RECENT HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY: CONTINENTAL PHILOSOPHY

The content of the course may vary on occasion, but its point of departure is the heritage of Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, Freud, and Husserl. All these thinkers had a major impact on the European continent and together they animated the currents that have influenced European philosophy ever since: phenomenology, existentialism, and post-structuralism represented by amongst others Heidegger, Sartre, Foucault, and Derrida. A common collective term for this tradition is “continental philosophy,” even though not all philosophers on the continent have embraced this tradition and even though it has many adherents outside of the continent. The course accentuates the historical connections of continental philosophy and highlight the points in common with British and American philosophy. The course recommends students have completed previous courses on the history of philosophy as a prerequisite.