What is Structuralistic Philosophizing?

Abstract

We have hitherto been emphasizing that an independent structuralistic philosophy does not exist. Structuralism is not a new philosophy, nor is it a philosophical movement comparable to existentialism or phenomenology. Fashionable writers in literary journals might like this to be the case, but from a philosophical point of view there is no support for it. It is only the fashion of the day which makes us believe that one philosophical movement has taken the place of another. It is today’s fashion which proclaims Paris structuralism dernier cri. In fact, many so-called structuralist authors like Lucien Goldmann argue that the concept of structure has long been at home in the intellectual life of France. French cubism, the contemporary of Russian formalism, illustrates this. The concept of structure lies at the root of important developments in the scientific and philosophical thinking of our century, roots that go far too deep for structuralism to be facilely presented as being ‘today’s thing.’