Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Preface x

Introduction 1

Descartes 1

Empiricism and the Rise of Science 4

Rationalism 7

The French Enlightenment 8

Challenges to the Enlightenment: Rousseau and Romanticism 11

Kant 16

Problems with Kant’s System 20

Fichte 23

Schelling 25

Hölderlin, Novalis, and Schiller 28

1 Hegel 30

Core Contributions 30

Life 32

The Phenomenology of Spirit 33

Philosophy of History 41

Politics and Ethics 44

Aesthetics 47

Philosophy of Mind 50

The Preface to the Phenomenologyas a Transition to the System 52

The System 55

Assessment 56

2 Marx And Western Marxism 60

Marx: Core Contributions 60

Life 61

Early Marx: Alienation and Capitalism 62

The Materialist Conception of History 66

Marx’s Analysis of the Capitalist Mode of Production 71

Assessment 74

Western Marxism 76

Core Contributions 79

Gramsci 80

Horkheimer 83

Marcuse 85

Habermas 88

Assessment 91

Summary 92

3 Life-Philosophy And Subconscious Forces: Schopenhauer, Freud, And Bergson 93

Core Contributions 93

Schopenhauer 95

Freud 98

Bergson 107

Comparisons 111

Assessment 113

4 Nietzsche 117

Core Contributions 117

Life 119

On Reading Nietzsche 119

The Death of God and the Struggle Against Nihilism 120

Critique of Morality and Revaluation of Values 124

Constructive Ethics: Life-Affirmation, Power, Individuated Virtues 130

Art 132

History 134

Culture and Politics 136

Human Life and Consciousness 138

Epistemology and Metaphysics 140

New Philosophers 142

Comparisons 143

Assessment 146

5 Hermeneutics 149

Core Contributions 149

A Precursor: Schleiermacher 152

Dilthey 154

Heidegger 158

Gadamer 165

Betti 167

Comparisons 169

Assessment 170

6 Phenomenology 174

Introduction 174

Core Contributions 177

Some Types of Phenomenology 181

The Contributions of the Founder: Husserl 183

Concrete Phenomenological Studies 187

Phenomenology and Social Science 199

Other Applications 201

Comparisons 202

Assessment 203

7 Existentialism And Philosophical Anthropology 206

Core Contributions 206

Existentialism 207

Kierkegaard 209

Heidegger 215

Sartre 221

Philosophical Anthropology 228

Scheler 229

Goldstein 234

Gehlen 237

Assessment 240

8 Structuralism 243

Core Contributions 243

Saussure 245

Barthes 249

Lévi-Strauss 253

Lacan 257

Althusser 260

Barthes’s Transcendence of Structuralism 263

Assessment 264

9 Philosophies Of Dispersion 267

Introduction 267

Core Contributions 268

Foucault 271

Derrida 280

Deleuze 287

Assessment 291

10 French Feminist Philosophy 297

Core Contributions 297

De Beauvoir 299

Kristeva 305

Irigaray 310

Le Doeuff 315

Comparisons 319

Assessment 320

11 Postmodernism 323

Some Distinctions 323

Core Contributions 325

Lyotard 327

Baudrillard 332

Assessment 341

Conclusions 345

Strengths and Achievements 345

Decision-points 351

Specific Field Contributions 357

Dispersionist Challenges to the Tradition: A Response 363

Notes 374

Bibliography 403

Index 429 

About the Author

William R. Schroeder is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the author of Sartre and His Predecessors (1984) and co-editor, with Simon Critchley, of A Companion to Continental Philosophy (Blackwell, 1998).

Reviews

"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