ABSTRACT
If one takes the characteristically English expression “doing philosophy” to mean “engaging in some form of philosophical activity,” one has to recognise not only that there are many forms of what might count as such, but also that everything will depend on what one takes philosophy to consist in. And if one takes philosophy to consist in the effort to achieve a higher-order understanding of whatever the situation or activity in which one may be involved or engaged, everything will depend on what one takes to be involved in a proper understanding. Thus, to look for a higher-order understanding of what it might be to engage in any form of philosophical activity is for philosophy to look for a proper understanding of itself – a reflexive undertaking that is wholly characteristic of the impulse to philosophy as such. There is also the question of how far in its effort towards self-understanding philosophy must seek to situate itself in the context of its own history. Deep differences as to the nature of philosophy’s relation to its own history have marked the split between what has been over-broadly characterised as analytic or Anglo-Saxon philosophy on the one hand and continental philosophy on the other. There are, however, signs that the sharpness of this split may now be on its way to diminishing.
