4 differences between continental and analytical philosophy

The differences between continental and analytical philosophy they are the context in which they arise, the methodology they use, the topics they deal with and the style they use. In a Teacher we tell you.

In the reflection of the philosopher Frabrizio Pomata on continental and analytical philosophy, he conceptualizes them as the two faces of contemporary philosophy, although it underlines the less weight or attention received by analytical philosophy. During the 19th century, Logic began to undergo changes aimed at making it more rigorous, being used by philosophers such as Bertrand Russell or Gottlob Frege as a tool to solve philosophical problems. An approach that characterizes analytical philosophy. Continental philosophy on its part, and based on the phenomenology of the German philosopher Edmund Husserl, focused on the description and analysis of the human experience from the self. Thus, the concept of continental philosophy had its foundation in phenomenology and its greatest exponents in figures such as Martin Heidegger.

In this lesson of unPROFESOR.com we show you what are the main differences between continental and analytic philosophy, two of the most prominent philosophical schools in the history of contemporary philosophy.

Continental philosophy and analytical philosophy are two faces of the contemporary philosophy, very different and that arise in different historical contexts, distinguishing themselves by following approaches and methodologies that are also different. Among the differences between continental and analytical philosophy, the following stand out:

• The historical context: As we have already pointed out, continental philosophy developed in continental Europe, especially in France and Germany, from the 19th century, dating back its origins to philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Nietzsche and G.W.F. Hegel. On the other hand, analytic philosophy has its origins in the United Kingdom and the United States at the end of the 19th century and early 20th century, and is linked to philosophers such as Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein and G.E. moore.
• The methodology it is more speculative and hermeneutic in the case of continental philosophy, the questions being studied being existence, history, subjectivity and interpretation. The study methods are textual interpretation, interdisciplinary dialogue with other humanistic disciplines, phenomenological analysis, literature and psychology. Analytical philosophy, for its part, is more rigorous in its approach and uses logical analysis and language analysis as fundamental tools for addressing philosophical problems. It is concerned with accuracy, logical argumentation, and conceptual clarity.
• The topics: Continental philosophy has traditionally been devoted to issues such as existence, power, alienation, interpretation, human experience, and social criticism. The most common areas of study are phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, and post-structuralism. For its part, analytical philosophy has focused on philosophical issues related to epistemology, logic, metaphysics, the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind. A current that has also dealt with political and ethical problems from a more rigorous and analytical point of view than continental philosophy.
• Regarding the writing style, continental philosophy is more speculative, poetic and literary, even somewhat obscure, while analytics considers that philosophical problems have their origin in conceptual confusions resulting from a misuse of language, being necessary to resort to areas such as metaphysics, religion, ethics, art, etc.

Now that we know the differences between continental and analytical philosophy, we are going to better define both currents to better understand them.

Under the name of continental philosophy the set of philosophical traditions that emerged in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, encompassing within itself all the thinkers located outside the analytical movement.

Continental philosophy is commonly considered to get its name from having developed primarily in Continental Europe, especially in Germany and France. The character of this philosophical current is more speculative and gives more importance to history, including itself in this group:

• the phenomenology
• german idealism
• existentialism
• hermeneutics
• structuralism
• he poststructuralism
• deconstruction
• french feminism
• psychoanalytic theory
• the critical theory of the Frankfurt School
• Western Marxism, among others

In unProfesor we discover the characteristics of continental philosophy.

The analytical philosophy is a philosophical current developed especially from the 20th century. A stream that questions and analyzes all topics typical of the thought of that century such as, for example, truth, knowledge or language. Thus, science and theories of knowledge acquire great importance as tools to analyze the real world. Everything could be analyzed by philosophy.

The origin of the movement is usually attributed to writings by Russell and Moore in the early years of the 20th century. The discovery with mathematical logic and the influence of Gottlob Frege were basic for the birth of this philosophical current.

He abandonment of idealism and the search for truth from the total system of knowledge are two of the bases of analytical philosophy.