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Contemporary philosophy
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Contemporary philosophy in the Western world, for the sake of brevity and for the purposes of this article, is defined as themes and projects in philosophy conducted within the last four decades. In addition to classical problems in philosophy, scientific and technological achievements and socio-political developments in world events have introduced new problems and ideas for philosophical debate.
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In the 1950s, academic philosophy throughout the Western world was preoccupied by several philosophical trends and schools, which were, more or less, clearly demarcated.[1][2]
In Europe excluding Britain, process philosophy, existentialism and existential phenomenology were leading philosophical movements.[4][5][6] In English-speaking countries, academic analytic philosophy was pre-occupied with the later writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein and ordinary language.[7][8][9] In Canada and the United States, pragmatism as practised by John Dewey also shared the philosophical scene with ordinary language.[10] Philosophy in the Soviet Union was mostly nihilist, Marxist and neo-Marxist, such as Marxism-Leninism and Stalinism.[11]
The 1960s and 1970s overturned the dominance of the aforementioned schools. The revival of the writings of Ferdinand de Saussure produced structuralism and its associated critics (poststructuralism, deconstruction), which occupies European philosophy today.[12] Ordinary language philosophy declined in popularity in the 1970s, giving rise to an emphasis on the philosophy of mind and philosophy of language.[13] Other analytic philosophers, such as Richard Rorty, even called for a major overhaul of the analytic philosophic.[9] The decline and subsequent fall of the Soviet Union also reduced the influence of Marxism in Soviet philosophy.[11]
The intense metaethical theorizing of the last century has to an extent dissipated into a concern with practical applications, especially in relation to environmental issues, animal rights and the many challenges thrown up by advancing medical science.[14][15][16] However, the debate between the Cornell realists and anti-realists such as Ted Horgan and Mark Timmons (both of the University of Arizona) continues to generate a great deal of new metaethical literature, even if the subject is not currently in the foreground of moral philosophy.[17]
Metaphysics remains a fertile area for research, having recovered from the attacks of A.J. Ayer and the logical positivists. And though many were inherited from previous decades, the debate remains fierce. The philosophy of fiction, the problem of empty names, and the debate over existence's status as a property have all risen out of relative obscurity to become central concerns, while perennial issues such as free will, possible worlds, and the philosophy of time have had new life breathed into them.[18][19]
Science has also played an increasingly significant role in metaphysics. The theory of special relativity has had a profound effect on the philosophy of time, and quantum physics is routinely discussed in the free will debate.[20] The weight given to scientific evidence is largely due to widespread commitments among philosophers to scientific realism and naturalism.
Philosophy of language is another area that has slowed down over the course of the last four decades, as evidenced by the fact that few major figures in contemporary philosophy treat it as a primary research area. Indeed, while the debate remains fierce, it is still strongly under the influence of those figures from the first half of the century: Gottlob Frege, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, J.L. Austin, Alfred Tarski, W.V.O. Quine, and Donald Davidson.
Contemporary philosophy does retain its penchant for linguistic issues, however, as a topic underpinning all other areas of philosophy. In Europe, for example, philosophers such as Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Jean-François Lyotard have all made significant contributions to poststructuralism and deconstruction, with language analysis constituting an important aspect of both their arguments and their conclusions. Similarly, the debate between Eternalists and Presentists—though still heavily influenced by the philosophy of science—has increasingly been put in linguistic terms and focused on linguistic issues.
John Searle suggests that the obsession with linguistic philosophy of the last century has been superseded by an emphasis on the philosophy of mind,[21] in which functionalism is currently the dominant theory. In recent years, a central focus for research in the philosophy of mind has been consciousness. And while there is a general consensus for the global neuronal workspace model of consciousness,[22] there are many views as to how the specifics work out. The best known theories are Daniel Dennett's heterophenomenology, Fred Dretske and Michael Tye's representationalism, and the higher-order theories of either David M. Rosenthal—who advocates a higher-order thought (HOT) model—or David Armstrong and William Lycan—who advocate a higher-order perception (HOP) model). An alternative higher-order theory, the higher-order global states (HOGS) model, is offered by Robert van Gulick.[23]
Philosophy of religion is enjoying a rebirth after decades of neglect in academia. A significant portion of philosophy of religion is dedicated to Ludwig Wittgenstein's interpretation of Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy, and whether there is such a thing as Wittgensteinian fideism. Both New Wittgensteinians and postmodernists have participated in this discussion.
Reacting against the earlier philosopher of science Sir Karl Popper, who had suggested the falsifiability criterion on which to judge the demarkation between science and non-science, discussions in philosophy of science in the last forty years were dominated by social constructivist and cognitive relativist theories of science. Thomas Samuel Kuhn is one of the major philosophers of science representative of the former theory, while Paul Feyerabend is representative of the latter theory. Philosophy of biology has also undergone considerable growth, particularly due to the considerable debate in recent years over evolution. Here again, Daniel Dennett and his 1995 book Darwin's Dangerous Idea stand at the foreground of this debate.
