Abstract

This book is both far reaching and tightly focused. It is an effort to recover the origins of philosophy in wonder, and particularly wonder at its own possibility. In the first half of the book, Davis discusses Heidegger, Nietzsche, Aristotle, and Plato. While acknowledging that these philosophers quite obviously differ, Davis argues that they share a core understanding of philosophy as an activity, as a verb. Philosophy raises questions about the nature of being and of the world in a self-reflective manner that necessarily leads to questions about the conditions for the possibility of asking such questions. Thus the inquiry into the nature of the world entails an inquiry into the nature of the human soul and its capacity for philosophy. This is what it means for philosophy to be autobiographical. Davis makes clear the way in which the autobiographical quality of philosophy is fundamental to each philosopher's project without claiming that his presentation of that philosopher is exhaustive.