Continental philosophy is a broad tradition of philosophical thought that originated in mainland Europe, mostly in France and Germany, and has since spread to other parts of the world. It is a set of traditions that focus on topics such as phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, structuralism, post-structuralism, critical theory, and deconstruction. The term “continental philosophy” was first used in the 1950s to refer to the philosophical traditions of mainland Europe. Since then, it has come to encompass a wide variety of philosophical approaches, all of which are united by their emphasis on the interrelationships between the subject and the environment.
The history of continental philosophy is closely intertwined with the history of European culture and the development of modernity. Its roots lie in the Enlightenment, a period of intellectual and social transformation that began in the 18th century and was characterized by a focus on reason and the individual. Enlightenment thinkers such as Immanuel Kant and Friedrich Nietzsche laid the foundation for many of the ideas that would later be developed in continental philosophy. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the German philosophers Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche revolutionized philosophical thought by introducing a new focus on subjectivity and the role of the individual in the world. This subject-centered approach was further developed by the French philosophers Jean-Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida, among others.
Continental philosophy is often seen as an alternative to the analytic or Anglo-American tradition, which has its roots in the work of figures such as Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Continental philosophy is more focused on the subjective experience of the individual, while analytic philosophy is more concerned with the objective analysis of logical and linguistic structures. Continental philosophy is also often seen as an alternative to the more traditional philosophical approaches of the past, such as Aristotelianism and scholasticism.
Continental philosophy has had a significant influence on the way we think about the world today. Its emphasis on the interrelationships between the subject and the environment has led to a greater appreciation of the importance of context and the role of social and cultural factors in determining how we perceive and interact with our environment. Its focus on the individual has encouraged us to think more critically about our own beliefs and values, and to challenge the accepted norms of society.
References
Crowell, S. (2013). Continental philosophy: An introduction. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Gutting, G. (Ed.). (2005). The Cambridge companion to continental philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hegel, G. W. F. (1977). Phenomenology of spirit (A. V. Miller, Trans.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. (Original work published 1807)
Kant, I. (1998). Critique of pure reason (P. Guyer & A. W. Wood, Trans.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. (Original work published 1781)
Klein, J. (2016). Continental philosophy: What it is and why it matters. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Nietzsche, F. (1999). The Genealogy of Morals (W. Kaufmann, Trans.). New York, NY: Vintage Books. (Original work published 1887)
Sartre, J.-P. (1956). Being and nothingness: An essay on phenomenological ontology (H. Barnes, Trans.). London, UK: Routledge. (Original work published 1943)