continental philosophy

[ kon-tn-en-tl fi-los-uh-fee ]

noun

1. a general term for related philosophical traditions that originated in 20th-century continental Europe, including critical theory, deconstruction, existentialism, hermeneutics, phenomenology, and structuralism ( analytic philosophy ).

Example Sentences

At the University of Essex, in Britain, Bakewell started studying literature, then drifted to philosophy, spurred by the school’s unusual mandatory curriculum for all first-year students, which was grounded in Continental philosophy, rather than the analytic, language-focused variety dominant in most Anglo-American universities.

From New York Times

It was a culturally and politically vibrant place; he met the American singer, actor and left-wing activist Paul Robeson, who was there on tour, and he began his first encounters with Marxism and continental philosophy.

From New York Times

Louis has a way of making all conversation feel like a late-night cram session for a final exam on 20th-century Continental philosophy; a heady excitement lurks in everything he says, often culminating in a considered appraisal of how a certain theory explains a particular emotion or behavior.

From New York Times

Scholarly readers — or those with access to the Wikipedia page for Continental philosophy — will find that in-jokes abound.

From New York Times

Kristeva had moved thirty years before to Paris, where she became internationally celebrated as a literary theorist and psychoanalyst, shaping Continental philosophy alongside Derrida, Lacan, and Foucault.

From The New Yorker