Continental Philosophy
An Introduction
2. Edition December 2010
376 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
This book is a fully updated and expanded new edition of An
Introduction to Continental Philosophy, first published in
1996. It provides a clear, concise and readable introduction to
philosophy in the continental tradition. It is a wide-ranging and
reliable guide to the work of such major figures as Nietzsche,
Habermas, Heidegger, Arendt, Sartre, Foucault, Derrida and
Zizek. At the same time, it situates their thought within
a coherent overall account of the development of continental
philosophy since the Enlightenment.
Individual chapters consider the character of modernity, the
Enlightenment and its continental critics; the ideas of Marxism,
the Frankfurt School and Habermas; hermeneutics and phenomenology;
existentialism; structuralism, post-structuralism and
postmodernism. In addition to the thinkers already mentioned, there
is extended discussion of the ideas of Kant, Hegel, Dilthey,
Husserl, Gadamer, Kierkegaard, de Beauvoir and Lyotard. The new
edition includes an additional, full-length chapter on continental
philosophy in the twenty-first century focusing on Giorgio Agamben,
Alain Badiou and Slavoj Zizek.
Continental Philosophy: An Introduction is an invaluable
introductory text for courses on continental philosophy as well as
courses in the humanities and social sciences dealing with major
figures or influential approaches within that tradition.
Preface to the First Edition.
1 Introduction: What is Continental Philosophy?
2 Modernity, Enlightenment and their Continental
Critics.
From Modernity to Enlightenment.
The Critical Philosophy of Immanuel Kant.
Continental Critics of Enlightenment.
The Hegelian Synthesis.
3 Dialectics of Emancipation: Marx, the Frankfurt School and
Habermas.
Feuerbach, Marx and Marxism.
The Critical Theory of the Frankfurt School.
Habermas and the Renewal of Critical Theory.
4 Historicism, Hermeneutics and Phenomenology.
Dilthey, Philosophy of Life and Hermeneutics.
Husserl and Phenomenology.
Heidegger's Phenomenology of Being.
Gadamer and the Universality of Hermeneutics.
The Phenomenology of Political Action DHannah Arendt.
5 Beyond Theory: Kierkegaard, Nietzsche,
Existentialism.
Søren Kierkegaard.
Friedrich Nietzsche.
Jean-Paul Sartre and French Existentialism.
6 Beyond the Subject: Structuralism and
Poststructuralism.
Decentring the Subject.
The Break with Humanism.
Foucault's Genealogy of the Subject.
Derrida's Deconstruction of Western Metaphysics.
7 Postmodernism.
Varieties of Postmodernism.
Philosophical Critique of Enlightenment and Modernity
Postmodernity as a Stage of Western Society.
Politics of Difference and Ethics of the Other.
8 Radical Departures.
After the End of History.
The Return of the Political - Agamben, Nancy,
Lacoue-Labarthe
Slavoj Zizek - The Fractious Subject of Ideology.
In the Event of Alain Badiou.
Notes.
Bibliography.
Index.
interesting read regardless of one's degree of expertise in the
subject. It is an exemplary introduction."
Sociological Review
"A real accomplishment. It is a lucid and expansive guide to a body
of theoretical literature that is at times intimidating and
dense."
International Philosophical Quarterly
"Thoughtful, thoroughly researched, well written, Continental
Philosophy invites students and scholars to
engage in a rich and interesting tradition."
Teaching Philosophy
"This second edition does more than introduce continental
philosophy; it makes it interesting and intriguing."
Philip Pettit, Princeton University
"David West's interpretations of the major figures of
continental philosophy are succinct and insightful. He reads
continental philosophy as a reaction to Enlightenment rationalism
and as a potential foundation for emancipatory politics. This
edition includes a courageous critique of several important recent
figures: Agamben, ?i?ek and Badiou. West provides an illuminating
and thorough introduction to the continental tradition."
William R. Schroeder, University of Illinois
