This book is an engagement between a great modern philosopher defending classical philosophy against an army of challengers to the very notion of philosophy as classicaly conceived. It is written very much in the spirit of the "scholastic disputations" in the medieval universities, which produced the great Summas: a mutual search for truth, a philosophical laboratory, a careful winnowing of each objection.

In order to combat modern misunderstandings of challenges to the classical concepts of philosophy, Pieper shows us the unique and uniquely valuable thing philosophy is as conceived by his masters: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and above all, Aquinas. Along this path he scatters gems of insight, such as: art and religion as philosophy's defenders; the relationship between philosophy and science; philosophy as "seeing and saying"; and philosophy as rooted in meditation and loving contemplation.

"Philosophy has never had a more convincing defender than Josef Pieper. The Ignatius Press continues to put us in their debt by making available to English readers more and more titles of this engaging, artful, and edifying Thomist. Pieper speaks out of the abundance of his heart and mind where knowledge has become wisdom. In Defense of Philosophy is a book everyone should read before and during a first course in philosophy. And after the last. Pieper never forgets that philosophizing is something human beings do and should be the better for doing."
- Ralph McInerny
Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Philosophy
University of Notre Dame