• The major currents of philosophy in the 19th and 20th centuries and their characteristic theories.

1. Facts and situations, generalization and language.
2. Values versus fact; the deep structure of philosophical work; "the individual" in historical knowledge.
3. Life, will, and vitalism; the absurd in existence.
4. The conception of truth in Husserl's phenomenology and the misunderstanding of Heidegger.
5. Analysis of "historical reasons" and scientific knowledge: "verstehen" or "erklären"?
6. Materialism: man as a social animal.

• John R. SEARLE, «Contemporary Philosophy in the United States», in: The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy, Oxford, 1996.
• Relevant volumes of the Routledge History of Philosophy, London, 1994.

© 6.2.2001, PUSTphilo.