Un método empírico para una historia compleja. La esencia de la historia de la filosofía según Menéndez Pelayo en La ciencia española

In this article I aim to analyze the ideas of Marcelino Menéndez Pelayo concerning the essence of the history of philosophy in the polemical context of the Ciencia española. Against a historical method that he regarded as too idealistic, Menéndez Pelayo upholds a more empirical method, based on detailed research, which enabled him to explain the complexity of the history of philosophy. His position in favour of empiricism is reflected in his rejection of the four principles embodied by the idealistic approach to the history of philosophy. Menéndez Pelayo thus becomes an energetic advocate of the empirical method as the best approach to understanding the complex and contingent course of the history of philosophy.