Analytic Philosophy: Paradigms and Progress

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The chapter explores the paradigmatic nature of analytic philosophy, highlighting the comfort of clear explanations while addressing the challenges in questioning foundational assumptions. It compares analytic and continental philosophy, discussing the potential for generating clear ideas in analytic philosophy versus the struggle with excess novelty in continental philosophy. The conversation navigates through the progress in analytic philosophy, debating its comparison to scientific advancement and exploring the evolution of methodologies through examples like the study of free will.

We dig into the biggest rivalry in Tamler’s profession, analytic vs. continental philosophy. Are analytic philosophers truly the rigorous, precise, clear thinkers they take themselves to be? And is continental philosophy really just a bunch pretentious charlatans spouting French and German gibberish and writing obscure prose to mask the incoherence of their ideas? We look at a nice paper by Neil Levy that goes beyond the stereotypes and tries to describe and explain the differences between the two schools. Plus, The University of Austin (sic) is back in the news and we have a report from someone who attended one of their Forbidden Courses. This should be so easy but the article has us deeply conflicted about what to make fun of. [Important update: Trixie is on a 5 day streak of no accidents and is a perfect little sweet girl.]

Links:

An American Education: Notes from UATX by Noah Rawlings

Levy, N. (2003). Analytic and continental philosophy: Explaining the differences. Metaphilosophy, 34(3), 284-304.