A CENTURY OF LIONS/THE 20TH CENTURY TOP 100 Message Board

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Pastimes : A CENTURY OF LIONS/THE 20TH CENTURY TOP 100

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To: Neocon who wrote (612)	10/22/1999 4:54:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (1) of 3246

Back to the philosophers for a bit here... Although I agree that Jaspers is an important and interesting figure in 20th Century Continental philosophy and is a thinker who will hold an importance place in future reflections on the century, I would not place his name near the top of a list of most influential philosophers. You said, "he practically defined existentialism...". That's really unfair to him and to existentialism. Jaspers and Heidegger both rejected the term "existentialism". For different reasons, both insisted that they were not existentialists and that their works should not be associated with the term. It was Sartre who defined the term. He embraced the term and sought in several essays and speeches to give definition to what was a diverse and multi-faceted literary and philosophical tradition. Of course, both Heidegger and Jaspers belong within the tradition even if they rejected the term. The works of both are already mentioned side-by-side with Sartre and others in brief histories of "existentialism". One runs into a core political problem of this list when considering the relative influence of Heidegger and Jaspers. Heidegger had greater immediate academic influence in the mid-century because so many of his students held posts in European schools. That happened because Heidegger either embraced or at least tolerated Naziism and maintained his university post throughout the 30s and 40s. Jaspers rejected it from the start, and lost his teaching post. Even if one discredits Heidegger's influence for that biographical reason, his works alone are still at least equally influential as those of Jaspers. But here's a possible solution for the purpose of the list: It might be worthwhile to use Edmund Husserl as the continental representative on the list. His Phenomenology influenced existentialism (especially through his student and successor, Heidegger), but has also given rise to distinct schools of thought in Europe and Latin America. Because his work was done early in the century, it doesn't represent the changes from one end of the century to the other, but it does introduce a significant change in thinking that reverberated throughout the century. -- And across the Channel, I still think Wittgenstein deserves a spot. Russell occupies a spot much like Husserl. His work early in the century reverberates throughout. But Wittgenstein contributed greatly both to the development of Russell's notions and to the later repudiation of them.

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