Philosophizing as a Praxis of Variation

A Contribution to a Theory of the History of Philosophy in Philosophy Education

Abstract

The article argues that, before asking particular questions concerning the relevance of history of philosophy for philosophy teaching at the pre-university level, we need a reference theory that explains the relationship of doing philosophy and history of philosophy in general terms and in a way that is suitable for the context of philosophy education. The formulation of the underlying metaphilosophical problem takes its depart from Hegels philosophy of the history of philosophy. Subsequently, the article proposes to understand doing philosophy and the history of philosophy as two aspects of a structurally unified play of variations. In developing this thesis, the article makes use of Jan Assmann’s Theory of Cultural Memory and Hans Blumenberg’s theory and practice of history of philosophy.