- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (23 Sep 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1557868816
- ISBN-13: 978-1557868817
- Product Dimensions: 23.3 x 18.2 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 967,980 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Continental Philosophy: A Critical Approach: The Basics
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Product Description
Review
“Schroeder has a masterful command of the Continental tradition after Kant in European philosophy. He presents a comprehensive critical introduction to the philosophers who have shaped it, in an admirably clear and concise idiom that is readily accessible to academics, students, and general readers alike.”
Richard Schacht, University of Illinois
“This is an enormously impressive work. In the fashion of a panoramic mosaic, it assembles incisive analyses of the host of thinkers who comprise the ‘Continental Tradition’ in philosophy. Like no other book before it, it succeeds not only in helping us to understand the past, but also defines an array of future tasks that those working in this field will have to address.”
Frithjof Bergmann, University of Michigan
“Schroeder captures Continental philosophy′s complex trajectory in clear and thoughtful language. Along the way, he offers provocative challenges to many of its central figures.”
Todd May, Clemson University
Product Description
Continental Philosophy: A Critical Approach is a lucid and wide–ranging introduction to the key figures and philosophical movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Includes chapters on Hegel; Marx and Western Marxism; Schopenhauer, Freud, and Bergson; Nietzsche; hermeneutics; phenomenology; existentialism; structuralism,; poststructuralism; French feminism; and postmodernism.
Provides an ideal text or background resource for many different introductory and advanced courses on modern European philosophy.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Kant left the German Idealists a system riddled with dichotomies that threatened to undermine his achievements. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Kant left the German Idealists a system riddled with dichotomies that threatened to undermine his achievements. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This is an exceptional introduction to a vast range of thinkers, perfect for someone familiar with analytic philosophy who knows little of the continental tradition. The author's descriptions of the achievements and failings of each philosopher are fair and very clear. I was encouraged by the brief account of Kant's philosophy, which is one of the best I have read, avoiding many of the errors of other introductory texts.
Format:Paperback
The study of Continental philosophy is not a task to be undertaken lightly. Intimately connected with the rise of science and rationalism, it burst on to the intellectual map of western Europe as a way of analysing phenomena through philosophical systems, establishing a tradition which sought to unify theory and praxis to effect social change.
From the dubious questioning of Descartes and Kant through the unintelligible writings of Hegel and the impracticalities of Marxism, Continental philosophy provided some of the most widely used and ill thought out post Enlightenment attacks on existing political, social and economic institutions leading to social unrest and culminating in the emptiness of post modernism. Scattered along the way were a range of half remembered theories (hermeneutics, phenomenology, existentialism, structuralism) producing what the author calls a post-Kantian malaise.
This malaise has arisen from the poststructuralist and postmodernist critiques which rejected all previous systems of thought. "Man" was no longer considered a viable philosophical concern nor was the individual mind capable of achieving self-knowledge. However, neither movement produced a widely accepted programme which, historically, was essential to their ultimate purpose. To Schroeder, these movements have failed to replace earlier schools and should be seen in that light, as failed critiques.
Schroeder exonerates one philosophical school, that of French feminism, from criticism suggesting they had drawn on other continental movements in order "to create a new vision of feminine possibilities, feminine writing, feminist ethics, feminist epistemology and the distinctiveness of women's experience." Exactly how this adds to the sum of human knowledge is not made clear.
Schroeder argues the strength of Continental philosophy is its systematic approach, its examination of some central features of human life, its exploration of key evaluative issues of the time and a distinctive approach to language and the linguistic dimension of philosophy. He seeks to show how postmodernist attacks have failed to undermine these strengths. Its weakness remains a tendency towards historicism and Kant's notion that the nature of knowledge and experience is restrained by conditions which are not directly accessible to empirical enquiry.
The book provides introductions on the core contributions of each philosophical movement, following it with individual studies of the main figures associated with that movement. It also provides an assessment at the end of each chapter although this tends to take the form of a critique. As a direct attack on the assumptions of humanism it is thought provoking. As an effective analysis it perhaps lacks the time and place values of readers brought up in the analytical tradition. Well worth reading but not when you are in a rush or tired.
