By Christopher Kul-Want Introducing Continental Philosophy: A Graphic Guide

Introducing Graphic Guides

by Christopher Kul-Want

This brand new graphic guide provides a comprehensive introduction to the schools of thought and key figures in continental philosophy. Christopher Kul-Want is the course director for the MA in Fine Art at Central St. Martins, London, and the author of the popular Graphic Guide Introducing Slavoj Zizek.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, History

Paperback

First published February 12, 2013

Reviews

[Leonard Gaya · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I was meandering around the bookshelves at Foyles bookstore the other day and came across a display rack with the A Graphic Guide collection. I decided to pick this one up.

What was I thinking?

Trying to cover almost every primary author in German and French philosophy from Immanuel Kant to Gilles Deleuze in less than 200 pages, all in large print and seasoned with a caricature on every quote — the author doesn’t even bother to provide his sources. That couldn’t possibly do justice to any of the authors, especially when we are talking about philosophers as opulent as Nietzsche, Heidegger or Foucault. In short, it’s all wholly anecdotal and extraordinarily shallow and short-sighted. Apart maybe from the “Further Reading” list at the back, I don’t see how this can be introducing anything.

A time-waster. As they say: “it’s not even wrong”.

[Tanuj Solanki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A montage. The function it serves is revision. Interesting to note that Jacques Lacan gets the maximum number of pages.

The threat to continental philosophy is stronger than ever before. I had that in mind when I was reading. This felt like a requiem at times, or a signifier of an end. One key takeaway for me was that the crises of post-modernity are not a new set that we now face; they are just addendum to the crises of modernity, those which we never paused to concern ourselves with.

Note to self: Agamben and Deleuze...asap.

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book gave me a better insight into the core themes embedded in continental philosophy, and I loved the illustrations. However, I wish the ideas were explained in more detail since they were so complex and abstract..!

[Galatea · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty quick overview of some key thinkers in continental philosophy.
Not at all meandering or rigorous, but it does provide a pretty great overview of some thinkers and systems of thought that you can finish in a day

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found this book helpful in clarifying some of the thinkers I was already familiar with, it failed to explain those with whom I wasn't, and seemed woefully simplistic for some I knew well. The graphic form was interesting but I didn't find it added much to my understanding, rather it served simply as illustration in a simple sense. Could have been incorporated more fully into the actual structure.

[Tom Spokane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Snapshot

Introducing Continental Philosophy is a great snapshot of some of the best thinkers/philosophers through the development of their concepts. The book’s graphics help to move through the many different assertions, and the essential place language plays into them. I recommend this book to anyone interested an introduction to continental philosophy.

[Saqlain Khurshid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helped me in accumulating profound information about Continental Philosophy over a short period of time during 2016.Though it offers rudimentary information but you can propel yourself towards more advanced study on the basis of those informations.

[Jae Kwon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did the work of putting the names to the faces and to a few of their quotes. At times the book confuses more than it clarifies.

[Alan Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty Good Overview

Continental Philosophy, A Graphic Guide, is a very useful overview of the philosophy and the philosophers that destroyed the West and set up the sewer we find ourselves in today. Worse yet, to achieve this goal they were aided by our “intellectual” class who somehow decided that the death of the West was a good thing. Once the West, and capitalism, were gone something wonderful would take its place. No one was able to say exactly what, but the analysis of deconstruction proved the philosophical foundations of the Western World were fake, so they had to be torn down completely.

As this deconstruction thought process was based on lies and facts that never existed and comparative analysis of false versus true where no comparison was possible. It was deconstructionism that needed rejection. However, our academic class and self appointed intellectual leaders pushed forward and pulled down obvious truth based on fact based analysis and replaced it with… nothing; thus, leading to irrationality as the foundation for thought. Without firm foundations the underpinning of a rational world was lost but the intellectual class made certain the Communist ideology of no truth was put in its place.

No truth means no meaning for life, or humanity, or anything. Government has to take the place of God, and that would be a government without boundaries. Fact based analysis and conclusions drawn from facts and observation lead to understandable results and the ability to judge outcomes rationally. Without facts or rationality government outcomes cannot be measured. It becomes a government without restraint. In effect a lawless state. A government that can approve free speech one hour and close it down in another. A government that can disbar Rudy Giuliani for saying he believed something was wrong with the 2020 election. A government that can allow one group to riot and burn businesses, but puts another group in prison for walking around public places and taking pictures. Since all rationality has been deconstructed any action, policy, or decision can be made for any reason without any justification no matter what the outcome. That is the result of Continental Philosophy.

