Continental philosophy

Continental philosophy is an approach to or style of philosophy that became popular in the twentieth century. A clear definition is difficult as the label brings together thinkers pursuing a wide variety of approaches to philosophy. The continental refers to the fact that it is primarily writers working in Continental Europe who started this shift - specifically French, German, Italian and Spanish thinkers - and it is also used to compare it to analytic philosophy, the dominant philosophical movement in Britain and the United States at the same time. Analytic philosophy operates through logical analysis of language, following Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein, while Continental philosophy draws from a variety of philosophical positions and movements including Marxism, existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, German idealism (such as that of Hegel and Arthur Schopenhauer) and the Frankfurt School. Bertrand Russell traces the split into Continental and analytical traditions back to John Locke, while others note that the more significant split happened with Edmund Husserl's phenomenology and it's later use in the work of Martin Heidegger - broadly aligning Continental philosophy with the history of Romanticism. Michael Friedman traces the split to Heidegger and Rudolf Carnap

Currents in Continental philosophy

Continental philosophy is often focused less on abstract discussion and more on personal and cultural transformation - citing Marx's injunction to change the world rather than just study and interpret it. The broad alignment of many twentieth-century Continental philosophers with the political left during the 1960s is one explanation for this, as is the influence of existentialism and the work of thinkers like Søren Kierkegaard. The work of Michel Foucault, who attempted to provide genealogical critique of human institutions and practices including the penal system, psychiatry and sexuality, draws from the method of Friedrich Nietzsche in trying to provide a radical critique of power relationships through what some have called a hermeneutics of suspicion. Nietzsche is also cited as an inspiration for much of postmodernist thought - his style is unorthodox compared to other philosophers in it's use of extravagant polemical exaggaration, Biblical pastiche, puns, aphoristic parable and occasional lyricism, and his perspectivist approach to truth both contributed to twentieth century postmodern and Continental philosophy.

Criticism, convergence and change

In recent years, philosophers, scientists and other intellectuals have become increasingly suspicious of Continental philosophy, accusing authors within the Continental tradition of obscuritanism and misusing the language of science. The physicist Alan Sokal pulled off a hoax on Social Text, a cultural studies journal, by submitting an article which was, in his own words, "liberally salted with nonsense". The Continental philosopher Jacques Derrida was the subject of a large amount of controversy when the University of Cambridge suggested giving him an honorary degree, leading members of the University's philosophy faculty and others to object. Similarly, philosophical critics of postmodernism and related intellectual disciplines have argued that it does not take account of our shared humanity and biology - placing too much emphasis on cultural difference in it's rejection of the values of the Enlightenment.

An increasing number of philosophers are now arguing that the two traditions are slowly merging, with philosophers writing in both traditions, and students often being taught in both. The American philosopher Richard Rorty sees pragmatism as a solution to the divide between the traditions, and places the work of Continental philsophers into the realm of ironists working at self-transformation (and suitable for the private domain), while what he calls systematic philosophers can operate in the public realm.