ABSTRACT
The aspects of European thought which we consider to have been most important for the development of post-modernism fall under the headings phenomenology, psychoanalysis, and the legacies of Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche and Saussure. As teachers we feel that students need some notion of how post-modern ideas have evolved, in order to help them feel that they have somewhere to argue and speak from. Our purpose is to emphasise that post-modernism, far from being merely about veneer, is deeply rooted in European thinking. It has a rigour of its own, which is different from scientific rigour, but in no way inferior for that. In our view phenomenology, alongside psychoanalysis, is the crucial element underpinning post-modernism, and is of paramount importance to psychotherapy.
