.4 One might even say—as Chike Jeffers pointed out to me—
that work in, say, Africana or feminist history of philosophy is nota
bly distinct from standard historical work on the Western tradition
because of a kind of revisionary commitment to something akin to
(B*) rather than (A*).
Moreover, pursuing (B*) is also a near-selfless-act; in it one is
the nearly anonymous handmaiden to another’s success. Even if one
is motivated (one concludes after reading Nietzsche) by a strange
kind of desire for revenge or (echoing Walter Benjamin) by a desire
to speak for history’s losers, it remains the case that one uses one’s
skill and judgment to make somebody else’s previously overlooked
views, insights, or arguments available for discussion. Of course,
plenty of scholars are motivated by the true and the good, and (B*)
might be just one way among many to promote these.
3. For a provocative analysis, see Southgate, B. (1994). White-washing the Canon: “Minor”
Figures and the History of Philosophy, British Journal for the History of Philosophy 2(2),
117–130.
4. In commenting on an earlier draft, the scholar Martin Lenz suggested that (A*) may be
impossible as long as (B*) is a live option. Perhaps Lenz’s insight explains why variants of
(B*) are often treated with hostility by scholars, who tend to condemn “anachronism” or
“instrumentalization” of the past.
xv
xvi
Introduction
5. Kremer, M. (2013). What Is the Good of Philosophical History? In The Historical Turn
in Analytic Philosophy, edited by Erich H. Reck, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan,
227–2 46.
xvi
xvii
Introduction
6. Candlish, S. (2007), The Russell/Bradley Dispute and Its Significance for Twentieth-
Century Philosophy, London: Palgrave Macmillan. Della Rocca, M. (2013), The Taming
of Philosophy, in Lærke, M., Smith, J. E., and Schliesser, E. (eds.) (2013), Philosophy
and Its History: Aims and Methods in the Study of Early Modern Philosophy, Oxford
and New York: Oxford University Press, 178. See also “the original sin” in Schaffer, J.
(2010), Monism: The Priority of the Whole, Philosophical Review 119(1), 31–76; and my
commentary on both Della Rocca (2013) and Schaffer (2010) in Schliesser, E. (2013),
Philosophic Prophecy: Philosophy and Its History—A ims and Methods in the Study of
Early Modern Philosophy, 209.
xvii
xviii
Introduction
xviii
xix
Introduction
xix
xx
Introduction
xx
xxi
Introduction
xxi
xxii
Introduction
15. Coetzee, J. M. (1993). What is a classic? Current Writing: Text and Reception in Southern
Africa 5(2), 7–2 4. Given that in his essay the novelist and critic Coetzee treats the situa
tion of classical music as a healthy one (as opposed to the dire situation in literature), it
is not impossible Coetzee is being ironic.
xxii
xxiii
Introduction
16. Stigler, G. J. (1969). Does economics have a useful past? History of Political Economy
1(2), 217–2 30. Interestingly enough, Stigler’s paper also argues that the sociology of
knowledge is worth cultivating.
17. Hume seems more optimistic: “On the contrary, a real genius, the longer his works
endure, and the more wide they are spread, the more sincere is the admiration which
he meets with. Envy and jealousy have too much place in a narrow circle; and even
familiar acquaintance with his person may diminish the applause due to his perfor
mances: But when these obstructions are removed, the beauties, which are naturally
fitted to excite agreeable sentiments, immediately display their energy; and while the
world endures, they maintain their authority over the minds of men.” (“Of the Standard
of Taste,” 11) Hume’s “Of the Standard of Taste” is relevant to the present volume; in it,
Hume explicitly treats Fénelon as one of his key interlocutors. Few philosophers oth
erwise ever encounter Fénelon in their education or scholarship. See Ryan Hanley’s
chapter (2).
18. To be clear the chapters themselves do not reflect the viewpoint of the introduction and
were completed before the introduction was drafted.
xxiii
xxiv
Introduction
19. In his essay, Coetzee does not overlook the elitist elements, but he is more interested in
the cosmopolitan dimension of a classic.
xxiv
xxv
Introduction
prove the relevance or, if they are working in an European grant envi
ronment, “impact” of these texts.
One may, however, doubt that (4) occurs in philosophy. It is
probably not a good strategy to try to get a monograph published
following Kant’s architectonic in the first Critique. Having granted
that, this volume includes a very good example of (4): Fénelon’s
(1699) The Adventures of Telemachus: The Son of Ulysses is itself
a creative extension of the original classic (and even bears the
subtitle of “continuation of the fourth book of the Odyssey”).
