Status Updates From Essence of Philosophy (N. C...

D. seems to be saying that philosophy itself has gradually proceeded, at various lurches, backtracks, and leaps, away from system to something more literary. This leads us closer to lebensphilosophie, which D. appears to privilege, though he'd probably say he's not privileging anything. The progression works from Aurelius, to Montaigne, to Carlyle, to Nietzsche.

Fortunately, this is a slender volume. But Dilthey is just as dense as one expects their German Philosophers to be. D.'s goal here, as announced in the title and intro, is to decoct a viable meta-definition of philosophy in the same way that philosophers struggle to patch together a coherent and tenable definition of art. With an aspiration towards D.'s own special brand of "Human Sciences."