[MaFLa] A Defense of Anachronistic History of Philosophy - David Weberman`s talk at CEU, October 20, 4.30 PM

[Krisztina Biber]

The CEU Philosophy Department cordially invites you to a talk 
(as part of its Departmental Colloquium series)
by
David Weberman (CEU) 
on
A Defense of Anachronistic History of Philosophy

Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 4.30 PM, Zrinyi 14, Room 412


ABSTRACT

As part of a larger project on interpretation, this paper deals with
the nature of interpreting the history of philosophy. Past philosophical
texts often involve questions, assumptions, motivations, strategies,
vocabularies, and styles different from those of the present. The
question is what we should say or do about this sometimes large chasm
between the past and the present. Should we understand older texts in
their terms (antiquarianism, also called historical reconstruction) or
in ours (presentism, also called rational reconstruction)? Can we choose
between the two and must we?  I argue against Quentin Skinner’s
meta-interpretive antiquarianism (my term), which says that
antiquarianism is the only proper way to interpret texts. The point of
this argument is to show that texts admit multiple, non-convergent
interpretations.   



Kriszta Biber
Department Coordinator
Philosophy Department
Tel: 36-1-327-3806
Fax: 36-1-327-3072
E-mail: biberk at ceu.hu
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