Abstract

This essay attempts to trace the fundamental stages in the constitution of the history of philosophy as an autonomous discipline between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, starting with a commentary on Roberto Bordoli’s recent volume Le idee che migliorano (The Ideas that Improve). The path offered by Bordoli’s punctual and original reconstruction provides an opportunity to discuss the status of philosophy, its relationship with history and its link with modernity. As a discipline born in the modern age, the history of philosophy has an undeniable emancipatory potential. But at the same time, as a discipline born in those years, it also brings with it shadowy areas that deserve to be explored in depth.