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German philosophy

German philosophy
Paul Ortwin Rave, Das Geistige Deutschland im Bildnis: Das Jahrhundert Goethes, Berlin 1949 · Public domain · source

Overview

German philosophy is philosophy in the German language or philosophy by German people, a part of German culture.

It covers figures such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, Martin Heidegger, Gottlob Frege, Ludwig Wittgenstein, the Vienna Circle, and the Frankfurt School.

German philosophers are central to major philosophical movements such as rationalism, German idealism, Romanticism, dialectical materialism, existentialism, phenomenology, hermeneutics, logical positivism, and critical theory.

It is influential for both contemporary philosophical schools: the analytic and continental traditions, though naturally most German universities study continental philosophy. Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein are considered two of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

Possible passages

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  1. It is a precarious undertaking to single out some one thing in German philosophy as of typical importance in understanding German national life. Yet I am committed to the venture. My conviction is that we have its root idea in the doctrine of Kant concerning the two realms, one outer, physical and necessary, the other inner, ideal and free.

    John Dewey, German philosophy and politics

    The chapter “GERMAN PHILOSOPHY: THE TWO WORLDS” is titled for German philosophy; the book is titled for German philosophy.

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  2. The Protestant pastor is the grandfather of German philosophy; Protestantism itself is its _peccatum originale_. Definition of Protestantism: hemiplegic paralysis of Christianity--_and_ of reason.... One need only utter the words "Tübingen School" to get an understanding of what German philosophy is at bottom--a very artful form of theology.... The Suabians are the best liars in Germany; they lie innocently....

    Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, The Antichrist

    States what German philosophy is; the author is tied to German philosophy in the knowledge graph.

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  3. For this reason, too, it is a legend universally believed, that Pythagoras, for instance, received his Philosophy from India and Egypt; the fame of the wisdom of these people, which wisdom is understood also to contain Philosophy, is an old one. The Oriental ideas and religious worship which prevailed throughout the West up to the time of the Roman Empire, likewise bear the name of Oriental Philosophy. The Christian…

    Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy

    States what German philosophy is; the author is tied to German philosophy in the knowledge graph.

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Philosophers who discussed German philosophy

Related ideas

Place in the tradition

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