Philosophy by the Book

Twentieth Century Philosophy

Philosophy is pursued by a much larger number of people in the twentieth century than hitherto, and as a result, with the exception of Bertrand Russell, this period is marked by the rise of successive movements rather than by heroic individual figures.

The century is also marked by a period of isolation and mutual distrust in the relations between Anglophone and other philosophical cultures.

Represented here are pragmatism (William James is one example), phenomenology (Husserl), analytic philosophy in its scientific and logical form (Russell and the Tractatus Wittgenstein) logical positivism (Rudolf Carnap and A.J. Ayer), existentialism (Sartre), hermeneutics (Gadamer), feminist thought (Simone de Beauvoir and Luce Irigary), analytic philosophy in its linguistic form (Gilbert Ryle, R.M. Hare and the Investigations Wittgenstein), critical theory (Habermas), the revival of metaphysics (David Lewis), the rise of applied ethics (Peter Singer), and something of the deconstructive and other attempts to deflect the course of philosophy into new channels (Jacques Derrida).