Contemporary philosophy is the period in the history of philosophy that began at the end of the nineteenth century with the rise of analytic and continental philosophy and that extends into the present. Continental philosophy began with the work of Brentano, Husserl, and Reinach on the development of the philosophical method of phenomenology. This development was roughly contemporaneous with work by Gottlob Frege and Bertrand Russell inaugurating a new philosophical method based on the analysis of language via modern logic (thus the term "analytic philosophy").^[1]

Analytic Philosophy

In English-speaking countries, academic analytic philosophy was pre-occupied with the later writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein and ordinary language.^[2][3][4] In Canada and the United States, pragmatism as practised by John Dewey also shared the philosophical scene with ordinary language.^[5] Philosophy in the Soviet Union was mostly nihilist, Marxist and neo-Marxist, such as Marxism-Leninism and Stalinism.^[6]

Ordinary language philosophy declined in popularity in the 1970s, giving rise to an emphasis on the philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.^[7] Other analytic philosophers, such as Richard Rorty, even called for a major overhaul of the analytic philosophic.^[4]

Continental Philosophy

At its height, existentialism was as much a popular mainstream trend and literary phenomenon as it was a philosophical movement. From top-left clockwise: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Kafka, Dostoevsky^[8]

In Europe excluding Britain, process philosophy, existentialism and existential phenomenology were leading philosophical movements.^[9][10][11]

The 1960s and 1970s overturned the dominance of the aforementioned schools. The revival of the writings of Ferdinand de Saussure produced structuralism and its associated critics (poststructuralism, deconstruction), which occupies European philosophy today.^[12] The decline and subsequent fall of the Soviet Union also reduced the influence of Marxism in Soviet philosophy.^[6]

Philosophy in Popular Culture

Philosophy has re-entered popular culture through the work of authors such as Alain de Botton and Peter Singer. This trend is reinforced by the recent increase in films with philosophical content. Some films, such as Fight Club, eXistenZ, The Matrix trilogy, Little Miss Sunshine, The Dark Knight and Waking Life have philosophical themes underpinning their overarching plots. Other films attempt to be overtly philosophical, such as I ? Huckabees.

See also

• 20th-century philosophy
• Deconstruction
• Postanalytic philosophy
• Poststructuralism

Footnotes and references

Further reading

Topics

Philosophy of mind

• Stich, Stephen P. The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind. ISBN 0631217754
• Smith, David Woodruff and Amie L. Thomasson. Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind. ISBN 0199272441

Philosophy of religion

• Creegan, Charles L. Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard. ISBN 0415000661
• Nielsen, Kai and D.Z. Phillips. Wittgensteinian Fideism? ISBN 0334040051
• Taliaferro, Charles and Philip L. Quinn. A Companion to the Philosophy of Religion. ISBN 0631213287
• Wainwright, William J. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion. ISBN 0195138090
• Zagzebski, Linda. Philosophy of Religion: An Historical Introduction. ISBN 1405118725

Philosophy of science

• Feyerabend, Paul. Against Method. ISBN 0226467759
• Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. ISBN 0226458083

Political philosophy

• Kymlicka, Will. Contemporary Political Philosophy. ISBN 0198782748

Schools

Deconstruction

• Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. ISBN 0801858305

Postanalytic philosophy

• Rorty, Richard. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. ISBN 0691020167

External links

• www.the-philosopher.co.uk

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