The present book is concerned with the nature of philosophy and with the scope of philosophical interest. It combines an analysis of the major types of philosophical thinking as they emerged in the history of philosophical ideas with an attempt to examine problems which recurrent­ ly emerge in philosophical discourse. It is from this point of view that the historical and the systematic approaches are meant to be mutually reinforcing. I am grateful to my friends who helped me to formulate the line of thinking expressed in this book: Z. Bar-On, A. Margalit, E. I. I. Poznanski, Z. Werblovsky and E. Zemach. Some years ago when