The continental tradition in philosophy has gotten more
"materialistic" over the last two hundred years. This has resulted
from a combination of some very specific moves with regard to the
epistemological parameters of understanding and the assertion that
ideas may have material force in history. Therefore, the
materialism within the continental tradition is not a materiality
of being, but a materiality of understanding and action. Such an
inquiry opens up space between the activities of sensation and the
mental faculty of cognition. 'I think, therefore I am,' is not an
empirical statement, but a statement of cognition. It is assumed
that this distinction is at the core of continental philosophy.
Cognition is always interpretive. Experience is the start of
cognition, but not its final product. Our cognitions cannot be
separated from our experience of the physical, social, and cultural
environment around us. The symbolic nature of language reinforces
the interpretive nature of our thoughts and ideas. Our language is,
therefore, always projecting an implicit image of the world.
Language is, therefore, always political. The materiality of these
cognitive world-views is manifested in two ways. First, in their
formation. They are the products of sensual contact with the world.
Second, in their effects. They move people. It is a picture of the
world which serves to shape the content and character of human
behavior. Whether we want to call these phantoms of the mind,
world-view, ideas, thoughts, cognitions, or any other term, the
dual character of their materiality is secure. This work examines
the threads materialist ideas running through the efforts of some
major authors in the continental tradition in philosophy. A model
of materialism is constructed in Chapter One and used to assess the
materialist elements in works from Kant, Marx, Weber, Nietzsche,
and contemporary poststructuralism. The work demonstrates the
evolution of materialist thinking within the tradition and asserts
an evolving and developing articulation of materialism in relation
to the thoughts and activities of human beings.
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