Write an analytical essay in which you describe the historical development of Continental philosophy's existentialism and phenomenology as a response to Hegelian idealism

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Interesting topic! You asked this:

1. Please help point me in the right direction.

Your tentative outline might be something to the effect:

I. Introduction (and 1/4 - 1/2 page; introduce topic and write a purpose statement... The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical development of continental philosophy, mainly existentialism and phenomenology, as a response to Hegelian idealism. Specifically, ... and so on).

II. Continental philosophy
a. History: In reaction to Hegelian idealism (about ½ page)
b. Existentialism (3/4 - I page)
c. Phenomenology (3/4 - 1 page)

III. Conclusion (tie up main points in several sentences)1. Write a 700-minimum word analytical essay in which you describe the historical development of Continental philosophy's existentialism and phenomenology as a response to Hegelian idealism. Pay special attention to the key contributors and principle issues of the time.

Now, let's look at some information and links that can help you fill in the above tentative outline. Some of the information is excerpts from various sources, so please reference appropriately.

Continental philosophy is a cluster of 20th-century European philosophical movements that view themselves as continuing the legacy of Hegel, Husserl, and Heidegger and include phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, structuralism, and deconstructionism, especially as contrasted with analytic philosophy. http://www.answers.com/topic/continental-philosophy

The theological and metaphysics aspects of "truth" were always important to philosophers. Then came the industrial Revolution and a shift towards Analytical philosophy: searching for truth without considering the transcendent i.e. God. http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/ Continental philosophy might be viewed as a reaction to the analytical scientific approach. This is not to claim that phenomenology and existialism are not concerned about groups and social philosophy, but there is a clear belief that the individual can define the self. Continental philosophy adheres to the important of the individual, in contrast to analytical philosophers focus on groups and social interactions. The purpose of this paper is to...

See more detail at http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/

Hegelian Idealism

For G.W.F. Hegel, phenomenology is an approach to philosophy that begins with an exploration of phenomena (what presents itself to us in conscious experience) as a means to finally grasp the absolute, logical, ontological and metaphysical Spirit that is behind phenomena. This has been called a "dialectical phenomenology". It is often referred to Hegalian idealism e.g., absolute truths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology).

According to Raymond (n.d.), Hegel's philosophy can be reduced to the evolution of the Absolute Spirit towards self-awareness. The unfolding of God is brought about through a dialectical process. This process is most evident in Nature and Spirit. Fichte's influence on his former student is stronger in his earlier works. Hegel does depart considerably from this influence as he attempts to develop his theory to bridge the finite with the infinite. Thus, Absolute Idealism becomes a major turning point in man's quest to know God and himself more intimately.

See http://www.monksofadoration.org/hegelide.html

Also see http://www2.nd.edu/Departments//Maritain/etext/jmoral07.htm

Reactions to Hegelian Idealism: Paving the way for continental philosophy

Some of the most influential critics of Hegelian idealism, and German philosophy in general, were Arthur Schopenhauer, Søren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Schopenhauer rejected Hegel and, in his work The World as Will and Representation, argued that Kant's transcendental idealism is the only possible response to philosophical argument. Kierkegaard rebelled against the building of grand philosophical systems, such as Hegel's System, and argued that individual existence is the sole ground of all legitimate thinking. Nietzsche challenged the foundations of morality in any philosophical system and advocated a philosophy of "life-affirmation". Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels "turned Hegel on his head" and used the dialectic to analyze history from a materialist perspective. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Philosophy

See more detail at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continental_Philosophy

Historically, then, there was a move away from naturalist and spiritual causation of 'absolute transcendent truth' and a move toward focusing on the here and now, the individual's reality, which is where the real truth and knowledge lies. There is a move away from the supernatural towards the natural levels of knowledge; thus, the development of on of phenomenology and existentialism.

