Difference between revisions of "Continental Philosophy"

Latest revision as of 15:32, 30 March 2011

Definition

Since Levi-Strauss' structuralist revolution, Anthropology has been the social science home of Continental Philosophy. Kicked out of most Philosophy departments in the USA, Continental Philosophy draws from such figures as [[Immanuel Kant, Nietzsche, Hegel, Heidegger, and Derrida (as opposed to the logical positivists that generally make up analytic philosophy). Continental Philosophy is of particular use to Cyborg Anthropology in several respects:

1. Continental Philosophy questions/engages the social conditions that facilitate techno-science and is hyper-aware of the dangers of solely relying on these paradigms for understanding the human condition.
2. Continental Philosophy recognizes that all thought/praxis is socially/historically/materially conditioned, a necessary pre-requisite for understanding our techno-human-cyborg condition. Thought does not happen in a void, and the more resources we have for undermining this notion the better.
3. Continental Philosophy emerges from the German philosophy of reflection (Kant-Hegel-Nietzsche) that is centered upon a rich complication of the self-other relation. Since this is the central binary put in question by the concept of the cyborg, it makes sense to use this wealth of scholarship to analyze the self-other dyad. They also scrutinize the role of the observer in analysis, a hallmark of both second-wave cybernetics and Cyborg Anthropology (since we are all cyborgs we need to question our own assumptions).
4. Last but not least, almost all the central thinkers of Cyborg Anthropology situate themselves in the literary theory/continental nexus.