The prominent contributors to this edited volume were asked to discuss neglected classic works in both Western and non-Western philosophy, and to make a case for their contemporary importance in an accessible and inviting way. The result - a successor to an earlier 2016 volume, also edited by Eric Schliesser - is an invitation to consider new ways of defining, and doing, philosophy. The works discussed here are written in a variety of literary styles, in different ages and intellectual cultures. Many contributors note the meta-philosophical features of the works, and how these can be salient today, and thus inspire reflection on the nature of philosophy and the varieties of roles it can play professionally and existentially. In particular, many of the chapters inspire reflection on the gendered, racial, and cultural patterns of exclusion in the development of the contemporary philosophical canon.
Eric Schliesser is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Amsterdam. His research encompasses a variety of themes, ranging from economic statistics in classical Babylon, the history of the natural sciences and forgotten eighteenth-century feminists, to political theory and the assumptions used in mathematical economics. His recent publications include Adam Smith: Systematic Philosopher and Public Thinker (Oxford University Press, 2017) and a translation with commentary of Sophie de Grouchy's Letters on Sympathy (together with Sandrine Bergès).