"History of philosophy" encompasses a wide spectrum of activities. On the one hand, there is what I shall call "HISTORY of philosophy": though philosophy and not history, the main focus of HISTORY of philosophy is historical. HISTORY of philosophy investigates the written word of a philosopher from extant texts. At the other end of the spectrum is "history of PHILOSOPHY", i.e., philosophy done in an historial setting. In many cases, an historical figure is a foil for comparisons between that philosopher and the author. Many such comparisons depend on very general theses about the structure or implications of a philosopher"s position. These theses are often stated in modern terms, not those familiar to the historical figure. Nevertheless, it is the aim of history of PHILOSOPHY to provide insight into the views of historical figures. Much work in "history of philosophy" is somewhere between the two extremes; many passages are mixtures of various positions on the continuum for HISTORY of philosophy to history of PHILOSOPHY.