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Single Idea 6836
[filed under theme 1. Philosophy / H. Continental Philosophy / 1. Continental Philosophy
]
Full Idea
If reason must criticise itself (in Kant) how does one avoid total scepticism? In my view, the problem that has animated the continental tradition since Jacobi (early 19th cent) is the threat of nihilism.
Clarification
'Nihilism' is loss of all serious beliefs
Gist of Idea
Continental philosophy fights the threatened nihilism in the critique of reason
Source
Simon Critchley (Interview with Baggini and Stangroom [2001], p.188)
Book Ref
Baggini,J/Stangroom,J: 'New British Philosophy' [Routledge 2002], p.188
A Reaction
As an outsider to 'continental' philosophy, this is the most illuminating remark I have read about it. It is not only a plausible account of the movement, but also a very worth aim, which should be taken seriously by analytical philosophers.
The
24 ideas
from Simon Critchley
7075
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To meet the division in our life, try the Subject, Nature, Spirit, Will, Power, Praxis, Unconscious, or Being
[Critchley]
|
7067
|
Food first, then ethics
[Critchley]
|
7068
|
If infatuation with science leads to bad scientism, its rejection leads to obscurantism
[Critchley]
|
7069
|
The French keep returning, to Hegel or Nietzsche or Marx
[Critchley]
|
20446
|
Philosophy begins in disappointment, notably in religion and politics
[Critchley]
|
20449
|
Science gives us an excessively theoretical view of life
[Critchley]
|
20448
|
Phenomenology uncovers and redescribes the pre-theoretical layer of life
[Critchley]
|
20447
|
The problems is not justifying ethics, but motivating it. Why should a self seek its good?
[Critchley]
|
20452
|
Anarchism used to be libertarian (especially for sexuality), but now concerns responsibility
[Critchley]
|
20450
|
The state, law, bureaucracy and capital are limitations on life, so I prefer federalist anarchism
[Critchley]
|
20451
|
Belief that humans are wicked leads to authoritarian politics
[Critchley]
|
20454
|
Wallace Stevens is the greatest philosophical poet of the twentieth century in English
[Critchley]
|
20455
|
Philosophy really got started as the rival mode of discourse to tragedy
[Critchley]
|
20456
|
Interesting art is always organised around ethical demands
[Critchley]
|
6835
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German idealism aimed to find a unifying principle for Kant's various dualisms
[Critchley]
|
6837
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Since Hegel, continental philosophy has been linked with social and historical enquiry.
[Critchley]
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6836
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Continental philosophy fights the threatened nihilism in the critique of reason
[Critchley]
|
6838
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Continental philosophy is based on critique, praxis and emancipation
[Critchley]
|
6843
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Perceiving meaninglessness is an achievement, which can transform daily life
[Critchley]
|
6844
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Scientism is the view that everything can be explained causally through scientific method
[Critchley]
|
6845
|
Continental philosophy has a bad tendency to offer 'one big thing' to explain everything
[Critchley]
|
6846
|
Phenomenology is a technique of redescription which clarifies our social world
[Critchley]
|
6848
|
Humour is practically enacted philosophy
[Critchley]
|
6847
|
Humour can give a phenomenological account of existence, and point to change
[Critchley]
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