Phenomenology and the Crisis of Philosophy: Philosophy as Rigorous Science, and Philosophy and the Crisis of European Man

by Edmund Husserl, Quentin Lauer (Translator)

Contents: I) " Philosophy as a Rigorous Science." II) "Philosophy and Crisis of European Man." From book's Introduction by Quentin Lauer: "It is hoped that the two essays chosen for translation in this volume will contribute towards filling a gap which those who are interested in contemporary phenomenology cannot but feel. The first essay can be said to represent Husserl early in his career, when he was seeking to gain a hearing for his 'radically new' scientific manner of philosophizing. The second dates from the years immediately preceding the cessation of Husserl's philosophical activity. Together they constitute a striking testimony to the continuity of Husserl's 'scientific' ideal in philosophy. The intervening years saw considerable development of the detailed method for attaining the goal of universal rationality, but it is significant that the position achieved as a result of this development in no way involved relinquishing any major position adopted at the beginning or along the way. Thus we have in these two essays on only an early in a late stage in the genetic growth of Husserl's thought but also an introduction to what can be called his definitive attitude toward the very nature of philosophical thinking."

Genres: Philosophy

192 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1965

About the author

Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (Dr. phil. hab., University of Halle-Wittenberg, 1887; Ph.D., Mathematics, University of Vienna, 1883) was a philosopher who is deemed the founder of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, believing that experience is the source of all knowledge, while at the same time he elaborated critiques of psychologism and historicism.

Born into a Moravian Jewish family, he was baptized as a Lutheran in 1887. Husserl studied mathematics under Karl Weierstrass, completing a Ph.D. under Leo Königsberger, and studied philosophy under Franz Brentano and Carl Stumpf. Husserl taught philosophy, as a Privatdozent at Halle from 1887, then as professor, first at Göttingen from 1901, then at Freiburg im Breisgau from 1916 until his 1928 retirement.

Reviews

[Alison Brady · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I'm more sympathetic to Harman's claim that philosophy is closer to art/aesthetics than science, I do appreciate Husserl's idea of "seeking to attain new beginnings in a free dedication to the problems themselves and to the demands stemming from them." This, indeed, is often lost and yet important as an initial orientation to philosophical thought.

Indeed, in that sense, philosophy "is essentially a science of true beginnings... without the apparatus if premises and conclusions." I like this idea very much.