To help understand what unifies those working within the tradition of continental philosophy, McCumber sets continental philosophy up against what he calls "traditional philosophy," by which he understands, following Heidegger, "philosophy that locates true reality in an atemporal domain" (4). "Traditional philosophy" -- whether in the form of Parmenidean Being, Platonic Forms, Aristotelian essences, Kantian transcendental structures of the human mind, or the logically manipulated world of propositions -- places what is ultimately real in some timeless and unchanging realm. Continental philosophy, however, understands itself to be firmly situated within time and history while trying to understand things and actions that are themselves equally so situated within the temporal realm.
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