Historians of astronomy, linguistics or ancient Indian medicine are expected to be more or less familiar with the modern counterparts of these disciplines. What about philosophy? What is more, is there in ancient India such a thing as philosophy whose history one might study? If so, who will be its best exegete? The philosopher attentive to systematic questions, or the historian focused on historical context? The author contributes in this article to a discussion that comes up again and again in Indian and Buddhist studies, in which he emphasizes the importance of the second approach
