This book offers a historical and critical account of the works of some of the major French philosophers of the twentieth century. Avoiding jargon, Eric Matthews shows how the philosophical tradition derived from Descartes has developed in the present century in the writings of key figures such as Bergson, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Derrida, and contemporary French feminists. He relates philosophy to the wider French culture, and draws parallels with English-language philosophers.