Continental Roots of Analytic Philosophy - Carnap and Frege as Examples

Abstract

For a long time controversies between analytic and continental philosophy have dominated the discussion. However, the distinction itself is already problematic in two different aspects. First, both characterizations are, in comparison, somehow asymmetrical, since “analytic” is a methodological determination, whereas continental is a “geographical” one. Second, the geographic classification in question, according to which analytic philosophers should be assigned to the Anglo-Saxon region, does not obtain. Analytic philosophers such as Frege, Wittgenstein and Carnap not only came from the continent, but also experienced their essential intellectual influences there (Frege and Carnap in Jena, Wittgenstein in Vienna). In the following I would like to demonstrate my assertion by taking Frege and Carnap as examples and showing their continental roots.