ABSTRACT
Philosophy, perhaps more than any other discipline, is fascinated by its own history. Introductory philosophy courses for undergraduates often focus on great works from the distant past by authors such as Plato and Descartes. Philosophy departments normally include specialists on the history of philosophy. Philosophers conducting cutting edge research often take the trouble to situate their work with respect to long dead predecessors. In all of these respects, philosophy is vastly different from, for example, physics. Undergraduates are not taught physics by reading and discussing the works of Archimedes or Newton. Bennett is motivated to study the history of philosophy by a desire for philosophical truth. He wants to learn philosophy from the great philosophers of the past. He wants their help in discovering philosophical truth. If philosophical truth is the only motivation for studying the history of philosophy, then, he claims, much of that history will turn out to be marginal.
