Husserl on Ethics and Intersubjectivity: From Static to Genetic Phenomenology

by Janet Donohoe

This book provides a compelling look at the importance of Husserl’s methodological shift from his original, purely "static" approach to his later "genetic" approach to the analysis of consciousness. Janet Donohoe shows that between 1913 and 1921 Husserl progressed in his thinking from a constitutive analysis of how something is experienced, which focused primarily on the general structure of consciousness as an abstract unity, to an investigation into the origins of the subject as a unique individual interacting with and growing within the surrounding environment. Whereas his earlier work presents the ego as already fully evolved and thus leaves much about human experience unaccounted for, Husserl’s later writings demonstrate an appreciation for the development of the ego and for questions of history, culture, intersubjectivity, and ethics.

Engaging critics from contemporary analytic schools to adherents of critical theory and deconstruction, to second and third generation phenomenologists, Donohoe shows that they often do not do justice to the breadth of Husserl’s thought. In separate chapters, she elucidates the relevance of Husserl’s later genetic phenomenology to his work on time - consciousness, intersubjectivity, and ethical issues such as the categorical imperative, the relationship of the individual to the community, and tradition and self-responsibility.

This much-needed synthesis of Husserl’s methodology will be of interest to Husserl scholars, phenomenologists, and philosophers from both Continental and analytic schools.

197 pages, Hardcover

First published July 5, 2004