Listen to the dead with your eyes

Victor Delbos’s historiographic-philosophical proposal

Authors

  • Lucas Vinicius Correa Rodrigues Universidade de São Paulo

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18764/2675-8369v3n2.2025.01

Keywords:

Philosophy, History of philosophy, Historiography

Abstract

Abstract: This article revisits Victor Delbos’s historiographic-philosophical proposal in light of Roger Chartier’s call to “listen to the dead with your eyes.” Focusing on three key texts from 1917, the article explores Delbos’s answers to three central questions: (1) What is the history of philosophy?; (2) What is its method?; and (3) What is meant by philosophy? According to Delbos, philosophy emerges from an “anguish of truth” and constitutes an intellectual effort toward the total organization of knowledge. He conceives the history of philosophy not as a mere archaeology of ideas but as an intellectual resurrection, treating past philosophical systems as partial expressions of an ideal interiority of human spirit. This conception leads to his idea of a “metaphysical animism,” in which philosophical systems express a living, interior truth. The article argues that Delbos’s integration of reason with historical. 

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References

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Published

2026-02-04

How to Cite

CORREA RODRIGUES, Lucas Vinicius.
Listen to the dead with your eyes : Victor Delbos’s historiographic-philosophical proposal
. Barricadas: Revista de Filosofia e Interdisciplinaridade, v. 3, n. 2, p. 1–15, 4 Feb. 2026 Disponível em: https://periodicoseletronicos.ufma.br/index.php/barricadas/article/view/26973. Acesso em: 17 feb. 2026.