What is ‘Western Philosophy’?

Recent discussions in the history of analytic philosophy have targeted questions about the concept of ‘Analytic Philosophy’ itself. Scholars, such as Glock (2008) and Preston (2004), have argued that ‘Analytic Philosophy’ cannot plausibly be characterised in terms of necessary and sufficient condit...

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Main Authors: Matyáš Moravec, Peter West
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MULPress 2024-12-01
Series:Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy
Online Access:https://jhaponline.org/jhap/article/view/5897
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author Matyáš Moravec
Peter West
author_facet Matyáš Moravec
Peter West
author_sort Matyáš Moravec
collection DOAJ
description Recent discussions in the history of analytic philosophy have targeted questions about the concept of ‘Analytic Philosophy’ itself. Scholars, such as Glock (2008) and Preston (2004), have argued that ‘Analytic Philosophy’ cannot plausibly be characterised in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions and that other, more pragmatic, approaches must be taken instead. In this paper, we argue that similar questions that have recently emerged about the status of ‘Western Philosophy’ can be informed by these debates in the history of analytic philosophy. Some recent scholars, most notably Platzky Miller (2023) and Cantor (2022), have argued that the concept of ‘Western philosophy’ should be abandoned altogether, due to its incoherence and the role it plays in upholding and perpetuating various exclusionary mechanisms and politically dubious aims. The aim of this paper is to apply the lessons learnt from similar discussions about ‘Analytic Philosophy’ and to build on Platzky Miller’s and Cantor’s innovative proposals. We argue that the term should not be abandoned altogether and that continuing to use it is required for combating exclusions in the history of philosophy.
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spelling doaj-art-e1307ffc128241b39b44e24783f5dde52025-08-20T02:34:51ZengMULPressJournal for the History of Analytical Philosophy2159-03032024-12-01132What is ‘Western Philosophy’? Matyáš Moravec0Peter West1Queen's University BelfastNortheastern University London Recent discussions in the history of analytic philosophy have targeted questions about the concept of ‘Analytic Philosophy’ itself. Scholars, such as Glock (2008) and Preston (2004), have argued that ‘Analytic Philosophy’ cannot plausibly be characterised in terms of necessary and sufficient conditions and that other, more pragmatic, approaches must be taken instead. In this paper, we argue that similar questions that have recently emerged about the status of ‘Western Philosophy’ can be informed by these debates in the history of analytic philosophy. Some recent scholars, most notably Platzky Miller (2023) and Cantor (2022), have argued that the concept of ‘Western philosophy’ should be abandoned altogether, due to its incoherence and the role it plays in upholding and perpetuating various exclusionary mechanisms and politically dubious aims. The aim of this paper is to apply the lessons learnt from similar discussions about ‘Analytic Philosophy’ and to build on Platzky Miller’s and Cantor’s innovative proposals. We argue that the term should not be abandoned altogether and that continuing to use it is required for combating exclusions in the history of philosophy. https://jhaponline.org/jhap/article/view/5897
spellingShingle Matyáš Moravec
Peter West
What is ‘Western Philosophy’?
Journal for the History of Analytical Philosophy
title What is ‘Western Philosophy’?
title_full What is ‘Western Philosophy’?
title_fullStr What is ‘Western Philosophy’?
title_full_unstemmed What is ‘Western Philosophy’?
title_short What is ‘Western Philosophy’?
title_sort what is western philosophy
url https://jhaponline.org/jhap/article/view/5897
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