Once you have read this book you will be able to see some of the thought processes that brought about our current problems. Understanding the thought processes is another matter since they find their center of gravity in irrationality. AD2

[dave semrud · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't waste your time.

I sense the author has not heard that where Marxism has been tried it has failed usually at the cost of horrific genocides usually on a scale so large as to make Hitler and his madmen pikers. The final straw for me was been he drew a moral equivalency between The Holocaust and Guantanamo Bay. If you want to read a good introduction to continental philosophy try "Continental Philosophy, A Very Short Introduction.

[Kayla Comalli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great transitioning through historical influences and cherry picking optimal sources to provide a concise summary of continental philosophy. The abundance of direct quotes and quick references to their artistic influences coupled with caricatures provides strong imagery for content retention. Very dense but enjoyable.

[Rolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

Understandably, given this is a wide subject, this covers a lot of ground, and I was interested in some theorists much more than others--but it is an interesting introduction that is pretty accessible.

[Jamrock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Slightly more useful than the Critical Theory book in the series but looking back at that one, they do complement each other. I created some useful mind maps out of this that I need to re-draw. It's very hard to retain the information!

[Clive Hazell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good overviee

This was a nice summary. Thought provoking and I enjoyed the time and space devoted to some of less famous thinkers.

[Mike Mann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like a gazetteer of interesting places to explore. The first half was more helpful to piece together what continental philosophy is responding to and what questions were raised.

[Musab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lmao i think i need to read a lot more basic stuff before i get to this

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful intro! I can't claim to understand many of these thinkers but the way the author connected them together was a helpful narrative.

[Dale Muckerman · Rating 2 out of 5]

Starts off pretty strong showing how continental philosophy originally developed, but then just meanders and skips around different philosophers with no real sense of continuity or development.

[Jeffrey N. Hora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad for a high-level overview. There is admittedly a LOT to cover, but surveying the terrain can be helpful.

[Damien A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

Great read and great introduction into continental philosophy. I enjoyed reading about all the philophers and their views of the world

[My]

good refresher

[Sabin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good as a quick crash-course.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat informative introduction to continental philosophy. Frankly, there is too little content on each featured philosopher, philosophical work, or school of thought to inform in any depth. Of the unfamiliar topics, I was left to guess (really, to Google or otherwise research) why certain thinkers believed what they did, as this guide offers context but little explanation. I'll refer back to this as a starting point if I'm looking for new philosophers to read, or as an aid when I'm trying to understand certain ideologies and movements, but I don't think this to be a sufficient guide for someone in want of a stand-alone overview.

[Steph De Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great instalment in this excellent series. My only complaint is that the author's attempt to cover a very broad-ranging subject in such a short text sometimes results in a lack of detail that may hinder one's engagement with his exposition. This seems somewhat inevitable, however, and I will seek to remedy this by seeking out other Graphic Guides on some of the individual thinkers I found particularly interesting here.

[Julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Das Konzept, Kontinentale Philosophie in Comicform populärwissenschaftlich aufzuarbeiten finde ich grundsätzlich interessant. Es wird auch ein recht weiter Überblick über Philosophen ab der Neuzeit gegeben. Leider ist der Comic an manchen Stellen philosophisch nicht ganz richtig, für Laien aber durchaus unterhaltsam.

[David Markwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are worse ways one can spend one's morning with no power waiting for the electrician to call in on you, but other than these specific circumstances it's not really worth your time. It really is an introduction, and this one is not as humorous as of the others in this serious, which is a shame.

[Nazia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Received through Goodreads First Reads.

This is fun and (at times) funny to read with interesting anecdotes. I know nada about world philosophy or philosophers but I can say with full confidence that I absolutely enjoyed reading this. Good book.

[HrCristobal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nowhere near 4 stars. A lot more superficial and light than the other installments I´ve read.
Still an ok book, these graphic guides are as good as they come in the genre.

[Vikas Datta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly fascinating...

[Zakaria Bziker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just received this book today. (won in Goodreads Giveaways.)