Contemporary philosophy

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Contemporary philosophy is the present period in the history of Western philosophy beginning at the end of the nineteenth century with the rise of analytic and continental philosophy. Continental philosophy began with the work of Brentano, Husserl, and Reinach on the development of the philosophical method of phenomenology. This development was roughly contemporaneous with work by Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell inaugurating a new philosophical method based on the analysis of language via modern logic (hence the term "analytic philosophy").^[1] The relationship between philosophers who label themselves "analytic" and those who label themselves "continental" is often a hostile one, but there are some contemporary philosophers who have argued that this division is harmful to philosophy and attempt a combined approach (e.g. Richard Rorty).

The phrase "contemporary philosophy" is often confused with modern philosophy (which refers to an earlier period in Western philosophy), postmodern philosophy (which is a term associated specifically with continental philosophy), and with a non-technical use of the phrase referring to any recent philosophic work. However, the phrase "contemporary philosophy" is a piece of technical terminology in philosophy that refers to a specific period in the history of Western philosophy.

[edit] Analytic philosophy

From top-left clockwise: Gottlob Frege, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Saul Kripke. David Lewis

The analytic program in philosophy is ordinarily dated to the work of English philosophers Bertrand Russell and G. E. Moore in the early 20th century. They turned away from then-dominant forms of Hegelianism (objecting in particular to its idealism and purported obscurity)^[2][3] and began to develop a new sort of conceptual analysis, based on new developments in logic.

Although contemporary philosophers who self-identify as "analytic" have widely divergent interests, assumptions, and methods--and have often rejected the fundamental premises that defined the analytic movement between 1900 and 1960--analytic philosophy, in its contemporary state, is usually taken to be defined by a particular style ^[4] characterized by precision and thoroughness about a narrow topic, and resistance to "imprecise or cavalier discussions of broad topics."^[4]

Some analytic philosophers at the end of the 20th century, such as Richard Rorty, have called for a major overhaul of the analytic philosophic tradition. In particular, Rorty has argued that analytic philosophers must learn important lessons from the work of continental philosophers.^[5] While others, such as Timothy Williamson, have called for even stricter adherence to the methodological ideals of analytic philosophy:

We who classify ourselves as "analytic" philosophers tend to fall into the assumption that our allegiance automatically grants us methodological virtue. According to the crude stereotypes, analytic philosophers use arguments while "continental" philosophers do not. But within the analytic tradition many philosophers use arguments only to the extent that most "continental" philosophers do [...] How can we do better? We can make a useful start by getting the simple things right. Much even of analytic philosophy moves too fast in its haste to reach the sexy bits. Details are not given the care they deserve: crucial claims are vaguely stated, significant different formulations are treated as though they were equivalent, examples are under-described, arguments are gestured at rather than properly made, their form is left unexplained, and so on. [...] Philosophy has never been done for an extended period according to standards as high as those that are now already available, if only the profession will take them seriously to heart. ^[6]

[edit] Continental philosophy

At its height, existentialism was as much a popular mainstream trend and literary phenomenon as it was a philosophical movement. From top-left clockwise: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Kafka, Dostoevsky^[7]

The history of continental philosophy is usually thought to begin with German idealism.^[8] Led by figures like Fichte, Schelling, and later Hegel, German idealism developed out of the work of Immanuel Kant in the 1780s and 1790s and was closely linked with both romanticism and the revolutionary politics of the Enlightenment. Besides the central figures listed above, important contributors to German idealism also included Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, Gottlob Ernst Schulze, Karl Leonhard Reinhold, and Friedrich Schleiermacher.

As the institutional roots of "continental philosophy" in many cases directly descend from those of phenomenology,^[9] Edmund Husserl has always been a canonical figure in continental philosophy.

The term "continental philosophy", like "analytic philosophy", marks a broad range of philosophical views and approaches not easily captured in a definition. Scholar Simon Glendinning has even suggested that the term may be more pejorative than descriptive, functioning as a label for types of western philosophy rejected or disliked by analytic philosophers.^[10] Nonetheless, certain common themes have been seen to typically characterize continental philosophy:^[11]

• First, continental philosophers generally reject scientism, the view that the natural sciences are the best or most accurate way of understanding all phenomena. ^[12]

• Second, continental philosophy usually considers experience as determined at least partly by factors such as context, space and time, language, culture, or history. Thus continental philosophy tends toward historicism. Where analytic philosophy tends to treat philosophy in terms of discrete problems, capable of being analyzed apart from their historical origins.^[13]

• Third, continental philosophers tend to take a strong interest in the unity of theory and practice, and tend to see their philosophical inquiries as closely related to personal, moral, or political transformation.

• Fourth, continental philosophy has an emphasis on metaphilosophy (i.e. the study of the nature, aims, and methods of philosophy). This emphasis can also be found in analytic philosophy, but with starkly different results.

Continental philosophy is also often characterized by its critics as lacking the rigor of analytic philosophy.^{[citation needed]} A common response to this criticism is that it may reflect a misunderstanding of the point or nature of continental projects. For instance, the two camps can be seen as operating within fundamentally different language-games (or sets of language games), which in turn call for distinct sets of rules. One might also argue that the rigidity characteristic of analytic approaches is necessarily grounded in certain basic assumptions (e.g., on the nature of truth, language, or propositions) that cannot even be questioned within the rigid methodological framework that already assumes them.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] See also

• 20th-century philosophy
• Analytic philosophy
• Continental philosophy
• Deconstruction
• Logical positivism
• Ordinary language philosophy
• Postanalytic philosophy
• Poststructuralism
• Postmodern philosophy
• Social constructionism
• Western philosophy

[edit] External links

• Analytic Philosophy; Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• Conceptions of Analysis in Analytic Philosophy; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• European Society for Analytic Philosophy

[edit] Further reading

• Andrew Cutrofello, Continental Philosophy: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge (2005)
• Dummett, Michael Origins of Analytical Philosophy. Harvard University Press (1996)
• Floyd, Juliet Future Pasts: The Analytic Tradition in Twentieth-Century Philosoph Oxford University Press (2001)
• Glendinning, Simon The Idea of Continental Philosophy Edinburgh University Press (2006)
• Glock, Hans-Johann What is Analytic Philosophy?. Cambridge University Press (2008)
• Prado, C. G. A House Divided: Comparing Analytic and Continental Philosophy Humanity Books (2003)
• Martinich, A. P. Analytic Philosophy: An Anthology (Blackwell Philosophy Anthologies). Wiley-Blackwell (2001)
• Martinich, A. P. A Companion to Analytic Philosophy (Blackwell Companions to Philosophy). Wiley-Blackwell (2005)
• Simon Critchley, Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press (2001) ISBN 0-19-285359-7
• Soames, Scott, Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century, Volume 1: The Dawn of Analysis. Princeton University Press (2005)
• Soames, Scott, Philosophical Analysis in the Twentieth Century, Volume 2: The Age of Meaning. Princeton University Press (2005)
• Stroll, Avrum Twentieth-Century Analytic Philosophy. Columbia University Press (2001)
• Williamson, Timothy The Philosophy of Philosophy (The Blackwell / Brown Lectures in Philosophy). Wiley-Blackwell (2008)

[edit] Footnotes and references