V Contemporary Philosophy

Philosophy in the Twentieth Century century can be understood, at least in part. as a general reaction against the Hegelian system. Analytic philosophy, initiated by Bertrand Russell, was an explicit rejection of the obscure language of the idealists. Existentialism was a denial of the overbearing rationality of the idealist's universe. And in the dialectical materialism of Karl Marx we find another form of reaction against Hegelian idealism.

Bertrand Russell was the first great analytic philosopher. He believed that symbolic logic-much of which he developed himself-was an "ideal language" that could be purged of philosophical problems which, on his view, arose from ordinary language itself. In this he set the example for the contemporary generation of analytic philosophers. A student of Russell's, Ludwig Wittgenstein, turned against ideal language philosophy in favor of the view that ordinary language is okay as it stands and should be used as a touchstone of good philosophical sense. He was joined in this outlook by Gilbert Ryle, John Austin, and ultimately by most American and British students of philosophy.

At the same time, the influence of Friedrich Nietzsche was being felt in continental Europe. The profundity of his understanding of the dark side of the modern psyche, and the courage with which he pursued his insights, have led historians to classify him as our contemporary.