將歐陸哲學同分析哲學區分開來係近代嘅事，大致可由二十世紀早期開始計起。但係，作為一種哲學傳統的區分，佢嘅源頭最早可追溯到康德。分析哲學雖然受到康德嘅影響，但係對佢以後嘅十九世紀德國哲學家，例如黑格爾、叔本華、馬克思同尼采等所謂“歐陸哲學”嘅主要思想都冇咩大嘅興趣。
The distinction between continental and analytic philosophy is recent, roughly from the early twentieth century. However, as a distinction of philosophical traditions, his origins can be traced back to Kant. Although analytic philosophy was influenced by Kant, it was not of much interest to the main ideas of his later nineteenth-century German philosophers, such as Hegel, Schopenhauer, Marx, and Nietzsche.