Continental Philosophy in the 20th Century: Routledge History of Philosophy Volume 8

Routledge History of Philosophy #8

by Richard Kearney (Editor )

Continental philosophy, as it has emerged in the twentieth century, is less a seamless fabric than a patchquilt of diverse strands. Phenomenology, hermeneutics, existentialism, structuralism, critical theory, deconstruction - these are some of the salient movements which have developed in continental Europe between 1900 and the 1990's, though their influence is by no means confined to geographic location. Continental thought has proved highly exportable, circulating far beyond the frontiers of Europe to provoke strong responses in the intellectual world at large. The fifteen articles in this volume outline and assess some of the issues and experiments of continental philosophy. The first five span the twin movements of phenomenology and existentialism, running from Husserl and Heidegger to Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Levinas. Subsequent essays deal with specific currents of continental thought in such areas as science, Marxism, linguistics, politics, aesthetics, feminism and hermeneutics. A final chapter on postmodernism highlights the manner in which so many concerns of continental thought culminate in a radical anti-foundationalism. This volume provides a broad, scholarly introduction to this period for students of philosophy and related disciplines, as well as some original interpretations of these authors. It includes a glossary of technical terms and a chronological tube of philosophical, scientific and other cultural events.

Genres: Philosophy, History, Reference

572 pages, Hardcover

First published January 6, 1994

About the author

Richard Kearney is the Charles Seelig professor of philosophy at Boston College and has taught at many universities including University College Dublin, the Sorbonne, and the University of Nice.

He studied at Glenstal Abbey under the Benedictines until 1972, and was a 1st Class Honours graduate in Philosophy in the Bachelor of Arts graduate class of 1975 in UCD. He completed an M.A. at McGill University with Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor, and a PhD with Paul Ricœur at University of Paris X: Nanterre. He corresponded with Jean-Paul Sartre, Jacques Derrida and other French philosophers of the era. He was also active in the Irish, British, and French media as a host for various television and radio programs on literary and philosophical themes. His work focuses on the philosophy of the narrative imagination, hermeneutics and phenomenology.