One such question is, “Are the Continental philosophers really philosophers?” Analytic philosophers, because they identify philosophical ability with argumentative skill and notice that there is nothing that they would consider an argument in the bulk of Heidegger or Foucault, suggest that these must be people who tried to be philosophers and failed – incompetent philosophers. This is as silly as saying Plato was an incompetent sophist, or that a hedgehog is an incompetent fox… We should really just drop the question of what philosophy really is or who really counts as a philosopher… If we put aside wistful talk of bridge-building and joining forces, we can see the analytic-Continental split as both permanent and harmless.
From our archive: “Philosophy in America Today” by Richard Rorty in The American Scholar. Spring, 1982.

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