This work investigates the historical development of the discipline of philosophy and the evolution of how philosophers have conceptualized their own history. Michael Frede, a prominent scholar of ancient philosophy, examines the origins of the history of philosophy as a distinct academic pursuit. He analyzes how early thinkers categorized philosophical schools and how these classifications shaped subsequent interpretations of philosophical thought throughout antiquity and beyond.

Scholars recognize this text as a rigorous examination of the foundations of philosophical historiography. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and its importance for understanding the methodology behind the history of philosophy.