Past philosophical systems remain historically valid even after being superseded

Evidence

To judge the whole of past philosophy as delirium and folly is not only an anti-historical error in that it makes the anachronistic claim that people in the past should have thought as we do today; it is also a real hang-over from metaphysics in that it presumes a dogmatic form of thought, valid at all times and in all countries, in the light of which the past can be judged. Methodical anti-historicism is sheer metaphysics. The fact that philosophical systems have been superseded does not exclude their once having been historically valid and having performed a necessary function. The fact that they fall by the wayside is to be considered from the point of view of the entire development of history and of the real dialectic. That they were worthy of falling is not a moral judgment nor one of mental hygiene, made from an objective point of view, but a dialectical-historical judgment. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1595

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: Defines the philosophy of praxis’s stance on past thought: dialectical-historical judgment rather than moral or anachronistic dismissal.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s toolkit need: historicizing ‘common sense’ and hegemony — past systems as historically valid stages rather than errors.

Related

• Every prior philosophy expressed social contradictions without consciously knowing them (similarity 0.86)
• Philosophical elaboration must be performed within the history of philosophy (similarity 0.83)
• Philosophy of praxis must be understood as historical methodology. (similarity 0.82)
• Philosophical truths are historically conditioned yet avoid relativism. (similarity 0.82)
• The dialectic only functions when philosophy of praxis stands as an integral philosophy. (similarity 0.81)
• Separating philosophy from history and politics reduces it to metaphysics (similarity 0.80)
• Any epoch’s philosophy is an ensemble including common sense, not a single system (similarity 0.80)
• Splitting praxis into sociology and metaphysics erases the dialectic. (similarity 0.79)
• Dismissing past thought as irrational reduces to smug presentism (similarity 0.79)
• Denigrating past doctrines creates a verbal illusion of superiority (similarity 0.79)
• Philosophy instruction must progress from common sense through religion to systems (similarity 0.79)
• Philosophy’s history must include mass worldviews and ruling groups, not just philosophers (similarity 0.78)