Abstract

This chapter reconstructs Kant’s argument for a Eurocentric history of philosophy. He holds that true philosophy could only have started with the Greeks and that the “Orientals,” in particular, are incapable of philosophizing. This conclusion builds on four premises. First, a rational history (_Geschichte_), contrary to an empirical history (_historia_), of philosophy is the history of reason’s self-development, which must end with the Kantian critical philosophy. Second, one cannot arrive at true philosophy through the eclectic method. Rather, to philosophize is to build systems in accordance with some rational ends. Third, philosophizing is possible only under certain conditions, including the ability to think _in abstracto_. Fourth, only the Occidental whites satisfy all those conditions, whereas all others lack the requisite talents and mental dispositions. Professional philosophers today may be unaware of this racist reasoning. But they are complicit in perpetuating, and so bear the burden to undo, its effects.