Continental Philosophy
Introduction to Philosophy
Continental Philosophy
Continental philosophy, so named because it was the dominant school of thought in continental Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, originated as a response Hegel’s idea of Absolute Idealism. Comprised of various schools of thought, continental philosophy is generally identified with one of two major traditions of modern Western philosophy, existentialism and phenomenology (Moore-Bruder, 2005, p. 160).
Absolute Idealism
The philosophy of Absolute Idealism is itself a response to Kant’s philosophy “that we can have knowledge only of the world of experience and can have no knowledge of things ‘as they are in themselves’”. Absolute Idealism encompasses the belief that “reality is the expression of infinite or absolute thought or consciousness” (Moore-Bruder, 2005, p. 143). Absolute Idealism tried to reach an integrated idea of all reality that gives meaning to every facet in correlation to the total. This optimistic idealism was thought by some to ignore the “human predicament”. For philosophers Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, and Nietzsche, the universe and its human occupants are rarely rational. They viewed Hegel’s idealism as too optimistic and an inadequate method of overcoming or combating despair (Moore-Bruder, 2005, p. 161). Their philosophies were further developed by others into what are now characterized as existentialism and phenomenology.
Existentialism
Existentialism, which mushroomed over continental Europe after World War I, stemmed from the proximity of the tribulations of life. Essentially, it is the analysis of the condition of man; existentialism cha ...