Like all other Soviet philosophical disciplines, IFN had its specific nature and background: rather than being a mere "application" or "extension" of the 'system of dialectical and historical materialism", it had a status of its own as a professional discipline. IFN was an historiography and a theory of the history of philosophy, and should be seen not only as part of Soviet philosophical culture, but also from the general perspective of historiography of philosophy. Therefore, the first part of this chapter assesses the status and central issues of history of philosophy as a discipline [1.i].