Philosophy Is Not Its History

The claim that philosophy is its history is widely accepted in the circle of philosophy in China.It has several interpretations: philosophy is equal to its history;the history of philosophy is a part of philosophy;and we learn philosophy by means of learning its history.These interpretations are either erroneous or obscure and misleading.A pragmatic examination of the claim shows that its dominance has led to the fact that the historiography of philosophy takes the place of philosophical inquiry and the essays for philosophical teaching take the place of research theses.The distinctive character of philosophy consists in its peculiar subject matter,questions and the ways of answering them rather than in its special relations with the history of philosophy.