Response to Danielle Macbeth, "The Place of Philosophy"

Danielle Macbeth has two principal goals in The Place of Philosophy: to diagnose the plight of contemporary Western--and especially analytic--philosophy, and to argue for an alternative conception of philosophy's role, according to which engagement with its history and with the philosophies of other cultures becomes crucial. The author have a great deal of sympathy with both halves of her project, and feel he have learned a considerable amount from her essay. As Macbeth herself emphasizes, though, the a priori and dialectical nature of philosophy urges readers to see for themselves whether a given work of philosophy is fully convincing, and if not, then to engage in constructive criticism. As with Macbeth, one of Flanagan's goals is to promote cross-cultural, comparative philosophizing.