From the dubious questioning of Descartes and Kant through the unintelligible writings of Hegel and the impracticalities of Marxism, Continental philosophy provided some of the most widely used and ill thought out post Enlightenment attacks on existing political, social and economic institutions leading to social unrest and culminating in the emptiness of post modernism. Scattered along the way were a range of half remembered theories (hermeneutics, phenomenology, existentialism, structuralism) producing what the author calls a post-Kantian malaise.
This malaise has arisen from the poststructuralist and postmodernist critiques which rejected all previous systems of thought. "Man" was no longer considered a viable philosophical concern nor was the individual mind capable of achieving self-knowledge. However, neither movement produced a widely accepted programme which, historically, was essential to their ultimate purpose. To Schroeder, these movements have failed to replace earlier schools and should be seen in that light, as failed critiques.
Schroeder exonerates one philosophical school, that of French feminism, from criticism suggesting they had drawn on other continental movements in order "to create a new vision of feminine possibilities, feminine writing, feminist ethics, feminist epistemology and the distinctiveness of women's experience." Exactly how this adds to the sum of human knowledge is not made clear.
Schroeder argues the strength of Continental philosophy is its systematic approach, its examination of some central features of human life, its exploration of key evaluative issues of the time and a distinctive approach to language and the linguistic dimension of philosophy. He seeks to show how postmodernist attacks have failed to undermine these strengths. Its weakness remains a tendency towards historicism and Kant's notion that the nature of knowledge and experience is restrained by conditions which are not directly accessible to empirical enquiry.
The book provides introductions on the core contributions of each philosophical movement, following it with individual studies of the main figures associated with that movement. It also provides an assessment at the end of each chapter although this tends to take the form of a critique. As a direct attack on the assumptions of humanism it is thought provoking. As an effective analysis it perhaps lacks the time and place values of readers brought up in the analytical tradition. Well worth reading but not when you are in a rush or tired.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A very good overview
4 April 2007
Format:Paperback
I want to more or less second what Cary Nelson has said about this fine book. (I don't want to second what Lars from Norway says about this fine book ... because I don't i) know what he said, and ii) suspect it wasn't anything to do with this book at all.)
William Schroeder has apparently been teaching continental philosophy for years. It shows. This work bespeaks a genuine knowledge of the details of many thinkers. He starts with an overview of modern philosophy (like so many others, he starts with Descartes). Kant and Hegel (and Marx) -- rightly -- figure prominently. Then he moves on to discuss Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, Bergson, before turning to the various "isms" writers. He treats Phenomenology; then Sartre and Heidegger, in a section on Existentialism; and then the Structuralists. Upon reading this chapter, one is struck again by the sheer bizarreness of the Structuralist undertaking. No wonder it was ripe for the overthrowing ... by what Schroeder calls the theorists of "dispersion": Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, Lyotard, etc. He has a section on French Feminist theory, a movement he thinks avoids some of the mistakes of the other movements he has covered. Overall, this is a very smart and clear book. Schroeder writes in a graceful manner, but I'm not sure I'd agree that it is exciting. Words like painstaking, lucid and thorough spring to mind instead of exciting.
The most notable thing about this book is the author's brief yet very careful exposition of each philosopher's weak spots. This occurs in every section, in concluding subsections entitled "assessments". I enjoyed these subsections immensely. In a few pages, deftly but devastatingly, Schroeder shows just where and why major (or more exactly "major") have gone wrong. This is important, because many of the thinkers treated in this book are venerated as prophets or gurus by their followers, and for that reason are rarely challenged. Students will enjoy this excellent overview, and seasoned cynics will enjoy its arguments and clarity.
William Schroeder has apparently been teaching continental philosophy for years. It shows. This work bespeaks a genuine knowledge of the details of many thinkers. He starts with an overview of modern philosophy (like so many others, he starts with Descartes). Kant and Hegel (and Marx) -- rightly -- figure prominently. Then he moves on to discuss Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Freud, Bergson, before turning to the various "isms" writers. He treats Phenomenology; then Sartre and Heidegger, in a section on Existentialism; and then the Structuralists. Upon reading this chapter, one is struck again by the sheer bizarreness of the Structuralist undertaking. No wonder it was ripe for the overthrowing ... by what Schroeder calls the theorists of "dispersion": Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze, Lyotard, etc. He has a section on French Feminist theory, a movement he thinks avoids some of the mistakes of the other movements he has covered. Overall, this is a very smart and clear book. Schroeder writes in a graceful manner, but I'm not sure I'd agree that it is exciting. Words like painstaking, lucid and thorough spring to mind instead of exciting.
