Schliesser E. (ed.) Ten Neglected Classics of Philosophy

Oxford University Press, 2016. — 313 p.What makes for a philosophical classic? Why do some philosophical works persist over time, while others do not? The philosophical canon and diversity are topics of major debate today. This stimulating volume contains ten new essays by accomplished philosophers writing passionately about works in the history of philosophy that they feel were unjustly neglected or ignored-and why they deserve greater attention. The essays cover lesser known works by famous thinkers as well as works that were once famous but now only faintly remembered. Works examined include Gorgias' Encomium of Helen, Jane Adams' Women and Public Housekeeping, W.E.B. DuBois' Whither Now and Why, Edith Stein's On the Problem of Empathy, Jonathan Bennett's Rationality, and more.
While each chapter is an expression of engagement with an individual work, the volume as a whole, and Eric Schliesser's introduction specifically, address timely questions about the nature of philosophy, disciplinary contours, and the vagaries of canon formation.Acknowledgments
Author Biographies
Introduction: On Being a Classic in Philosophy ​ Eric Schliesser
Gorgias’s Encomium of Helen
Fénelon’s Telemachus
Thomas Paine’s “Agrarian Justice” and the Origins of Social Insurance
Lotze’s Mikrokosmus
Bradley’s Appearance and Reality
Jane Addams’s “Women and Public Housekeeping”
On Making Philosophy Functional: Ernst Cassirer’s Substanzbegriff und Funktionsbegriff
Edith Stein: On the Problem of Empathy
W. E. B. Du Bois’s “Whither Now and Why”
Jonathan Bennett’s Rationality
Index