philosophy, continental

   The term 'continental philosophy' identifies the separation of philosophy on the European mainland from that of the UK and North America (analytical philosophy) in the early twentieth century. Continental philosophy developed out of the phenomenology of Husserl (though it increasingly abandoned his search for a scientific philosophy), and developed through existentialist, hermeneutical, structuralist and deconstructionist phases (Jacques Derrida). While analytical philosophers focus on technical analysis, continental philosophers view their practice in greater continuity with other disciplines in the humanities such as literature, history and, to some extent, the social sciences. As such, their philosophical style is more parabolic, narratival, and heuristic than propositional, expository and rational. Some Christian philosophers have seen these trends as in accord with a biblical humility serving as a fitting critique to the pretensions of ontotheology; critics reject continental philosophy as lacking in intellectual rigour and, at its worst, perpetuating obfuscation. Christian critics also worry that anti-Christian and even atheistic assumptions are embedded in this approach.

   See Derrida, Jacques; existentialism; Heidegger, Martin; Hermeneutics; ontotheology; postmodernism; Ricoeur, Paul

   Further reading: Kearney 2003; McNeill and Feldman 1998; Schroeder 2005; Solomon and Sherman 2003