The greatest value in teaching the history of philosophy is in the fact that, at least for the philosopher, the history of philosophy is a representation of the history of one’s own education and growth, and understanding that helps one better understand the current self, the direction of the self, and where else the self must think, learn and know in order to expand.
This may very well be a pompous thought, but it is what I have been feeling lately.
I am excited to learn more about 20th century philosophies, because although I learned about the continental side as an undergrad, and some of the analytic side as a grad, I have taken up very little of it as a teacher (other than contemporary scholarship of 17th century philosophers), which is where I have reached a clearly higher level of comprehension in many other subjects.
Natural Causes 