Krisis 40 years

Veertig jaar universitaire filosofie in Nederland: van pluralisme naar 'normal philosophy'

Authors

  • Karen Vintges University of Amsterdam

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21827/krisis.40.1.36964

Keywords:

Normal philosophy, Critical philosophy, Identity politics, Right- and lift-wing populism, The journal Krisis, (History of) philosophy in the Netherlands

Abstract

Although for a long time, Dutch academic philosophy was characterized by a pluralism of – imported – philosophical frameworks and paradigms, in more recent decades, a type of ‘normal philosophy’, in the Kuhnian sense, has become dominant which aims to solve ethical and political problems and dilemmas through rational-normative argumentation. Contrary to what is often claimed, the new 'normal philosophy' amounts not to thinking ‘beyond the analytic-continental divide’ in a fruitful synthesis, but to the subsumption of continental philosophical themes and concepts under the analytic tradition. The potentially critical tenor of continental philosophy threatens to be ‘solved’ by this subsumption. ‘Normal philosophy’, with its emphasis on rational-normative argumentation, risks leading to a state philosophy that fits in with existing policy questions, ignoring systemic and structural power inequalities. I argue that the journal Krisis, in keeping with its original principles, should hang on to critical philosophical reflection, which today is needed more than ever, specifically – pace current right-wing and left-wing populist attacks on identity politics – on systemic, multiple forms of deprivation and oppression.

 

Published

2020-12-11

How to Cite

Vintges, Karen. 2020. “Veertig Jaar Universitaire Filosofie in Nederland: Van Pluralisme Naar ’normal philosophy’”. Krisis | Journal for Contemporary Philosophy 40 (1):9-25. https://doi.org/10.21827/krisis.40.1.36964.

Issue

Section

Krisis 40 years

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