Moreover, (4) is not just of historical interest; here’s an example
from within professional philosophy: an important essay in the
recent revival of analytical metaphysics is O’Leary-Hawthorne
and Cortens (1995), “Towards ontological nihilism.”20 Given its
provenance in Syracuse’s philosophy department, it is no surprise
that it generously mentions Jonathan Bennett, the dominant fig
ure of that department in the last third of the twentieth century.
But as it turns out, the rhetorical and argumentative methodology
is deeply indebted to Bennett’s Rationality—this will be described
by Dennett in his chapter (10), so I will not repeat it here—a work
familiar to Hawthorne and Cortens. This fact could go unnoticed
because Bennett’s Rationality is not mentioned in their piece.21
Obviously, judged by criteria (1) through (5), the works discussed
in this volume are not all at present a classic. For them to become a
classic or return to that state, philosophy needs to change; this vol
ume hopes to open up entertaining and instructive, new pathways
20. Philosophical Studies 79(2), 143–165. One further notable feature of this paper is the
positive engagement with Bradley—t hen relatively unusual in analytical philosophy.
See Della Rocca’s chapter (5) and my Introduction for more on this.
21. Another, less influential example is Azzouni, Jody (1999, 2001), Numbered para
graphs: An essay on aesthetics, in The Lust for Blueprints, 71–91. Providence: Poet’s
Press, which is modeled on and critically engages Wittgenstein’s Tractatus.
xxv
xxvi
Introduction
22. Along the way the word “classic” replaced “masterpiece” in the title of this volume; some
chapters still show traces of the original title.
23. The one living subject of these chapters, Jonathan Bennett, focuses primarily on col
lating and translating early modern texts (see http://w ww.earlymoderntexts.com/).
Several chapters reveal more of the details of my initial invitation.
xxvi
1
C ha pt e r 1
R ACH E L BA R N E Y
Ever since their own day, the ancient Greek sophists have provoked
outrage. Thanks to early enemies like Aristophanes and Plato, they
stand perennially accused of “making the weaker argument the stron
ger,” defending the indefensible by unfair means. The term “sophist”
[sophistês] had negative connotations almost from the start, and over
time has just come to mean “person who argues unfairly.” But in a
more neutral sense, “sophist” is simply the name we use to pick out
an exciting and by no means indefensible intellectual movement—a
loose group of fifth-century bce Greek thinkers, writers, and teach
ers who included Protagoras, Hippias, Prodicus, Gorgias, and perhaps
Socrates himself. It is a controversial question who should count as one
of the sophists and on what grounds, just as it is with “Enlightenment”
thinkers or “postmodernists.” In the case of the sophists, not only is
there no one thing that all of them had in common, in most cases only
tantalizing scraps of their works have survived. We can catch only a
glimpse of what all the fuss was about.1
1. A general overview of the sophists’ ideas and activities, defending some of the more
sweeping claims here, can be found in Barney 2006.
1
2
Among the few complete sophistic texts that have come down
to us, two stand out for their brilliance, complexity, and sheer
nerve. These are a pair of epideixeis by Gorgias: the On Not-Being
and the Encomium of Helen. An epideixis was a set-piece speech, a
public demonstration of persuasive skill aimed at prospective stu
dents. And Gorgias was the greatest and most celebrated rhetori
cian (i.e., teacher of public speaking) of his day—i ndeed, the term
“art of rhetoric” [rhetorikê] was probably coined by Plato in order
to classify him.2 In both the On Not-Being and the Helen, he gives
a rigorous demonstration of a completely outrageous thesis. The
On Not-Being proves that nothing exists; that if it did exist, we
could not know it; and that if we did know it, we could not com
municate it to each other. The upshot of this deadpan exercise in
triple nihilism is left for the reader to decide. Gorgias’s Encomium
of Helen is less ambitious but equally subversive. It is a logically
valid proof that Helen of Troy—infamous adulteress, legendary
provoker of a disastrous world war—should not be blamed for run
ning off with Paris. And the upshot seems to be much broader—
perhaps that, quite generally, nobody can ever be to blame for any
action. But as with the On Not-Being, what Gorgias really intends
is anybody’s guess.
