Wednesday, June 5, 2002 at 10:43AM
A helpful summary article in the Chronicle on the proliferation of biographies of philosophers. The central question is whether biography of philosophers illuminates the philosophy itself. Lots of people say there’s nothing one can say about there other. Others say that all philosophy is biography. Here’s one case where I steer a middle path. I’m beginning to see the value of philosophical biography, as a part of a larger enterprise: the history of philosophy. History of philosophy is beginning a resurgance, and with good reason. Often by looking back to see the context in which an idea/concept/argument/trope was introduced, you see more clearly how it operates and how it is currently used. Philosophical biography is an important component of the history of philosophy itself.
2002 | Kind Words – Zack enjoys sitting in my chair – Font style and book design – Bembo's Zoo – The Russian Avant-Garde Book – SF for social change – No Sugar – Philosophical Reading on Race – Object Permanence – New Design – Happy Birthday! – Pascal's Wagering – Go to Australia – You are here & Brouwer – Down through the ages... – Is that God singing? – Sic Transit Gloria – The Golden Grove Ferry – Fisticuffs in real estate – One more mystery solved – Cataclysme politique en France – The Politics of Science – Play with combinators – Sydney Aquarium – Higher Education Rumblings – Firefly Press – Now in three flavours – Microsoft – Blue Mountains – ASIO Bill – Peru and Free Software – 'Aussie Chardonnay'? – How to Mark a Book – About The Internet – Ratbots – Job at Auckland – Budget – Seagull at Manly – A preliminary move – Two changes – Stephen Jay Gould – boat-people.org – Back to the... – epitonic.com – RSPAS International Relations Publications – Spain in August 2003! – lowercase audio – Self-Annihilating Sentences – Geography – Ups & downs – God Music – What does biography (of philosophers) have to do with philosophy – Househunting by remote – Househunting Results – Don on God – Zachary's Car – Strange Building – Stranger Building – Trouble in Lygon Street – Arrival – Brunswick – Eat and drink your way down Sydney road – Email Address – Sanity about the ABC – Busy, busy, busy – New Archbishop of Canterbury – 'I Guess I Get A Little Emotional Sometimes' – Primes is in P – Settling In – Zero to Three – Instant Messaging – Wireless Network – The Zoo – GNU Prolog – A Smile – Logic Seminars – What colour is that? – Graph Theory – Monash Shooting – Flower Boy – No photos for a while – Apposite Text – Grade Inflation? – Cricket Writing – Richard Jeffrey Dies – I hate marking – The High Court of Australia – His Dark Materials and Third Way – Solaris 2.0 – Yellow and Blue – Brett Lee in Action – 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
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I’m Greg Restall, and this is my website. I work in Philosophy at the University of Melbourne. Email: greg at consequently.org; Post: School of of Philosophy, Anthropology and Social Inquiry, University of Melbourne, Parkville 3010, Australia.
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Few persons care to study logic, because everybody conceives himself to be proficient enough in the art of reasoning already. But I observe that this satisfaction is limited to one’s own ratiocination, and does not extend to that of other men.
— Charles S. Peirce
The Fixation of Belief.