Analytic philosophy and history of philosophy: the development of the idea of rational reconstruction

Michael Anthony Beaney

Analytic philosophy and history of philosophy: the development of the idea of rational reconstruction

Philosophy

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed)

Abstract

Analytic philosophy has had an uneasy relationship with the discipline of history of philosophy throughout its life. Analytic philosophers often either scorn or simply ignore history of philosophy. Where interpretations have been offered of past philosophical works, in what we can call ‘analytic’ history of philosophy, they have tended to be ‘rational reconstructions’. In recent years, however, philosophers trained in the analytic tradition have begun to look at the history of analytic philosophy itself more seriously, and the debate about the relationship between philosophy and history of philosophy has been brought closer to home. In this paper I consider some of the philosophical and historiographical presuppositions and implications of this debate, focusing on the idea of rational reconstruction. This idea developed alongside analytic philosophy itself and holds the key to understanding one central thread in the history of the relationship between analytic philosophy and history of philosophy.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy
Editors	Erich Reck
Place of Publication	Basingstoke
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan
Pages	231-260
Number of pages	30
ISBN (Print)	9780230201538
Publication status	Published - 2013

Publication series

Name	History of Analytic Philosophy
Publisher	Palgrave Macmillan

Cite this

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title = "Analytic philosophy and history of philosophy: the development of the idea of rational reconstruction",

abstract = "Analytic philosophy has had an uneasy relationship with the discipline of history of philosophy throughout its life. Analytic philosophers often either scorn or simply ignore history of philosophy. Where interpretations have been offered of past philosophical works, in what we can call {\textquoteleft}analytic{\textquoteright} history of philosophy, they have tended to be {\textquoteleft}rational reconstructions{\textquoteright}. In recent years, however, philosophers trained in the analytic tradition have begun to look at the history of analytic philosophy itself more seriously, and the debate about the relationship between philosophy and history of philosophy has been brought closer to home. In this paper I consider some of the philosophical and historiographical presuppositions and implications of this debate, focusing on the idea of rational reconstruction. This idea developed alongside analytic philosophy itself and holds the key to understanding one central thread in the history of the relationship between analytic philosophy and history of philosophy.",

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T2 - the development of the idea of rational reconstruction

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AB - Analytic philosophy has had an uneasy relationship with the discipline of history of philosophy throughout its life. Analytic philosophers often either scorn or simply ignore history of philosophy. Where interpretations have been offered of past philosophical works, in what we can call ‘analytic’ history of philosophy, they have tended to be ‘rational reconstructions’. In recent years, however, philosophers trained in the analytic tradition have begun to look at the history of analytic philosophy itself more seriously, and the debate about the relationship between philosophy and history of philosophy has been brought closer to home. In this paper I consider some of the philosophical and historiographical presuppositions and implications of this debate, focusing on the idea of rational reconstruction. This idea developed alongside analytic philosophy itself and holds the key to understanding one central thread in the history of the relationship between analytic philosophy and history of philosophy.

M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)

SN - 9780230201538

T3 - History of Analytic Philosophy

SP - 231

EP - 260

BT - The Historical Turn in Analytic Philosophy

A2 - Reck, Erich

PB - Palgrave Macmillan

CY - Basingstoke

ER -