The most notable thing about this book is the author's brief yet very careful exposition of each philosopher's weak spots. This occurs in every section, in concluding subsections entitled "assessments". I enjoyed these subsections immensely. In a few pages, deftly but devastatingly, Schroeder shows just where and why major (or more exactly "major") have gone wrong. This is important, because many of the thinkers treated in this book are venerated as prophets or gurus by their followers, and for that reason are rarely challenged. Students will enjoy this excellent overview, and seasoned cynics will enjoy its arguments and clarity.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Debating With the Masters
18 Dec 2004
Format:Paperback
Schroeder's book may be the best existing overview of continental philosophy. It's not just a summary. It's a provocative review of each theory's basic positions, one you may at times both agree and disagree with. It's a book you'll reread and use often. A great book both for both philosophy courses and general readers.
4 of 22 people found the following review helpful
how to (and should I?) read a philosopher
27 Feb 2006
Format:Paperback
i have not read the whole book, and will not rate it (i had to put the stars there, so i gave it an average, to keep it open). i have just read one chapter, the one that speaks of deleuze (+foucault and derrida), and since im studying him at the moment, i felt a need to post some comments.
sadly, there are an overweight of misunderstandings, misreadings and mischievous comments when it comes to the anglo-american (excuse such big concepts) reception of deleuze (just check out the reviews of thousand plateaus and antioedipus her at amazon, its great fun. and simon blackburn, in his oxford dictionary of philosophy, refuses to call deleuze a philosopher, he names him a theorist. that he has not given him a entry on his own, but is just mentioned in the article on de Sade is more acceptable). Schroeder is not mischievous at least, but his reading is still bad.
To say that thousand plateaus is written for artist, politically active ++ and not for philosophers...well, how is that even possible to write something like that if you have read the book? the list goes on, from the more superficial to theoretical misunderstandings.
my objection is that, isnt it better to not write an article than writing such a bad one?
the conflict between the two great divides in philosophy aint getting any better with such readings. im just hoping that the rest of the book is that bad.
(i have read quite a lot about a similar case such as this, about the reception of derrida in my own country norway. i am over and over again amazed how terribly wrong it is possible to misread a philosopher. it often almost a case of mr jekyll and dr hyde, where a philosopher writes a lot of good books on many subject, and then (in the night?) writes some brainless mush about a philosophy he hasnt understood at all. and i am asking again, how is this possible? this isnt the way to start a constructive dialouge...)
is this gap really impossible to bridge?
sadly, there are an overweight of misunderstandings, misreadings and mischievous comments when it comes to the anglo-american (excuse such big concepts) reception of deleuze (just check out the reviews of thousand plateaus and antioedipus her at amazon, its great fun. and simon blackburn, in his oxford dictionary of philosophy, refuses to call deleuze a philosopher, he names him a theorist. that he has not given him a entry on his own, but is just mentioned in the article on de Sade is more acceptable). Schroeder is not mischievous at least, but his reading is still bad.
To say that thousand plateaus is written for artist, politically active ++ and not for philosophers...well, how is that even possible to write something like that if you have read the book? the list goes on, from the more superficial to theoretical misunderstandings.
my objection is that, isnt it better to not write an article than writing such a bad one?
the conflict between the two great divides in philosophy aint getting any better with such readings. im just hoping that the rest of the book is that bad.
(i have read quite a lot about a similar case such as this, about the reception of derrida in my own country norway. i am over and over again amazed how terribly wrong it is possible to misread a philosopher. it often almost a case of mr jekyll and dr hyde, where a philosopher writes a lot of good books on many subject, and then (in the night?) writes some brainless mush about a philosophy he hasnt understood at all. and i am asking again, how is this possible? this isnt the way to start a constructive dialouge...)
is this gap really impossible to bridge?
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