Modern Challenges to Past Philosophy: Arguments and Responses

Does philosophy have a timeless essence? Are the writings that have come down to us over the centuries from philosophers of genius mere souvenirs from a bygone era? Or are their thoughts still eminently worth examining with care? Modern Challenges to Past Philosophy argues pondering past philosophy with modern problems in mind is worth the effort, even though earlier works are uninformed by modern science and lack some of tools of modern analysis. The great texts defamiliarize our world and offer solutions to crucial questions often forgotten as we fixate on current philosophical trends. Modern Challenges is no appeal to a return to a golden past but a study designed to show how and why understanding earlier works of some of the most penetrating minds ever to ponder eternally valid questions can contribute to a renewal of our own culture.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Chapter 1. Problems and Perspectives Chapter 2. The Essence of Philosophy Chapter 3. Arguments for Taking Past Philosophers Seriously Chapter 4. Science, Scientism, and Philosophy Chapter 5. Scientistic Attacks on Past and Present Philosophy Chapter 6. Philosophic Attacks on Past and Present Philosophy Chapter 7. Philosophy, Time, and Eternity Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Thomas Sullivan is Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, and before his recent retirement held the Aquinas Chair in Philosophy and Theology, at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, USA. He is the co-author, with Sandra Menssen, of The Agnostic Inquirer: Revelation from a Philosophical Standpoint (2007). Russell Pannier is Emeritus Professor of Law at William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, USA. He has published in the areas of philosophy of logic, metaphysics, jurisprudence, ethics, constitutional law, philosophy of religion, and decision theory. He has published several essays on some of those topics with Thomas D. Sullivan.

Review :
In their characteristically clear style, Sullivan and Pannier give an account of the nature of philosophy, and then they give a series of detailed arguments for the conclusion that philosophy is best carried out in dialogue not only with philosophers contemporary to us, but also with the philosophers of the past. Those who care about doing philosophy, or who care about teaching it, should care about this book. No serious person thinks the the latest art or literature is the best because it is the most recent. Likewise we would not continue to read Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas and Kant unless their works continue to speak to us. But how can long-dead thinkers have anything to say to 21st century minds? Thomas Sullivan and Russell Pannier engage that question and in doing so illuminate the nature of philosophy, the perennial character of its questions and the need to bring past and present together in ways that illuminate each. Elegantly crafted their book is a pleasure and a provocation. Sullivan and Panier argue convincingly that philosophers of the past are our partners. The gems of the philosophical past are not just historical relics, but can help us in our own search for answers to philosophical questions. This book will make you want to read more history! Some philosophers (e.g., Kant, Wittgenstein) defend various philosophical positions, but argue that past philosophy is largely irrelevant to what they are doing. This book looks at a number of these positions and makes the case against the deniers that much of past philosophy is, after all, relevant to these discussions […] It could be background reading for any course, such as one on Wittgenstein, wherein the subject has arrogantly dismissed philosophy's past.