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WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

Studies in Phenomenological and Classical Realism General Editors: Josef Seifert and Giovanni Reale

In What is Philosophy? the distinguished philosopher Dietrich von Hildebrand analyses the datum of knowledge itself in its different forms, from the most casual perception of some object in our na?ve experience to "a priori knowledge," taken as consisting of absolutely certain insights into "necessary essences."

Plato's central teaching about that kind of human knowledge which transcends the world of time and of becoming is here purified, clarified and deepened. Precise lines are meticulously drawn which distinguish empirical knowledge, such as is found in the physical sciences, from a priori knowledge, as it can be attained in mathematics, logic and philosophy. Most importantly, von Hildebrand draws lines which distinguish fruitful a priori knowledge ("synthetic a priori") from mere tautologies. Von Hildebrand's method is thus sharply opposed to the analytic school of philosophy.

The book illuminates in a unique way the epistemological thought of earlier philosophers including Plato, Augustine, Descartes and Kant. Fundamentally it expresses the driving principle of "back to the things themselves" which attracted so many outstanding thinkers at the start of the twentieth century and constituted the basis of Phenomenology. In this classic work, von Hildebrand affords the reader the chance to understand phenomenology and to appreciate Husserl's revolutionary early insights, as well as to criticize his later idealism.

An extensive introductory essay by Josef Seifert puts the work into a historical and systematic perspective and relates it to present-day Anglo-Saxon thought.

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WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

DIETRICH von HILDEBRAND With an Introductory Essay by Josef Seifert

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NIHIL OBSTAT:

JOHN A. SCHULIEN, S.T.D. Censor librorum

IMPRIMATUR:

WILLIAM E. COUSINS Archbishop of Milwaukee March 20, 1960

First published 1960 by The Bruce Publishing Company

Milwaukee

Reprinted 1973 by Franciscan Herald Press, Chicago

First published in paperback with introductory essay 1991 by Routledge

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge

a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc. 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 ? 1960 Dietrich von Hildebrand

Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing

from the publishers.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Von Hildebrand, Dietrich, b. 1889-1977

What is philosophy? - (Studies in phenomenological and classical realism). 1. Philosophy I. Title II. Series 100

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Von Hildebrand, Dietrich, 1889-1977

What is philosophy? / Dietrich von Hildebrand. p. cm. - (Studies in phenomenological and classical realism) Reprint, with new intro. Originally published: Milwaukee: Bruce

Pub. Co., 1960. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Knowledge, Theory of. 2. Phenomenology. I. Title. II. Series.

BD 161. V 66 1990 100-dc20 90-32233 ISBN 0-415-02584-2

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CONTENTS

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ............................................. 7 A short biographical note.................................................................................. 7 The historical background of the work in the early development of phenomenology ................................................................................................ 12 Dietrich von Hildebrand's contribution to the methodology of phenomenological realism .............................................................................. 28 The importance of the present book for the critique of transcendental idealism.............................................................................................................. 39 Anglo-Saxon empiricism and Hildebrand's more radical "empiricism of essences" as "experiential apriorism" ............................................................. 40 Hildebrand's "What is Philosophy?" as radical objectivist apriorism ....... 50 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 54 Acknowledgments............................................................................................ 56

INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 57

I. KNOWLEDGE IN GENERAL ...................................................... 69 1. Knowledge as a primary datum.................................................................. 69 2. The specific features of taking cognizance of something ....................... 71

II. BASIC FORMS OF KNOWLEDGE............................................ 82

III. THE NATURE OF PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE IN CONTRAST TO PRESCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE....................... 93

1. Na?ve prescientific knowledge.................................................................... 93 2. Theoretical prescientific knowledge........................................................ 104

IV. THE OBJECT OF PHILOSOPHICAL KNOWLEDGE .......... 117 1. The characteristics of apriori knowledge................................................ 117 2. The many meanings of the concepts: apriori and experience.............. 140

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