The lectures published here were delivered as a series with the general title ‘Philosophy in history’ at the Johns Hopkins University during 1982–3. The series was made possible by a grant from the Exxon Education Foundation, whose president, Dr Robert Payton, did everything a patient and generous friend could do in assisting us at every stage of our venture. His encouragement and faith in the project remained cheering and constant through all the changes in our plans. For his confidence, and for the graciousness of the Foundation, we are deeply grateful.

We wish to thank the Johns Hopkins University for donating the use of its accounting offices and for providing us with facilities for holding the lectures. The practical burdens of arrangements were largely carried by Ms Nancy Thompson of the Johns Hopkins University Philosophy Department, who handled transatlantic complexities and local emergencies with equal skill and patience. We offer her our warmest thanks. We also wish to thank Mr. T. Cleveland for his assistance, and to express our deep gratitude to Jonathan Sinclair-Wilson, our Editor at the Cambridge University Press, and to Elizabeth O'Beirne-Ranelagh, who sub-edited our typescript, for the care and efficiency they have displayed at every stage in the production of this book.

In commissioning the essays that follow, we had in mind the desirability of including particular case-studies as well as more general reflections on the relationship between philosophy and its history.