Phenomenology explained: from experience to insight

225 Pages·2013·1.198 MB·English

by  Detmer, David;Husserl, Edmund

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PHILOSOPHY R Phenomenology David Detmer
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“Detmer’s Phenomenology Explainedis the essential guidebook to Husserl’s phenomenology. This text should be O
the first read for those wading into the study of phenomenology for the first time, and senior scholars will appreciate C Explained

the subtlety by which Detmer navigates Husserl’s most difficult terrain. Phenomenology Explained offers a N
thoughtful and accessible treatment of the evolution of phenomenology from Husserl’s early influences to his 20th E
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century successors while shedding new light on where phenomenology might be headed. Detmer offers an important O
From Experience to Insight
analysis of the often overlooked and critical influence that Husserl’s thought has on the relationship between
phenomenology and ethics.”
—NICHOLAS WERNICKI, Assistant Professor, Peirce College
“It is rare that a book is required reading for scholars and undergraduates. Phenomenology Explainedis such a book.
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It is accessible, clear, and direct, yet it provides a high level of breadth and detail. David Detmer illuminates the key
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ideas and current relevance of phenomenology, largely through Husserl’s works. Detmer’s analyses are balanced,
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insightful, expertly developed, and extend current Husserl scholarship particularly with respect to previously unpublished m
Husserl works. This is a marvelous book and an invaluable guide for those interested in phenomenology.” e
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—LAWRENCE FERRARA, New York University, author of Philosophy and the Analysis of Music
“Phenomenology can be notoriously opaque to beginners, but Detmer succeeds at being clear and accessible without
shying away from an engagement with the most important and difficult ideas in phenomenology. Detmer’s
approach transcends traditional divides, making it accessible to both analytically- and continentally-trained philoso- P
phers. One of the greatest strengths of this volume is its balance of range and depth. Detmer shows the reader why h
phenomenology is not a relic of the early 20th century, but rather a vibrant and growing field in philosophy today.”
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—ELIZABETH BUTTERFIELD, Georgia Southern University, author of Sartre and Posthumanist Humanism
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“In Phenomenology Explained, Detmer identifies a central goal of phenomenology as ‘descriptive fidelity,’ a term
that aptly characterizes his own thorough treatment of the subject. With admirable clarity and ease, Detmer has m
managed to capture the profundity of the contributions of phenomenologists from Husserl to Merleau-Ponty, with-
out watering down the complexity of this vibrant field of inquiry. The book is an invaluable resource for scholars e
and students alike.” n
—CONSTANCE L. MUI, S. Youree Watson, S.J., Professor of Philosophy, Loyola University New Orleans o
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“David Detmer provides a clear, easily readable, and comprehensive overview of Husserlian phenomenology for o
both the novice and the initiated. Pushing beyond this, he also lays out a persuasive case for the relevance and g
importance of Husserl's phenomenology within the current philosophical scene. . . .”
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—BOB SANDMEYER, University of Kentucky, author ofHusserl’s Constitutive Phenomenology
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David Detmer is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University Calumet and Executive Editor of Sartre Studies p
International. He is the author of Sartre Explained: From Bad Faith to Authenticity (2008), Challenging l
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Postmodernism: Philosophy and the Politics of Truth(2003), and Freedom as a Value: A Critique of the Ethical
Theory of Jean-Paul Sartre (1988). i
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Open Court
Chicago, Illinois
OPEN
Cover photo and design: Randy A. Martinaitis
COURT
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Phenomenology Explained
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IDEAS EXPLAINED™
Daoism Explained, Hans-Georg Moeller
Frege Explained, Joan Weiner
Luhmann Explained, Hans-Georg Moeller
Heidegger Explained, Graham Harman
Atheism Explained, David Ramsay Steele
Sartre Explained, David Detmer
Ockham Explained, Rondo Keele
Rawls Explained, Paul Voice
Phenomenology Explained, David Detmer
Ayn Rand Explained, Ronald E. Merrill,
revised and updated by Marsha Familaro Enright
The Tea Party Explained, Yuri Maltsev and
Roman Skaskiw
IN PREPARATION
Deleuze and Guattari Explained, Rohit Dalvi
The Occupy Movement Explained, Nicholas Smaligo
