Priest, Graham - Philosophy Sans Frontieres: Analytic and Continental Philosophy - A View from the East

02/28/2012



Author begins by considering the supposed distinction between Analytic and Continental philosophy, and points out that there is little of substance between them and that from the perspective from the philosophy of the East (Asia) it is just bickering within a family. Author admits that much of what follows is broad and misses details and distinctions, but assumes that the broad strokes author presents are true in some 'gross terms'.

Author believes the divide between Analytic and Continental in the 20th century had 3 phases: constructive, destructive, and fragmentation. The rebellion against German Idealism was led by Frege and Husserl, both concerned with representation in language and thought. Frege developed logic and semantic theories about sense, reference, objects, concepts. Husserl developed phenomenology and how consciousness 'presents itself'. The tools 'took on a life of their own' and the first half of the 20th century was filled with optimism about solving old problems with the new tools. Wittgenstein and Russell, then the logical positivists on the Analytic side, Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty on the Continental. Then the destructive phase, Kuhn (Analytic) and Foucault (Continental) and the 'specter of relativism' from without, and the internal attacks from Quine, Derrida. Author states that the novel techniques that launched the constructive phase ended up 'collapsing under their own weight'. What followed was a variety of influential philosophers, each with separate goals and arguments: a fragmentation. The core of both traditions, states author, is a concern for representation and that in the fragmentation there are many more commonalities to be appreciated.

Author moves on to consider "Asian Philosophy" and discounts it as a coherent thing; there are at least two distinct traditions: from India and from China. This is different from Western Philosophy, which author states solely originates from ancient Greece. There are three barriers to westerners studying Eastern Philosophy: language, style, and culture. Author discusses first Indian, the Chinese philosophical history. Author focuses on Buddhism cross-pollinating with T(D)aoism to create Chan/Zen Buddhism, and briefly discusses the distinctions between Indian and Chinese Buddhism.

Author argues that from the Eastern perspective, the Analytic/Continental divide looks like an 'in-house debate', while the different origins, languages, and styles of Indian/Chinese philosophy are 'definitely very different'. Author concludes with a prediction that Asia will rise as the dominant political force of the world and that philosophy will migrate its center of gravity from the US to Asia, and perhaps create a global philosophical culture which will make the Analytic/Continental divide irrelevant.