This book punctuates the moments of crisis in continental thought from the foundational crisis of reason in Husserl's call for a rigorous science of phenomenology to the current crisis of postmodernism and its rejection of Husserl's metanarrative of history and rationality. The mediating links between these moments is the centrality of the epochal history of Being, the power of cultural and disciplinary practices, and the dispersal of meaning in the post-Husserlian and post-subjective philosophies of Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida, and others. Included here are the thoughts of leading scholars who critically discuss Husserl's analysis of the crisis of Western thought and the importance of the concepts of "world" in Husserl's early writings. The authors analyze the deprivileging of philosophy as social critique through the text of Husserl, Habermas, Foucault, and recent feminist theory. They examine the end of the epistemological and morally autonomous subject in continental thought. Together, these thoughts articulate multiple points or moments of crisis without cure or end.

Continental philosophy has traditionally seen philosophy as historical, claiming that there are no new beginnings in the discipline, and that we must revisit the work of earlier thinkers again and again. Yet, continental philosophers rarely argue explicitly for their view of philosophy's past, and the discussions of the topic that exist tend to be riddled with confusion. Here, Robert Piercey asks why, and explores what the continental tradition must do to come to terms with this crisis. Piercey traces the confusion about history back to Hegel, who he argues sends a mixed message about historical thinking, one that is later adopted by Heidegger and then passed on to his successors. In addition to telling the story of this crisis, Piercey offers an account of historical thinking that does not lead to the difficulties that currently plague the continental tradition. The result is a highly original look at the development of continental thought and the nature of philosophy's historical turn.

This book punctuates the moments of crisis in continental thought from the foundational crisis of reason in Husserl’s call for a rigorous science of phenomenology to the current crisis of postmodernism and its rejection of Husserl’s metanarrative of history and rationality. The mediating links between these moments is the centrality of the epochal history of Being, the power of cultural and disciplinary practices, and the dispersal of meaning in the post-Husserlian and post-subjective philosophies of Heidegger, Foucault, Derrida, and others. Included here are the thoughts of leading scholars who critically discuss Husserl’s analysis of the crisis of Western thought and the importance of the concepts of “world” in Husserl’s early writings. The authors analyze the deprivileging of philosophy as social critique through the text of Husserl, Habermas, Foucault, and recent feminist theory. They examine the end of the epistemological and morally autonomous subject in continental thought. Together, these thoughts articulate multiple points or moments of crisis without cure or end.

This book offers the first full account of Continental contributions to the philosophy of language. It includes coverage of a range of key figures including Heidegger, Gadamer, Blanchot and Kristeva and is designed to engage advanced students with a range of literary references and case studies.

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 SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Continental Philosophy of Science provides an expert guideto the major twentieth-century French and German philosophicalthinking on science. A comprehensive introduction by the editor provides a unifiedinterpretative survey of continental work on philosophy ofscience. Interpretative essays are complemented by key primary-sourceselections. Includes previously untranslated texts by Bergson, Bachelard,and Canguilhem and new translations of texts by Hegel andCassirer. Contributors include Terry Pinkard, Jean Gayon, RichardTieszen, Michael Friedman, Joseph Rouse, Mary Tiles,Hans-Jöerg Rheinberger, Linda Alcoff, Todd May, Axel Honneth,and Penelope Deutscher.