-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| |||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Simon Critchley's Very Short Introduction shows that Continental philosophy encompasses a distinct set of philosophical traditions and practices, with a compelling range of problems all too often ignored by the analytic tradition. He discusses the ideas and approaches of philosophers such as Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Habermas, Foucault, and Derrida, and introduces key concepts such as existentialism, nihilism, and phenomenology by explaining their place in the Continental tradition.
About the Author
Simon Critchley is Reader in Philosophy at Essex and Directeur de Programme at the Collège International de Philosophie, Paris. He is author of The Ethics of Deconstruction (Blackwell, 1992), Very Little Almost Nothing (Routledge, 1997), and Ethics, Politics, Subjectivity (Verso, 1998), and has also edited a number of collections, including the Blackwell Companion to Continental Philosophy.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
First Sentence
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Philosophy is the love of wisdom. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I have read other introductions to continental philosophy by Robert Solomon and David West. These are both very good but this book sets itself apart by the engaging way in which it is written and is a better first text than these two for that reason. The book is illuminated by a very personal, characterful, style, without sacrificing clarity and rigour. As you read it, you can almost imagine Critchley talking to you face-to-face. Critchley doesn't attempt to provide a summary of the thoughts of the major continental philosophers - as do Solomon and West - but instead looks, among other things, at how continental philosophy can be contrasted with analytical philosophy. This book is therefore almost an introduction to analytical philosophy too. The relevance and fascination of the subject is brought sharply into focus. The comprehensive references/bibliography will point you in the right direction if you wish to pursue the ideas further. If your enthusiasm for continental philosophy is in need of renewal or has yet to develop then this is the book for you!
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Nicely written - in an 'over a dinner conversational' style. This book however does seem to assume that you already know quite a bit about philosophy. The frequently re-emphasised theme seems to be about giving an answer to the question 'does wisdom have a place in a scientific world?' The conclusions of the Anglo American philosophy style tends towards a 'no' answer, but the 'continental' way towards a 'yes'. However, the author advises, there needs to be a path chosen to avoid the extremes of scientism and obsurantism. I wasn't expecting such a personal opinion type of book. To make sense of some of the book I had to make extensive use of Wikipedia to find out about all the people and ideas mentioned in the book - Habermas and Levinas etc - I would have preferred it if the book saved me from having to go to Wikipedia so frequently (pleasant as this is - but you do get easily sidelined). Some of the vocabularly is technical and not explained before its used. Still not sure what 'hermeneutic' means and its about the most frequently used adjective in the book.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Part of a series by Oxford University Press, this book, 'Continental Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction', follows the same format as other texts in the Very Short Introduction series -- it has fewer than 150 pages, is well indexed, accessible and interesting narrative, and captures the essence in a very short space the major points of its topic. There are probably nearing 100 volumes in this Very Short Introduction series (making it, ironically, not a Very Short series), but among those that I have read, this text stands out as being one of the best.
Simon Critchley is Reader in Philosophy at the University of Essex and Directeur de Programme at the College International de Philosophie, Paris. He is well versed in Continental Philosophy, particularly as it diverges from British and North American developments in philosophy. The text here begins (more or less) with Kant, and goes forward to the twentieth century, dominated also by German and French thinkers.
Critchley argues, in fact, there is no unified, systematic body of work one should call 'Continental Philosophy', but rather that it consists of eclectic and divergent voices bound sometimes by little more than geographic proximity. That having been said, Critchley does work through some major strands and commonalities of approach, or at the very least some vision of the progress of philosophy from one to the other, influences and reactions.
In all, this text is a good read, but given its presupposition about the state of philosophical knowledge on the part of the reader, this should not be assumed to be a first text (in the more traditional sense that 'introduction' seems to imply). It helps here if one already knows the major positions of the major philosophers (and wouldn't hurt if one already knew what thinkers like Derrida also thought of them).
Like other books in this Very Short series, there are occasional graphics and pictures, and suggestions for further reading, should the Very Short introduction not prove sufficient (and for many, this sample will leave the reader wanting more). I cannot speak too highly of this series. This particular volume, however, is to a certain extent what it says it is, too precisely -- it is not an introduction (however long) to philosophy, but rather presupposes some familiarity with philosophy, and looks at the advent or introduction of what turned out to be the major themes in Continental Philosophy.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Essential introduction
Great introduction to Continental philosophy, especially for those who have been taught within an analytic environment. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Bob Breckwoldt
A very lucid approach
Critchey is able, in a very competent way, to introduce the reader to the autonomous value of
the continental philosophical approach vs analytical one. Read more
the continental philosophical approach vs analytical one. Read more
Published 15 months ago by J. RIBEIRO
Critchley attempts the impossible... and almost pulls it off
This is a very ambitious book. Operating on multiple levels, Simon Critchley attempts to a) discuss the analytical/continental divide and set it in its historical context, b) trace... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Cheese Steak Jimmy
Critchley A V. Short Intro to Continental Philosophy
DisappointingI for what it claims to be. I find my self in agreement with the review by C. Chalk above. Read more
Published on 4 Feb 2010 by Ian Holliday
Fascinating but hardly an introduction
Critchley is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Essex; he has a predeliction for the phrase 'or whatever' which occurs frequently in the text - just one instance of poor... Read more
Published on 29 Dec 2009 by Martin White
A very useful and enjoyable overview
This is a great little book that explains the reasons why post Kantian Western philosophy appeared to go in to divergent directions which ceased to communicate with one another. Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2008 by Worcesterpearmain
Not just an introduction but a taster...
Simon Critchley's short introduction reads like a pamphlet. It is an excellent little book that gives you a taste of Continental Philosophy. Read more
Published on 20 May 2008 by N. A. Bakhshov
An unusual, enlightening overview of continental philosophy
Simon Critchley offers a stimulating and pretty clear overview of the continental philosophical tradition by comparing and contrasting it with analytic philosophy. Read more
Published on 8 July 2001
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
