ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the eras and movements of philosophy over the centuries, their basic types and tendencies, to account for why Herman Dooyeweerd’s rather different approach might be relevant. It outlines three roles philosophy plays in research and discusses two kinds of presupposition that lie at the roots of research, which philosophy enables us to discuss: worldviews and ground-motives. Ground-motives offer a historical account of philosophic thought, and explain why philosophical debates are so often fruitless. The chapter discusses a third, deeper, kind of presupposition, standpoints, which explains why Dooyeweerd’s starting-points are philosophically important and radical. It sets Dooyeweerd's philosophy among others, as a philosophy rooted in Christian faith in an unusual way, and suggests how to cross boundaries between philosophies of different kinds.
