Do Texts Have A Shelf Life?

Supersessionism, Antiquarianism, and the History of Thought

Why read Aristotle’s physics, if he’s been proven to be wrong, is the kind of question a contemporary physicist might ask if her sole goal were to master the cutting edge of her discipline.

Supersessionism is the belief that once old ideas and texts are disproven we no longer need them.

At the opposite end of the spectrum is antiquarianism, the view that things are valuable because they are old—but for no other reason than that. Being outdated is a sign of value, quaintness. One should collect texts that have lost relevance precisely because they are antiques.

A middle position is that the study of how ideas evolve, their possible turns, their limits, is just as valuable as studying “the winners.” But why?

Is the history of philosophy important to the practice of philosophy? This itself is a question philosophers debate. Hegel, Heidegger, and Gadamer, might say that philosophy is only possible as the history of philosophy. If you think that how ideas evolve matters—and not just where ideas end up—than you should start at the beginning, reading thinkers who are outdated. But if you think that the only goal is arriving at the right theories, then you’ll likely want to save time wading through difficult prose and just cut to the chase.

---

What is Called Thinking? is a practice of asking a daily question on the belief that self-reflection brings awe, joy, and enrichment to one’s life. Consider becoming a subscriber to support this project and access subscriber-only content.

You can read my weekly Torah commentary here.