Although Marxism continues to be a major aspect of contemporary political philosophy, it must now compete for attention with various modern theories of liberalism. Particularly important are John Rawls' theory of justice as fairness (as presented in his book A Theory of Justice) and Robert Nozick's libertarian perspective (as presented in his Anarchy, State, and Utopia). Recent decades have also seen the rise of several critiques of liberalism, including the feminist critiques of Catherine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, the communitarian critiques of Michael Sandel and Alasdair MacIntyre (though it should be noted both shy away from the term), and the multiculturalist critiques of Amy Gutmann and Charles Taylor. Another important—if controversial—figure in contemporary political philosophy is Jürgen Habermas, whose social theory is a blend of social science, Marxism, neo-Kantianism, and American pragmatism.
A contemporary extension of pragmatism, where Truth is considered to be that which works.
Postmodern philosophy is a trend of thought which doubts or denies the existence of the "real world" beyond mere appearances. For example, Jacques Derrida criticized "the metaphysics of presence" in language, the idea that words have determinate meanings which refer to things in the real world.[24]
Philosophy has re-entered popular culture through the work of authors such as Alain de Botton and Peter Singer. This trend is reinforced by the recent increase in films with philosophical content. Some films, such as Fight Club, eXistenZ, The Matrix trilogy, Little Miss Sunshine, and Waking Life have philosophical themes underpinning their overarching plots. Other films attempt to be overtly philosophical, such as I ♥ Huckabees.
- ^ Popkin, Richard Henry. (1999) The Columbia History of Western Philosophy.
- ^ Kenny, Anthony. (1997) The Oxford Illustrated History of Western Philosophy.
- ^ Hubben, William. (1952) Four Prophets of Our Destiny.
- ^ Barrett, William. (1958) Irrational Man.
- ^ Cooper, David Edward. (1999) Existentialism, 2nd Edition.
- ^ Malik, Habib C. (1997) Receiving Søren Kierkegaard.
- ^ Monk, Ray. (1990) Ludwig Wittgenstein: The Duty of Genius.
- ^ Austin, John Langshaw. (1970) Philosophical Papers, 2nd Edition.
- ^ a b Rorty, Richard. (1979) Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature.
- ^ Wiener, Philip. (1949) Evolution and the Founders of Pragmatism.
- ^ a b Russian Philosophy on IEP
- ^ Weston, Michael. (1994) Kierkegaard and Modern Continental Philosophy.
- ^ The Strange Death of Ordinary Language Philosophy
- ^ Brennan, Andrew and Yeuk-Sze Lo (2002). "Environmental Ethics" §2, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ Gruen, Lori (2003). "The Moral Status of Animals," in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ See Hursthouse, Rosalind (2003). "Virtue Ethics" §3, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Donchin, Anne (2004). "Feminist Bioethics" in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- ^ See Lenman, James (2006). "Moral Naturalism" §4.2, in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. For the claim that metaethics continues to generate a great deal of literature, see the bibliography for that article, as well as those for the SEoP articles on Metaethics and Moral Skepticism.
- ^ Everett, Anthony and Thomas Hofweber (eds.) (2000), Empty Names, Fiction and the Puzzles of Non-Existence.
- ^ Van Inwagen, Peter, and Dean Zimmerman (eds.) (1998), Metaphysics: The Big Questions.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ Postrel and Feser, February 2000, Reality Principles: An Interview with John R. Searle at http://www.reason.com/news/show/27599.html
- ^ Dennett, Daniel C. (2001) "Are We Explaining Consciousness Yet?" Cognition 79 (1-2):221-37.
- ^ For summaries and some criticism of the different higher-order theories, see Van Gulick, Robert (2006) "Mirror Mirror—Is That All?" In Kriegel & Williford (eds.), Self-Representational Approaches to Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. The final draft is also available here. For Van Gulick's own view, see Van Gulick, Robert. "Higher-Order Global States HOGS: An Alternative Higher-Order Model of Consciousness." In Gennaro, R.J., (ed.) Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness: An Anthology. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
- ^ Derrida, Jacques. (1977) Of Grammatology
Philosophy of mind
- Stich, Stephen P. The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind. ISBN 0631217754
- Smith, David Woodruff and Amie L. Thomasson. Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind. ISBN 0199272441
Philosophy of religion
- Creegan, Charles L. Wittgenstein and Kierkegaard. ISBN 0415000661
- Nielsen, Kai and D.Z. Phillips. Wittgensteinian Fideism? ISBN 0334040051
- Taliaferro, Charles and Philip L. Quinn. A Companion to the Philosophy of Religion. ISBN 0631213287
- Wainwright, William J. The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Religion. ISBN 0195138090
- Zagzebski, Linda. Philosophy of Religion: An Historical Introduction. ISBN 1405118725
Philosophy of science
- Feyerabend, Paul. Against Method. ISBN 0226467759
- Kuhn, Thomas S. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. ISBN 0226458083
Political philosophy
- Kymlicka, Will. Contemporary Political Philosophy. ISBN 0198782748
Deconstruction
- Derrida, Jacques. Of Grammatology. ISBN 0801858305
Postanalytic philosophy
- Rorty, Richard. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. ISBN 0691020167