Presentation

Abstract

The following three articles originated in papers given at a workshop on approaches to Intellectual History at the European University Institute in March 2013. They are symptomatic of new ways of thinking about intellectual history in Britain, which is, I believe, going through somewhat of a revival, accompanied by the breaking down of some of the barriers between it and other types of historical inquiry. While the so-called ‘Cambridge School’ remains of course a reference, as is evident from these three contributions, the scope of intellectual history is being broadened and certain practices are being rethought. This is the interest of these articles. Their authors come from different backgrounds and they deal with very different subjects: Sarah Hutton reflects on the relationship between intellectual history and the history of philosophy and on how to write a philosophical history of philosophy; Gregory Claeys looks back on his own practice of the discipline and reflects on how to approach the history of socialism in a more historical manner; Cesare Cuttica discusses the work of John Burrow and the lessons of his writings at a moment which seems sadly to herald the demise of the ‘Sussex school’, of which he was a leading member.