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

1. Values versus fact; the deep structure of philosophical work; "the individual" in historical knowledge.
2. Life, will, and vitalism; the absurd in existence.
3. The conception of truth in Husserl's phenomenology and Heidegger's misunderstanding.
4. Analysis of "historical reason" and scientific knowledge: "verstehen" or "erklären"?
5. 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.
Last revised: 12.7.2001.