Modern - Contemporary

I think "contemporay" narrows the field to the period we're living in. "Modern" could be opposed to "classical", "ancient", etc... and may cover a much longer/larger period.

I ask this because I've seen "modern" used to refer to contemporary philosophy or science (or so it has seemed to me).

On the other hand, I've seen the label "early modern philosophy" to refer to the seventeeth and eighteenth centuries. This is what in Spanish I would call "filosofía moderna".

Sextus

Hello

The exact definition of 'contemporary' is 'occurring or living together in time with someone'. (EX) Earl Foix, a nobleman contemporary with King James I, kept six hundred dogs. But 'contemporary' is often used in the sense of 'contemporary with us', that is, ''present day'. 'Modern' could be defined 'pertaining to the present and recent times, distinguished from the remote past'. A

Paco, many thanks for your detailed answer.

Sextus

I'm not sure there's any consistency in the usage. One historian would include the Italian Renaissance in "modern history"; another would think you meant "20th century history". Then again, media types use "contemporary" simply to convey a sense of "more modern even than modern". ("Modern" is probably the equivalent of "classic", to an advertising executive; and you'll often find strange conjuncti

Well, Annas and Bett, who are those with whom I'm discussing in my paper, use "modern" to refer to 20th century philosophy.

Sextus

In that case, Bett would probably think of Wittgenstein and Bradley as "modern philosophers", but himself as both "modern" and "contemporary".

MrP

I should perhaps have said that the papers by Annas and Bett were written in the 20th century.

Sextus

I believe that most contemporary (in the sense of present-day) philosophy (since about 1950) is not called modern philosophy but "post-modernism".

CJ