What is Intellectual History?

Intellectual history is an unusual discipline, eclectic in both method and subject matter and therefore resistant to any single, globalized definition. Because intellectual historians are likely to disagree about the most fundamental premises of what they do, any one definition of intellectual history is bound to provoke controversy. In this essay, Peter Gordon offers a few introductory remarks about intellectual history, its origins and current directions. (To read the full essay, click here.)