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Philosophy Then

Why Minor Figures Can Be Majorly Interesting

Peter Adamson looks at the value of looking at the overlooked.

How much would you say you know about Miskawayh? Nāgārjuna? How about Lucrezia Marinella, or Henry Odera Oruka?

Probably not much. In fact, you may not even have heard of them. These thinkers very rarely feature in the teaching of philosophy, and their writings might well be absent even in a well-stocked university library in Europe or North America, to say nothing of the average bookshop. They do not belong to that select group of philosophers whose names are familiar to almost everyone – Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Descartes – or even to the list of figures that every professional philosopher knows. They are, from the points of view both of the philosophy profession and of the wider public, minor figures.

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