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The present translation draws upon nearly half a century of Husserl scholarship as well as the many translations into English of other books by Husserl, occasioned by W.R. Boyce Gibson’s pioneering translation of Ideas, First Book, in 1931. Based on the most recent German edition of the original text published in 1976 by Martinus Nijhoff and edited by Dr. Karl Schuhmann, the present translation offers an entirely new rendering into English of Husserl’s great work, together with a representative selection of Husserl’s own noted and revised parts of his book. Thus the translation makes available, for the first time in English, a significant commentary by Husserl on his own text over a period of about sixteen years.

Customer Reviews (3)

Useful translation of an important work
Kersten's translation of Husserl's "Ideas" is a huge improvement over the old Gibson translation, which was for years the only access English speaking readers had to this centrally important work. Much has been clarified and brought into conformity with the conventions established by Dorion Cairns. There are still minor flaws in the translation (and lots of typos), but these are insignificant in light of the vast improvement in readability of the present version. When Kluwer took over the rights from Martinus Nijhoff, it preserved and expanded the accessibility of these works for another generation. They deserve our gratitude for that. But one could still wish that Kluwer would price these volumes more reasonably.

Aquivocations
The fault of Husserl's main work - or at least one of them - is only that though he's very against linguistic aquivocations, he does some. It's not suddenly understandable, that the noetisch-noematisch expressions has no connection with the difference of noma and noemata (plural), but that noetisch means "refering to the noesis" and noematisch "refering to the noema" etc.

flawed translation
This translation is a huge improvement over the pioneering work by Boyce-Gibson from the 30s. But, as you read, you'll have to keep a pencil handy. Specifically, you should scratch out every occurrence of the term "mental process". That phrase is Kersten's choice to render the german "Erlebnis". In translating "Erlebnis" in this manner, Kersten is following the lead of Dorian Cairns, who made the suggestion in his "Guide For Translating Husserl." While it makes sense not to translate "Erlebnis" as "experience" (as one normally would in rendering colloquial German) since "experience" should be reserved to render the German "Erfahrung," just about any of the alternate translations would be better than the highly misleading "mental process." "Lived experience" would be much simpler and better - or you could render it with a neologism like "lived-through". Really anything other than "mental process" would be an improvement.

Also, there used to be a paperback edition of this item. Suchbooks are of interest to students. In whose interest is it to price them out of the reach of anyone except libraries? ... Read more

Product Description
Husserl has enjoyed a revival of interest in recent years and the Cartesian Meditations is perhaps his most widely read text. The book is an introduction to Husserl's phenomenology and is based on Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy. Husserl attempts to show how Descartes discovered the 'transcendental' perspective which is essential to any genuine philosophy.

Until now there has never been a secondary text on this important and influential work on philosophy. This book, in conjunction with the text itself, will serve as a proper introduction to Husserlian phenomenology.

A.D. Smith introduces and assesses the key concepts that arise in the book in clear and engaging way. His style is highly accessible and suitable for anyone coming to the Cartesian Meditations for the first time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

As bad as possible as a guidebook to Husserl
The author's attempt to make this guidebook a Book is obviously confronted by his inability to deal with Husserl's, and more importantly, his own understanding of Husserl's ideas systematically and consistently. The book should have impressed its audience better if the author honestly faced his segmented manner in delivering its contents to beginners of Husserlian phenomenology. The ideas are simply not put together. They are scattered, and the narration always gets interrupted. I would more regard this guidebook as the authors' self-murmuring, a hallucination state of telling stories of certain apodicticity to himself.

A Great Introduction.
An excellent and well-written explanation of the philosophy of Husserl and particularly of the Cartesian Meditations, for philosophy students which desperately need a "translation" of his complicated and sometimes tedious prose. The book resembles a University lecture in which the professor's personal opinions are rarely introduced. Highly recommended for students at upper-intermediate level.

An excellent new book which fills a mighty scholarship gap
Edmund Husserl is really an unsung hero in early twentieth century philosophy. His fundfamental importance for such thinkers as Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty should in and of itself be cause for Husserl's popular rehabilitation; this is the book to accomplish just that.

