Critical Cross-Tradition Theorizing: Analytic and Continental Philosophy as Components of Social Critique

Abstract

Just when I was about to start writing this review, my Facebook feed told me that analytic philosophy is an attempt to construct a building that others can see, use and live in. Continental philosophers are like hobos who wander the city looking for things they might be able to steel or break into. [...] Continental philosophy is like a graffiti. It’s a form of communication, but not one that has any use to the law-abiding public.This wonderful wisdom was created by an AI and shared and cherished by my virtual philosophical community. The great divide between analytic and continental philosophy and political theory is everywhere, structuring philosophical thinking and its materialization in departments and hirings so thoroughly that it is even a matter of such digital folklore. It creates boundaries and blockages that prevent the full potential of political theory to unbind. Jeremy Arnold’s project, to overcome this divide, is a timely and necessary one.