Gumbrecht traces the emphasis on meaning and interpretation back to Early Modernity, drawing from Martin Heidegger's concept of "Being" and commenting on the work of many other scholars, including Jacques Derrida's writing on overcoming metaphysics. Gumbrecht critiques the emphasis on reason and rationality that originated with the Age of Enlightenment, and in particular, references Immanuel Kant's "Critique of Pure Reason", "Critique of Practical Reason", and "Critique of Judgment", as well as the Cartesian tendency to exclude presence from metaphysics. These modes of conceptualization have become ingrained in philosophical analysis and other intellectual inquiry in the humanities.