Brian Hamilton-Vise

How to succeed in continental philosophy

Read enough classical texts to find some unusual concept or practice which is mentioned, but left undeveloped. It’s safest to draw from Plato or Aristotle, as then one can be confident of undermining the whole history of Western philosophy, but the scholastics are also a good choice if one wants to appear slightly eccentric, and going to Augustine might make you the next big thing. (Avoid St. Paul, especially if you’re a Christian, as you’ll probably end up coming across as a feckless imitator.) Proceed to demonstrate how this concept, properly understood, leads to the undoing of the whole discourse to which it originally belonged. Finally, identify three or four examples of a structurally similar idea appearing later in history, to prove that you have succeeded in superseding not only the original thinker himself, but his whole subsequent tradition.

Bonus points if you find such a concept in a relatively obscure person or text, then show it to be determinative for subsequent canonical thinkers.

1 July 2009 | Comments (2)
Tags: Miscellaneous, Philosophy