Continental philosophy

Continental philosophy

Collective term for the many distinct philospohical traditions, methods, and styles that predominated on the European continent (particularly in France and Germany) from the time of Immanuel Kant. It is usually understood in contrast with analytic philosophy, also called Anglo-American philosophy. In the 20th century it encompassed schools such as phenomenology, existentialism, structuralism, and deconstruction and thinkers such as Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Michel Foucault, and Jacques Derrida. See also structuralism; poststructuralism.