Problems of the History of Philosophy

by Theodore Oizerman

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter One

THE LOVE OF WISDOM. ORIGIN OF THE NOTION OF "PHILOSOPHY"

 1. Secularisation of "Divine" Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  18

 2. Deification of Human Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  36

 3. A New Age and a New Ideal of Philosophical Knowledge . . . . . . . . .  42

 4. Problem of Wisdom as a Real Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Chapter Two

MEANING OF THE QUESTION "WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?"

 1. Philosophy as a Problem for Itself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . 65

 2. How Philosophy Delimits, Cognises and Determines Itself . . . . . .. . . 76

 3. First Historical Form of Theoretical Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

 4. Philosophy as an Alienated Form of Social Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . 88

 5. Social Consciousness or Science? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  97

 6. Criticism of the Existentialist Interpretation of the Question
      "What is Philosophy?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

Chapter Three

PHILOSOPHY AS A SPECIFIC FORM OF COGNITION

 1. Qualitative Diversity of Knowledge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  115

 2. Speculation, Logic, Facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

 3. Intuition, Truth, Creative Imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

 4. Interpretation as a Mode of Philosophical Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148

 5. Theoretical Synthesis of Diverse Content . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  166

Chapter Four

DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY AS A PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEM

 1. Difficulties of Defining Philosophy Due to the
          Peculiar Nature of Its Historical Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178

 2. Diversity of Definitions of Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  191

 3. Philosophy as a Specific World View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Chapter Five

NATURE OF PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS

 1. Questions That Cannot Be Left Unanswered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

 2. Problems, Old and New, Eternal and Transient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

Chapter Six

THE SUBJECT‑MATTER OF PHILOSOPHY

 1. The Subject‑Matter of Philosophy as a Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

 2. Fundamental Philosophical Themes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302

 3. The Subject‑Matter of Dialectical and Historical Materialism . . . . . . . 333

Chapter Seven

PHILOSOPHY AS THE SELF‑CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE HISTORICAL EPOCH

1. Role of the Personality in the Development of Philosophy . . . . . . . . .  344

2. Epochs in Philosophy and Socio‑Economic Epochs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

3. Ideological Functions of Philosophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

Chapter Eight

ON THE NATURE OF PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATE

 1. Inevitability of Scientific Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

 2. Ideological Sources of Philosophical Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423

 3. Theoretical Roots of Philosophical Debate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  457

SOURCE: Oizerman, Theodore [Oizerman, Teodor Il'ich]; translated from the Russian by Robert Daglish. Problems of the History of Philosophy. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1973.

Review by Ralph Dumain

Dialectical Materialism and the History of Philosophy (Extracts) by Theodore Oizerman

Principles of the Theory of Historical Process in Philosophy by T.I Oizerman & A.S. Bogomolov

Principles of the Theory of Historical Process in Philosophy by T.I Oizerman & A.S. Bogomolov, review by R. Dumain

The Main Trends in Philosophy (Contents) by T. I. Oizerman

Evert van der Zweerde & Ralph Dumain:
Correspondence on autodidacts & Soviet philosophical culture

Salvaging Soviet Philosophy (1)

Philosophy of History of Philosophy & Historiography of Philosophy: Selected Bibliography

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