First Philosophy: Lectures 1923/24 and Related Texts from the Manuscripts (1920-1925)

Description

This volume presents, for the first time in English, Husserl’s seminal 1923/24 lecture course First Philosophy (Erste Philosophie) together with a selection of material from the famous research manuscripts of the same time period. The lecture course is divided into two systematic, yet interrelated parts (“Critical History of Ideas” and “Theory of the Phenomenological Reduction”). It has long been recognized by scholars as among the most important of the many lecture courses he taught in his career. Indeed it was deemed as crucially important by Husserl himself, who composed it with a view toward eventual publication. It is unsurprising, then, that First Philosophy is the only lecture course that is consistently counted among his major works. In addition to furnishing valuable insights into Husserl’s understanding of the history of philosophy, First Philosophy is his most sustained treatment of the phenomenological reduction, the central concept of his philosophical methodology. The selection of supplemental texts expands on the topics treated in the lectures, but also add other themes from Husserl’s vast oeuvre. The manuscript material is especially worthwhile, because in it, Husserl offers candid self-criticisms of his publicly enunciated words, and also makes forays into areas of his philosophy that he was loath to publicize, lest his words be misunderstood. As Husserl’s position as a key contributor to contemporary thought has, with the passage of time, become increasingly clear, the demand for access to his writings in English has steadily grown. This translation strives to meet this demand by providing English-speaking readers access to this central Husserlian text. It will be of interest to scholars of Husserl’s work, non-specialists, and students of phenomenology. Front Matter ....Pages i-lxxxv The Idea of Philosophy and its Historical Origin (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 1-17 The Grounding of Logic and the Limits of Formal-Apophantic Analytics (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 18-32 First Reflections On Cognizing Subjectivity, Motivated by Sophistic Skepticism (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 33-53 The Historical Beginnings of the Science of Subjectivity (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 54-79 The Fundamental Limitation of Locke’s Sphere of Vision and its Reasons (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 80-104 Critical Disclosure of the Genuine and Enduring Problematic Concealed in Locke’s Investigations (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 105-129 Empiricism’s Theory of Abstraction as an Index of How it Falls Short of the Idea of an Eidetic Science of Pure Consciousness (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 130-144 From Locke to the Radical Consequence of Berkeley’s Purely Immanent Philosophy (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 145-161 Hume’s Positivism: the Consummation of Skepticism and, Simultaneously, the Decisive Preparatory Step toward a Transcendental Foundational Science (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 162-187 The Rationalism and Metaphysics of the Modern Period (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 188-205 Introduction: The Motivation of the Beginning Philosopher in the Absolute Situation (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 207-230 The Idea of Apodictic Evidence and the Problematic of the Beginning (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 231-247 World-Perception and World-Belief (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 248-262 Supplementations and Clarifications in Connection with the “Objection of Insanity” (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 263-273 Opening Up the Field of Transcendental Experience Transcendental, Phenomenological and Apodictic Reduction (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 274-285 The Transcendental Temporal Form of Subjectivity’s Transcendental Stream of Life (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 286-295 On the Theory of the Theoretical Attitude of the Phenomenologist: What the Epoché Means and Accomplishes (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 296-315 The Conscious Activity of Natural Egoic Life and the Reduction to Pure Subjectivity (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 316-333 The Accomplishment and Problematic of a Phenomenological-Psychological Reduction (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 334-346 The Opening of the Realm of Transcendental Experience Following the Second Path (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 347-364 The Philosophical Significance of the Transcendental-Phenomenological Reduction (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 365-390 Supplemental Texts (Edmund Husserl)....Pages 391-633 Back Matter ....Pages 635-640