2. See Schiappa 1990. This raises the question of whether Gorgias really counts as a sophist
at all, since part of Plato’s point is that sophistês and rhêtorikos should be considered dif
ferent professions (cf. Plato, Gorgias 463b–4 63c, 520a–520b). Be that as it may, Gorgias
clearly fits the general profile of the fifth-century sophist. Like Protagoras, Hippias,
Prodicus, and the rest of the gang, he was an itinerant intellectual performer and teacher
of wisdom; a specialist in techniques of argument and persuasion; and the author of texts
which both advertise those skills and engage with contemporary philosophical debates,
often with a subversive twist. Plato’s dialogues conflict as to whether Gorgias presented
himself as a teacher of virtue, as Protagoras and most of the other sophists did: Meno
95c seems to correct Gorgias 460a on this point. But as a definition this is too narrow
anyway: it would also exclude other important figures (Antiphon, Critias) who clearly
belonged to the movement in a general way.
2
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[256]Ib., p. 165.
[257]“Modern Abyssinia,” p. 224.
[258]Compare, e.g., his remark on p. 223, “They have any
amount of pluck,” with Parkyns’s comments quoted on p. 24 of
this book.
[259]E.g. p. 222.
[260]Ib., p. 216.
[261]Eyre and Spottiswoode.
[262]Cf. p. 308.
[263]Mr. Wylde describes the Ras as “by far the cleverest and
most enlightened man that the country possesses.” He is a
possible successor to the Abyssinian throne.
[264]Colonel Rochfort’s Report.
APPENDIX
LEPIDOPTERA.
NYMPHALIDAE.
Danainae: Limnas chrysippus (Linn.) ♀. The ground
colour of the pale tint characteristic of
1
Oriental specimens and usually replaced by
a much darker shade in African.
Danainae: L. chrysippus (Linn.) var. alcippus (Cram.) ♂♂.
2
Typical.
Nymphalinae: 1 Neptis agatha (Cram.).
1 Precis cebrene (Trim.).
PAPILIONIDAE.
Pierinae: 1 Catopsilia florella (Fabr.) ♂.
2 Colias electra (Linn.) ♂ ♀.
Terias brigitta (Cram.) ♂ ♂ ♀.
3
Dry season forms; not extreme.
3 Eronia leda (Boisd.) ♂ ♀ ♀.
One of these females has an orange apical
patch on the forewing, almost as distinct as
that of the male.
1 Pinacopteryx sp. ?
A female, rather worn; simulating Mylothris
agathina ♀.
Probably a new species, but being in poor
condition and a single specimen it would not
be advisable to describe it.
1 Belenois severina (Cram.) ♀. Dry season form.
1 Phrissura sp. ♂.
A male, of the P. sylvia group. This form of
Phrissura has not previously been recorded
from any part of East Africa.
Papilioninae: 8 Papilio demodocus (Esp.).
HYMENOPTERA.
1 Dorylus fimbriatus (Shuck.) ♂.
COLEOPTERA.
LAMELLICORNIA.
Scarabaeidae: Oniticellus inaequalis (Reiche).
1
Only known from Abyssinia.
Cetoniidae: 1 Pachnoda abyssinica (Blanch.).
1 Pachnoda stehelini (Schaum).
Both Abyssinian species.
PHYTOPHAGA.
Cassididae: 1 Aspidomorpha punctata (Fab.).
HETEROMERA.
Cantharidae: 2 Mylabris, probably a new species.
NEUROPTERA.
1 Nemoptera, probably a new species.
ORTHOPTERA.
Acridiidae: 1 Cyrtacanthacris
sp.
1 Phymateus brunneri? (Bolivar).
1 Phymateus leprosus (Fab.).
1 Petasia anchoreta (Bolivar).
Mantidae: 1 Sphodromantis bioculata (Burm.).
1 Chiropus aestuans? (Sauss.).
In addition to the above, Dr. Hayes presented three insects
captured by him at Gedaref in the Soudan, including a pair of a
magnificent new species of Buprestid beetle of the genus
Sternocera, taken in coitu. This species has recently been described,
from Dr. Hayes’ specimen and two others in the British Museum, by
Mr. C. O. Waterhouse, who has given it the name Sternocera druryi
(“Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist.” Oct., 1904, p. 247). The third insect is an
example of a Cantharid beetle, which does great damage to the
crops at Gadarif. Its determination as Mylabris hybrida (Bohem.) is
therefore a matter of some importance.
THE END
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