Phenomenology

Phenomenology has three meanings in philosophical history, one derived from G.W.F. Hegel in 1807 (discussed above), one derived from Edmund Husserl in 1920, and one derived from Martin Heidegger in 1927:

· For Edmund Husserl, phenomenology is an approach to philosophy that takes the intuitive experience of phenomena (what presents itself to us in phenomenological reflexion) as its starting point and tries to extract from it the essential features of experiences and the essence of what we experience. This has been called a "transcendental phenomenology". Husserl's view stems from the School of Brentano and was developed further by philosophers such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Max Scheler, Hannah Arendt, Dietrich von Hildebrand and Emmanuel Levinas.

· For Martin Heidegger, the phenomenological vision of a world of beings must be bypassed toward the apprehension of the Being behind all beings, that is, as an introduction to ontology, albeit an ontology that remains critical of metaphysics. This has been called an "existential phenomenology".

The phenomenological dispute between Husserl and Heidegger influenced the development of existential phenomenology and existentialism in France, as is clear from the work of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir; Munich phenomenology (Johannes Daubert, Adolf Reinach, Alexander Pfänder in Germany and Alfred Schütz in Austria); and Paul Ricoeur. Readings of Husserl and Heidegger have also been crucial aspects of the philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Bernard Stiegler. (excerpted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology).

Existentialism

-- Man is nothing else but that which he makes of himself. That is the first principle of existentialism. (J.P. Sartre) --

Existentialism was developed most famously by Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger. Philosophers in this movement include Karl Jaspers, Simone de Beauvoir, Gabriel Marcel, and Albert Camus. The movement also considers Søren Kierkegaard and Friedrich Nietzsche to be important predecessors.

It is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts (see more detail at http://www.answers.com/topic/existentialism).

See more detail at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/existentialism/ and http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/cree/index.htm

Also see http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555530/Existentialism.html

Major concepts in existentialism (excerpt)

Existentialism differentiates itself from the modern Western rationalist tradition from Descartes to Husserl in rejecting the idea that the most certain and primary reality is rational consciousness. Descartes believed humans could doubt all existence, but could not will away or doubt the thinking consciousness, whose reality is therefore more certain than any other reality. Existentialism decisively rejects this argument, asserting instead that as conscious beings, humans always find themselves already in a world, a prior context and history that is given to consciousness and in which it is situated, and that humans cannot think away that world. It is inherent and indubitably linked to consciousness. In other words, the ultimate, certain, indubitable reality is not thinking consciousness but, according to Heidegger, "being in the world". This is a radicalization of the notion of intentionality that comes from Brentano and Husserl, which asserts that, even in its barest form, consciousness is always conscious of something.

On the existence of God, Sartre, unlike Kierkegaard, denies the existence of God. Sartre argues that without God, there is no higher power to define man. However, there are versions of existentialism that are religious. Theological existentialism as advocated by philosophers and theologians like Paul Tillich, Gabriel Marcel, and Martin Buber posits God's existence, as well as accepting many tenets of atheistic existentialism. Belief in God is a personal choice made on the basis of a passion, of faith, an observation or experience. Just as atheistic existentialists can freely choose not to believe, theistic existentialists can freely choose to believe in God and could, despite one's doubt, have faith that God exists and that God is good.

A third type of existentialism is agnostic. Again, it is a matter of choice to be agnostic. The agnostic existentialist makes no claim to know, or not know, if there is a "greater picture" in play; rather, he/she simply recognizes that the greatest truth is that which he chooses to act upon. The agnostic existentialist feels that to know the "greater picture", whether there is one or not, is impossible for human minds--or if it is not impossible, that at least he/she has not found it yet. Like Christian existentialists, the agnostic believes existence is subjective. However one feels about the issue, the act of finding knowledge of the existence of God often has little value because he/she feels it to be impossible, and to pretend to know is useless.
As mentioned above, philosophers associated with existentialism vary, sometimes greatly, over what "existentialism" is, and even if there is such a thing as "existentialism" (excerpted from http://www.answers.com/topic/existentialism).

See further discussion of existentialism at http://www.interchange.ubc.ca/cree/index.htm.

This is not exhaustive, but should provide enough information and links to complete this paper successfully.

I hope this helps and take care.