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The study of the history of philosophy is a historical as well as a philosophical discipline. It is philosophical because it seeks the origins of contemporary philosophic ... [+]
The study of the history of philosophy is a historical as well as a philosophical discipline. It is philosophical because it seeks the origins of contemporary philosophical debates. It is historical because it seeks to understand these origins on their own terms and in their own context. Consequently, its practitioners must be not only philosophically competent but also proficient in the use of historical methods.
Moreover, in the Ancient and Medieval Western world, philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Aquinas and William Ockham wrote in either Greek or Latin. This means that anyone who wants to know what these philosophers really said, without the distortions inevitably caused by translations, must also have a grasp of the classical languages and such related auxiliary disciplines as paleography and textual criticism.... [-]