This chapter offers a general introductory argument for maintaining an authentically historical perspective on the main issues arising from the key texts of modern philosophy, and for approaching even the briefest subsections of these texts with sensitivity to their full historical context. Without denying the need for developing some kind of corrective to the overly historical approaches that still dominate continental philosophy, it is argued that it is important to counter stereotypical views of Anglophone philosophy and to try to explain why, after decades of neglect, historical considerations have also become central components in the writing of many leading late-20th-century analytic philosophers.
Keywords: Kantian text, historical perspective, Critique of Pure Reason, interpretation