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,...

This book examines the evolution of materialism within the continental tradition in philosophy. After building a model of materialism, it shows how the writings of Kant, Marx, Weber, and Nietzsche have contributed to a materialist understanding of culture and history.