Philosophy Through the Year: The 20th Century

This course follows just a few of the many philosophical trajectories that developed during the 20^th century, when ‘professional’ philosophy expanded enormously, alongside the expansion in university education. The differences between philosophy as practiced in continental Europe and in Britain and America increased, and led to what is normally referred to as the ‘analytic/continental’ divide. The reception of the work of German philosophers Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger in France, along with the lasting influence of Nietzsche, helped to provide the conditions for what was referred to as ‘postmodern’ philosophy, whilst the legacy of Ludwig Wittgenstein decisively shaped Anglophone philosophy. Equally, the emergence of the first generation of professional women philosophers in Britain was a more subtle influence within moral philosophy, where questions of the significance of evolutionary theory were also felt strongly.

 Week 1: Husserl and Heidegger

We begin the course with an examination of two German philosophers who loom large over the20^th century. Edmund Husserl wanted to ‘return to the things themselves’, by examining appearances themselves, as they are given, without concern for metaphysical questions. Martin Heidegger—who notoriously joined the Nazi party in the 1930’s—expanded and modified Husserl’s phenomenological method, to try to focus on ‘the question of being’, meaning a return to metaphysical questions in a rather different register.

Week 2:  Jacques Derrida and Postmodernism

The political upheavals of the late 60’s found their way into philosophy, with radical—and at times, deeply perplexing!—texts by figures such as Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze and Jean-Francois Lyotard. Examine the legacy of some of these texts, and think about their relevance now that their fame and the connected air of controversy has subsided.  

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Week 3: Phenomenology and the ‘theological turn’

Phenomenology was transformed as it was translated into French. A new generation of thinkers took phenomenological method in new directions, culminating in the ‘theologicalturn’ in French phenomenology – much to the frustration of some. We examine the work of Emmanuel Levinas, who laid the groundwork for this turn, and Jean-Luc Marion, its most well-known proponent.

Week 4: Wittgenstein and Wittgensteinianisms

In Anglophone philosophy, the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein is perhaps more influential than any other single figure. In his Philosophical Investigations, he put forward a series of provocative questions about language and meaning. We explore these questions, and the ways in which this approach was taken up by moral philosophers (esp. Gaita) and philosophers of religion (esp. Phillips).

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You can listen to an excellent episode of ‘In our time’ on Wittgenstein, here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0054945  

Week 5: British moral philosophy

Elizabeth Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Mary Midgley, and Phillipa Foot: four women who studied philosophy at Oxford and went on to make important contributions to mora l thinking. We will focus on Murdoch and Midgley, in particular.

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