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Speaker: Gordon Finlayson (Sussex)

Title: Understanding Meaning in the History of Philosophy

Abstract:

I advance a new and mainly internal criticism of Quentin Skinner鈥檚 claim, first made in his seminal 鈥淢eaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas鈥� (1969), and subsequently never retracted or weakened, that 鈥榯here are no perennial questions in philosophy鈥�, and that Cambridge school style historical interpretation should have sole custody over the proper meaning of texts and theories in the history of philosophy. I lay out two premises to which Skinner is committed: an Austinian conception of linguistic practice, and an Anscombian conception of 鈥榠ntention-in-action鈥�. From these I argue that there are, and will continue to be, 鈥榩erennial questions鈥� in philosophy in the very sense that Skinner denies. My overall aim is to limit Skinner鈥檚 conception of historical interpretation, to make room for methodological pluralism in the history of philosophy.