Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter I. Is Thematic Philosophy Still Possible?

1. The present-day situation of philosophy

2. Think on your own!

2. 1 What does this incentive mean?

2. 2 Is this a good incentive?

Chapter II. Philosophy is Learning

1. Pupil, teacher, text

2. Learning

3. Discussion with existing philosophies

4. "Classical" and "contemporary"

5. To which philosophers must I turn?

6. Consequences for a history of philosophy

6. 1 Why "the history of philosophy" cannot be written

6. 2 Every history of philosophy is an expression of a thematic philosophy

6. 3 The necessity for a certain "positivism" in the history of philosophy

6. 4 Specific problems of the history of philosophy

6. 4.1 Individual philosophers

— The work

— A text

— An oeuvre

— Work and life

6. 4.2 Milieu and time

6. 4.3 Philosophical constellations

a. The unity of an oeuvre

b. The unity of a period

c. The unity of a history

6. 5 Dogmatism and hermeneutics

Chapter III. Philosophy as Discussion

1. Philosophy as dialogue

2. Conversations in search of truth

2. 1 Speaking

A parenthetical remark

2. 2 Dialogue

2. 3 Topics of conversation

2. 4 Conversation, combat, violence (or:dialogue and rhetoric)

2. 4.1 Speaking as fighting

2. 4.2 Rhetoric

2. 4.3 Polemic

2. 4.4 An ethics of violence

2. 4.5 Conditions for a good polemic

2. 4.6 Universal polemics?

2. 4.7 Democratic deliberation

2. 4.8 Polemics and rhetoric

2. 5 The time structure of conversation

3. Is philosophy a conversation?

3. 1 Thematic philosophy and conversation

3. 2 Thematic philosophy and the history of philosophy

3. 3 The abolition of the individual subject

3. 4 Conversation and text

3. 5 Unmaskings

3. 6 Thematic philosophy and rhetoric

3. 7 The individual and the powers

4. The history of philosophy as conversation

4. 1 Text and author

4. 2 Interpretation,

4. 3 An ethics of interpretation,

4. 4 Anonymous thought,

4. 5 History of philosophy as a triumph,

4. 6 The history of philosophy as discussion,

4. 7 Teamwork in philosophy?

4. 8 Historiography as a presentation of others,

4. 9 Theatrum philosophicum ,

4. 10 Scepticism and time,

4. 11 Solitude and hope,

Chapter IV. Philosophy and Truth

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index of Proper Names

Subject Index