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Philosophy vocabulary · Schools and Movements

Continental philosophy

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

nounCommon term

In philosophy, continental philosophy means: A loose label for mainly French and German traditions since Kant and Hegel, including phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, critical theory and post-structuralism.

In Turkish: kıta felsefesi, Kıta Avrupası felsefesi

How it is used

The label was largely created by English-speaking philosophers to describe what they were not doing, so many of the thinkers it covers would not use it. It tends to stress history, culture, interpretation and lived experience. Often-read names: Heidegger, Sartre, Foucault, Derrida.

Example sentences

  1. Our department offers modules in both analytic and continental philosophy.

  2. Foucault is a central figure in continental philosophy, though his work also shaped history and sociology.

Common collocations

  • continental tradition
  • continental philosopher
  • analytic-continental divide
  • post-Kantian philosophy
  • analytic philosophyA style of philosophy, dominant in English-speaking universities, that stresses clear argument, logical analysis and close attention to language and science.
  • phenomenologyA philosophical method and movement that studies the structures of experience as they appear to consciousness, from the first-person point of view.
  • existentialismA philosophical movement centered on individual existence, freedom and choice, holding that people create meaning through how they live rather than finding it ready-made.
  • dialecticA method of reaching truth through the clash of opposing positions, from the questions and answers of Plato's dialogues to Hegel's account of ideas developing through contradiction.

More terms: Schools and Movements

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