In this subject students will be introduced to some of the major philosophers, and the problems they were concerned with, in the twentieth century. Although the content will vary from year to year, the focus will be upon equipping students with an understanding of major aspects of what has come to be called 'analytic' and 'continental' philosophy, as well as of the methodological and topical similarities and differences between them. Within the former, major philosophers and themes to be studied might include Russell, Wittgenstein, Quine, Popper, Logical Positivism, and Conceptual Analysis. Within the latter, consideration will be given to some of Husserl, Bergson, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Levinas. We will also dramatise some of the points of contention in the polemical debates between Russell and Bergson, Heidegger and Carnap, Popper and the Marxist tradition, and Derrida and Searle.

Subject rules