Analytic and continental: a non-philosophical distinction

Analytic and continental: a non-philosophical distinction

Tim Crane

Abstract: It is often said that the distinction between analytic and continental philosophy is a distinction inphilosophical method, or a distinction in certain doctrines, or a distinction in views about the relationship betweenphilosophy and literature or politics. In this talk I reject these ways of making the distinction. But I also reject the ideathat there is no real distinction. Instead I argue that we should treat the distinction purely historically: the distinctionbetween analytic and continental philosophy is a real, historically constructed distinction between two long chains oftexts which are taken as canonical by the traditions in question. I show how this makes sense of various puzzles about the development of contemporary philosophy.