The Metamorphosis

This is a comprehensive account of the key ideas and arguments of modern German philosophy from Kant to the present. The book offers an accessible introduction to the work, among others, of Kant, Herder, Fichte, the Romantics, Schelling, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, Frege, Wittgenstein, the Vienna Circle, Husserl, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno, Gadamer, and Habermas. Modern German philosophy is proving to be more and more important to the study of all areas of the humanities. The book considers how that philosophy reacts to revolutionary changes in modern science, society, and culture. The works of the philosophers are seen both as part of the wider traumatic history of Germany and as offering arguments which are central to debates in contemporary philosophy and theory in the humanities. Andrew Bowie writes clearly, making complex arguments accessible, without ever running the risk of oversimplification. This engaging book will be essential reading for newcomers to philosophy, and for anyone wanting to know more about the role of the German tradition within philosophy and literature as a whole.