The Founding of the Journal of the History of Philosophy

Abstract

The Founding of the Journalof the HistoryofPhilosophy E. W. STRONG THE JOURNAL ORIGINATEDin an action taken at the fifty-fourth meeting of the Eastern Division of the American Philosophical Association in December 1957. The Eastern Division approved in principle "the establishment of a journal devoted to the history of philosophy and the appointment of a committee to explore ways and means to this end. ''~ In selecting members to serve on this special committee, the Eastern Division recognized a general interest of the whole membership of the A.P.A. in the proposed undertaking . Accordingly, the "Special Committee of the Eastern Division to Investigate the Establishment of the Journal of the History of Philosophy" was composed to afford equal representation from each of the three divisions. Appointed on March 3, 1958, the committee had the following membership: Eastern Division: Paul O. Kristeller and Gregory Vlastos (Chairman) Western Division: Richard P. McKeon and Julius R. Weinberg Pacific Division: John D. Goheen and Edward W. Strong The special committee never met as a committee for the simple reason that no funds were made available for this purpose. Professor Vlastos noted this fact in the first sentence of his report to the fifty-fifth meeting of the Eastern Division in December 1958, but added that "We have, however, engaged in frequent and copious correspondence, and are able to report our findings at this time." The report stated: (1) Opinions of the editors of existing journals. Six of the leading American philosophical journals replied to our request for an expression of opinion (Ethics,Journal of the History of Ideas, Journal of Philosophy,Journal of Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophical Review, Review of ' ProceedingsandAddressesoftheAmericanPhilosophicalAssociation(1957-1958):88. [179] 18o (2) JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Metaphysics). Four expressed themselves against the desirability of the proposed journal, three of these arguing that the need for more space for work in the history of philosophy could be best met by special subsidies to the existing journals to enable them to provide for it, while one stated that his journal was now accepting all worthy historical papers submitted to it. A fifth strongly favored the desirability of the proposed journal, while a sixth whether there might American philosophy. Committee agreement on was open-minded on the subject but wondered not be an even greater need for a journal in the desirability of a journal to be devoted exclusively to the history of philosophy. There was no support within the Committee for the proposition that the need for a journal in American philosophy is greater than for one in the history of philosophy. Nor was there any concurrence with the feasibility of securing and distributing subsidies to existing journals to enable them to give more space to historical papers. The Committee then reached unanimous agreement on the desirability of a new journal which could print more articles embodying fundamental research in the history of philosophy, give more space to critical notices and reviews of current works in this field, encourage more discussions , and publish reports on such matters as editions of hitherto unpublished works, new editions of previously published ones, new translations, commentaries, and the like. We feel that the existence of such a journal would arouse greater interest in philosophy scholarship, would produce livelier, more frequent, and better informed discussions of historical topics, and would thus help to improve the quality both of research and teaching in this field. (3) Costof the proposedjournal. We are much indebted to President Frederick Burkhardt of the American Council of Learned Societies for giving us the benefits of the experience of the A.C.L.S. Committee on Scholarly Publications, which has investigated the problems of the scholars and scholarly journals in the humanities. He secured for us the following estimate of costs for the type of journal under consideration: For 5oo copies of an 8o-page journal, published quarterly, by letter-press, the most would be about $4,5oo annually for manufacture, $2oo for mailing , and $376 for "subscription services." The manufacture costs might be reduced by $x,ooo or more byoff-set printing with typewrite composition . Thus the total cost might run from slightly over $5,ooo to possibly under...