The Pursuit of Philosophy: Some Cambridge Perspectives

In this enlightening look into what constitutes philosophy, eleven Cambridge academics approach the question What is philosophy? from a variety of vantage points. In individual essays, scholars address the role that the history of philosophy, the natural sciences, politics, and verse poetry have played and can play in philosophy, as well as the relationship of philosophy to disciplines such as theology and law. They examine how institutional structures can affect the way philosophy is practised, and ponder to what extent philosophy has succumbed to the pitfalls of dogmatism, or become an irrelevant rhetorical game. Can more interaction with other disciplines help to avoid isolation and scholasticism? Or is philosophy at risk of losing its identity when it comes into close contact with other disciplines?

While fielding these inquiries and others to reinvigorate philosophic thinking, The Pursuit of Philosophy ultimately argues that the unexamined philosophy is not worth doing, and shows why. The book will set the stage for a fruitful interdiscipinarity of reading, study, and debate among various fields in order to enrich that of philosophy.

Notes on Contributors vii

Introduction: Philosophy, Its Pitfalls, Some Rescue Plans, and Their Complications
ALEXIS PAPAZOGLOU 1

1 Philosophy, Logic, Science, History
TIM CRANE 19

2 Philosophy and Its Pitfalls
JANE HEAL 37

3 A Surfeit of Naturalism
TIM LEWENS 45

4 What Is Realistic Political Philosophy?
DAVID RUNCIMAN 57

5 Bedlam or Parnassus: The Verse Idea
SIMON JARVIS 69

6 Philosophy, Early Modern Intellectual History, and the History of Philosophy
MICHAEL EDWARDS 81

7 Goals, Origins, Disciplines
RAYMOND GEUSS 95

8 Falling In and Out of Love with Philosophy
JOHN FORRESTER 111

9 Forms of Reflection, Imagination, and the Love of Wisdom
DOUGLAS HEDLEY 127

10 What Is Legal Philosophy?
MATTHEW H. KRAMER 139

11 The Cambridge Revolt Against Idealism: Was There Ever an Eden?
FRASER MACBRIDE 149

Index 161

Alexis Papazoglou studied physics at Imperial College London and philosophy at the University of Cambridge and University College London. He is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at the University of Cambridge and has been a visiting graduate student in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. His doctoral thesis explores the relationship between reason and nature in Hegel s philosophy, against the background of John McDowell s Mind and World and naturalism.