Whether desirable or not: philosophy has a history. The question is whether it doesn't have any other purpose than this very history, as assumed by some philosophers. And-vice versa-how much philosophy do historians need to reverse the headline question? These and related questions and problems were discussed between historians and philosophers on the occasion of a colloquium in honor of the laureate Quentin Skinner who attended the meeting in person. He advocates a firm position: philosophical texts cannot be understood independent of their historical context and they don't give us answers to those questions we are concerned with today.
