== Comments == 

 Hello.  You are handling this very well. You made two points in the philosophy page that I would like to answer here, as the talk page is cluttered enough as it is.   

 1.  You say "As I understand it, there will be two kinds of sources that are helpful: notable philosophers who gave their own opinions, and notable comentators, academics and researchers (writers on philosophy etc) who summarized what the main threads in various debates were, and also often added their own views and interpretations as specialists/experts of various standings. Both are potentially useful sources. Has anyone suggested a good reason to completely exclude either?" 

 I have one reservation about the former approach, which is that when notable philosophers attempt to say something about philosophy in their philosophical work proper (as opposed to introductions for beginners, which many notable philosophers never wrote), they say things which are profound, difficult, cryptic, controversial, slanted to their own view &c.;  Thus Socrates says philosophy is like being a midwife.  Kant says it is like milking a he-goat with a sieve.  Wittgenstein says it is like getting a fly out of a fly-bottle.  I can quote you many other things like that.  The difficulty here is that such remarks require interpretation, and I read WP:OR as specifically warning against any source that requires interpretation.  Thus I prefer the rather dull and prosaic definitions you find in sources by authoritative writers, like Quinton or Ayer or others, aimed at a beginner audience.  Which is what WP should be. 

 2.  You also asked for a brief flavour of what the dispute is about.  Easy.  The whole controversy is about whether the method of philosophy should be characterised is rational, logical, critical &c.;  It's odd, because all professionally trained philosophers agree at least on that (thought on not much else).  Yet the debate is raging around that.  It's mostly due to the fact that it is very much between professionally trained philosophers, and people who are not.   

 Hope that helps.