Phenomenology Final 7.29.13_Frege Explained 7/29/13 1:36 PM Page iii
Phenomenology
Explained
From Experience to Insight
DAVID DETMER
OPEN COURT
Chicago
Phenomenology Final 7.29.13_Frege Explained 7/29/13 1:36 PM Page iv
Volume 9 in the Ideas Explained™ Series
To order books from Open Court, call toll-free 1-800-815-2280, or visit our
website at www.opencourtbooks.com.
Open Court Publishing Company is a division of Carus Publishing Company,
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Copyright © 2013 by Carus Publishing Company, dba ePals Media
First printing 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
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Carus Publishing Company, dba ePals Media, 70 East Lake Street, Suite 800,
Chicago, Illinois 60601.
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
ISBN: 978-0-8126-9797-1
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013944051
Detmer, David, 1958-
Sartre explained : from bad faith to authenticity / David Detmer.
p. cm. — (Ideas explained ; v. 6)
Summary: "A guide to the work of Jean-Paul Sartre addressing his
major theories and how the different strands of his thought are
interrelated, and overviewing works from all of his literary genres including
philosophical writings, novels, and plays"—Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8126-9631-8 (trade paper : alk. paper)
1. Sartre, Jean-Paul, 1905-1980. I. Title.
B2430.S34D46 2008
1934—dc22
2008012340
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Husserl’s Radicalism 3
The Subject Matter of Phenomenology 6
Philosophy as Rigorous Science 8
Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Correlativity 12
An Example of Phenomenological Description 16
The Aims of Phenomenology 18
The Critical Reception of Phenomenology 23
Edmund Husserl and the Origins of Phenomenology:
A Biographical Overview 27
Prospectus 35
1 Early Husserl
37
The Attack on Psychologism 38
Psychologism and Postmodernism 53
Bracketing 62
Intentionality 63
Eidetic Reduction 64
Critique of Scientism 66
Objective Truth 67
Intuition 68
Meaning 70
Universals 81
Parts and Wholes 86
Pure Logical Grammar 92
Intentionality Again 93
Knowledge 99
Evidence 100
Profiles 103
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vi Contents
Intuition Again 105
Categorial Intuition 107
Truth 111
Freedom from Presuppositions 112
2 Middle Husserl
121
The Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness 122
Ideas I 126
The Eidetic Reduction 127
Critique of Empiricism 136
The “Principle of All Principles” 139
The Natural Attitude 141
The Phenomenological Reduction 142
The Transcendental Ego 149
Constitution 150
Noe-sis and Noema 152
Horizon 154
Idealism 156
3 Late Husserl
157
The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental
Phenomenology 158
Scientism 159
Life-world 162
Static, Genetic, and Generative Phenomenology 165
4 Ethics
167
A Richer Conception of “Experience” 167
A Richer Conception of “Object” 168
Phenomenological Description Reveals the Ubiquity
of Value Experience 168
Intersubjectivity 169
The Eidetic and Phenomenological Reductions 173
Intuition 173
The Material A Priori 174
The Critique of Psychologism 174
Axiological Ethics 175
5 Polemics
177
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Contents vii
6 Successors
187
Max Scheler 187
Martin Heidegger 190
Jean-Paul Sartre 193
Maurice Merleau-Ponty 197
Suggestions for Further Reading 201
Index 207
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Acknowledgments
I
have had the good fortune to study Husserl and phenomenol-
ogy with several excellent teachers, most notably Erazim Kohák
(the world’s foremost authority on Jan Patocˇka, and author of the
best commentary on Ideas I known to me, Idea & Experience),
John Findlay (translator of the Logical Investigations), James Edie
(author of Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology: A Critical Commen-
tary), and David Michael Levin (now Kleinberg-Levin, author of
Reason and Evidence in Husserl’s Phenomenology). While I have
learned an enormous amount from each of these four fine schol-
ars, they cannot be blamed for my mistakes.
Also deserving of thanks are my friends in the North American
Sartre Society and at Sartre Studies International, especially Bruce
Baugh and Connie Mui. One does not even have to perform the
eidetic reduction to realize that they are the best of colleagues.
My colleagues in philosophy at Purdue University Calumet
have helped me to develop my ideas over many years of stimulat-
ing philosophical discussions, both informally and through our
regular colloquia. In this connection, I would like to thank John
Wachala, Connie Sowa-Wachala, Neil Florek, Phyllis Bergiel, John
Rowan, Eugene Schlossberger, Renee Conroy, Sam Zinaich, David
Turpin, Robin Turpin, Howard Cohen, Charmaine Boswell, Kevin
Kliver, Michael Stevens, Jason Melton, and Stephen Meinster. I
apologize to anyone I have forgotten.
Finally, as always, my biggest thanks go to Kerri and Arlo, for
their love, support, encouragement, ideas, and life-sustaining sense
of fun.
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