Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life

by Clare Mac Cumhaill

Now on two feet, he sketches for Philippa his vision of philosophy. The philosopher must learn to think historically, Donald MacKinnon tells her – his own undergraduate brush with R. G. Collingwood’s philosophy of history fresh in his mind.[221] Our enquiries are not isolated from history nor from ourselves. Historical causes point human intellectual attention in a particular direction;[222] each philosopher must ask herself how far her historical situation and condition determine her undertaking and the principles that inform her procedure.[223] Philosophy, he continues, is an expression and an index of human dignity. A human being is an animal, and its nature – its essence – is expressed in its curiosity and imagination. Human animals speak and ask questions about goodness and beauty, meaning and truth.