An Interview with Beatrice Longuenesse - Stanford University ...

80 AN INTERVIEWphilosophy, rather than doing what might turn out to be a combinationof half-baked contemporary philosophy and half-baked history ofphilosophy. I have no knock down answer to this worry. I am convincedthat we have nothing to gain from trying to sanitize philosophers ofthe past or trying to water down what makes their ways of thinkingradically different from ours. But on the other hand, recognizingcommon concerns and being aware of the radical differences as well asthe points of convergence is part of what allows us to keep the necessarydistance and critical stance on what we are doing today.