Continental Philosophy Essay

When beginning the breeding of ism it is hard to believe that there be so umpteen components involved with one subject. But in reality philosophy is in reality a broad term for many subtopics as is the case when discussing Continental philosophy, which is the philosophical tradition of continental Europe including phenomenology and existentialism. It entirely began with Absolute high-mindedness supported by such philosophers as Fichte and Hegel. It was during the eighteenth and 19th centuries that large amounts of historical changes taking place in the world were showing in the philosophical drifts of that season period.George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel begins the historical analysis of continental philosophy since it any begins with his theories. Though Hegels philosophies have been described as difficult his theories inning the foundation for what is now known as Hegelian idealism. His theory has tetrad main themes. The first is dependant on the Absolute and states tha t the Absolute is that which is more or less real and true and which can also think for itself.The second is base on idealism and he speaks of the objective world being an appearance of infinite purview (Moore & Bruder 2005) and that each individuals mind thought processes actu totallyy atomic number 18 reflections on themselves. The third theory is based on reality. For Hegel this was not an easily concept. To try to make it easier to understand our book tries to describe it as being similar to mathematics in that everything is coherently connected to another. So in order for something to be completely true it is dependant on all its parts to make it so.Then the forth theory is known as The Absolute and is the sum total of reality is a system of abstract triads . . . the entire system of thought and reality . . . is an integrated whole in which each proposition is logically interconnected with the rest (2005). As the nineteenth century turned into the twentieth century what seemed to transpire in philosophy was a direct result of Hegel himself. The response to Hegelian idealism in Europe became known as Continental philosophy which includes the two branches of thought that will be explored, existentialism and phenomenology.Existentialism is a philosophical movement with its main emphasis on individual existence, freedom, and choice. Existentialism became popularized in the 1900s. in the main due to what was happening during World contend II, many of the popular existentialists were impact by the traumatic world events of that time period. Albert Camus was profoundly affected by World War II and this was depicted throughout his many writings. gibe to our reading he saw much suffering and despair anterior to the war even starting. He eventually became active in well-disposed re blueprint and was a member of the communist party for a skeleton period of time.Even though he will endlessly be connected to the world of existentialism, he never accept ed that to be true. heedless of his beliefs to whether or not he was an existentialist his thought process has been forever linked. Considered to be a literary genius of his time he was awarded the Nobel observe in Literature in 1957. During the war, Camus published a number of flora which have become associated with his principle thought processes on the absurd his idea is mainly that it is impossible to make rational sense of ones friendship, and human life is made meaningless by mortality.World War II brought Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre together. Sartre is arguably the most famous existentialist. Un want Camus, Sartre was an atheist. His main beliefs stray around the fact that there is in fact no God. For Existentialists like Sartre, the absence of God has a much larger significance than the metaphysics of mankind Without God there is no purpose, no value, and no meaning in the world. Phenomenology is the second branch of Continental philosophy that has historical con nections to Hegelian idealism and thus existentialism. Phenomenology is the direct result of Edmund Husserls philosophies.According to Husserl, the goal of philosophy was to describe the selective information of consciousness without bias or prejudice, ignoring all metaphysical and scientific theories in order to accurately describe and analyze the data gathered by human senses and the mind. Phenomenology, in theory, simply explores conscious experience without making any metaphysical assumptions (2005). Martin Heidegger was another popular phenomenologist of the twentieth century. He was inspired by Husserls works. Heidegger, too, was convinced that it was necessary to look at things with fresh eyes, unshrouded by the presuppositions of the present and past (2005).According to him humans be actually ignorant to everything, what he called the true nature of Being (2005). It all goes back to Socrates and our inner search for something. In reality however Heidegger and Socrates philo sophies are not similar in anyway. To define humans as animals heart-to-heart of rational thinking is for Heidegger a distorted anthropology. He is not relate with destroying logic, the ability to formulate analogies, or to display ratios. His mission is to preserve the slender tendencies of spontaneous thought processes. By so doing Heidegger sees himself as presenting the phenomenal world.Continental philosophy is a form of philosophy that broadens the gap across the continents. It was the form of philosophy that took place in continental Europe during the twentieth century. It was during that time that the main philosophers of that time were being influenced by the terror and violence that was ring them thanks in part due to World War II. This prestigious time saw the rise in existentialism and phenomenology. References Moore, B. N. & Bruder, K. (2005). Philosophy The spot of ideas (6th ed. ). Boston McGraw-Hill Higher Education.