Is old philosophy overrated? “We can learn surprisingly little about philosophical problems by studying the works of the “great” historical philosophers such as Aristotle, Hegel, or Wittgenstein” was one of the arguments Hanno Sauer stated in a recent article ‘The End of History’. To Sauer's surprise, this little provocation spread like wildfire through the philosopher's world. The article was downloaded tens of thousands of times, and a small philosophical storm arose on Twitter. In response, Sauer wondered whether he should change his position, and in what ways. So he published a critical self-rebuttal, written in the third person about himself, in which he stated that historical philosophy can advance human understanding after all (at least in some respects). Is the history of philosophy philosophically relevant? This is one of the questions Hanno Sauer likes to discuss with the audience of the Utrecht Day of Philosophy.

Hanno Sauer is associate professor in philosophy at Utrecht University. He specializes in normative ethics, metaethics and moral psychology.