Part of a new publishing venture Routledge press has initiated in order to produce introductory studies on important philosophers (the backlist so far includes thinkers from Plato to the later Heidegger) which are at the same time vital contributions to contemporary scholarship, this volume on Husserl is the first secondary text to address Husserl's Cartesian Meditations, a breathtaking lapse if you think about it, since authors seldom get taught in introductory classes in primary text alone. Husserl's students, intellectual progeny, and even enemies have really been the focus of Husserl studies (much like Irenaeus was the focus of gnostic studies until the full publication of the Nag Hammadi documents several years ago), and anyone wanting an introduction to Husserl's thought had to do the best they could. His work, and the Cartesian Meditations in particular, has been and is deserving of competent, thoughtful commentary, and Smith's volume neatly fits the bill. It is a deep and detailed investigation of the genesis of Husserl's thinking (in itself a phenomenological "to the thing itself" kind of approach), and almost a line-by-line commentary on the ideas, problems, and contributions of Husserl's book which never fails to remember that it is aimed at newcomers as well as specialists. Plainly put, it is no longer responsible to teach Husserl without this volume, and no class on existentialism, phenomenology, or deconstruction should proceed without it, either.

The person seeking to understand Husserl's masterwork should begin with the Cartesian Meditations in one hand and this volume in the other. Incidentally, any doctoral students responsible for the Cartesian Meditations in general exams without the benefit of a faculty that actually teaches Husserl (sadly, a rather common situation)owes Smith a heartfelt thank-you card. It is a book that makes anyone with Husserlian questions happy. It is not the final word on Husserl's work, but thankfully, it is a very important first word. ... Read more

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The Logical Investigations is Edmund Husserl's most famous work and has had a decisive impact on the direction of twentieth century philosophy.This is the first time both volumes of this classic work, translated by J.N. Findlay, have been available in paperback. ... Read more

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This Was The Philosophy That Was
The reprinting of J.N. Findlay's translation of Husserl's *Logical Investigations* (in an attractive and reasonably affordable paperback format) was one of the more welcome events in the recent history of Anglo-American publishing; this was the book which started the intellectual 20th century off with a bang -- Freud's *Interpretation of Dreams* was not widely read until much later -- and it still contains much of value.It is "generally understood" that Husserl's work is irrelevant by the contemporary standards of both analytic and "Continental" philosophy, but on a considered view of intellectual history this is wrong: in fact, the philosophical doctrine known as "anti-psychologism" was nowhere as effectively expounded as in the *Prolegomena To Pure Logic*, the first "book" of the *Logical Investigations*.There's a reason for that.Husserl's expository prose there is lucid and compelling, even in fact (as he admits) in contradistinction to the rest of this rather massive book; the six studies which follow seem today to be by turns antediluvian and futuristic.

Of course, nowadays Frege is much more highly esteemed as a logical researcher; and although his discoveries were perhaps more seminal than Husserl's, those claiming an interest in the intellectual history of the 20th century should stop and think exactly why one should not find this material compelling.Not only did Husserl found the philosophical school of phenomenology, dedicated to a science of non-causal ideal connections already meeting all of the Kantian criteria for *Afterphilosophie* (lacking a both a strong *theoretical* eros and naturalistic pretensions), the great logicians of the century (yes, that's right) got many of their *ideas* from Husserl rather than Frege -- and if this is to be snorted away, perhaps discussion of the relative merits of Tarski and Carnap should then focus on somewhat other characteristics (on pain of rational reconstruction of English being along somewhat other lines).In other words, *Logical Investigations* could be well be dubbed a truly *liminal* text, both separating and influencing two fields (philosophy and formal logic); and Routledge has done the reading world a great service by making it accessible to young Anglophone readers. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Derrida's first book.
What this unusual book has to offer include the following.

1. A detailed, occasionally critical, close reading of Husserl's essay.

2. A look at the logic, in its nascent state, that Derrida will continue to develop and deploy throughout his career.

3. A view of Derrida's Husserlian roots, and at his disagreement with certain aspects of these roots.

The book also contains (as it should) an English translation of Husserl's essay.

It should be of interest to those who take an interest in Derrida's work, in Husserl's work (especially his late work), and perhaps to other folks as well, for example those interested in the philosophy or phenomenology of mathematical objects and their history, in the relations between ideality and materiality, or in history or historicity. ... Read more

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Originally published 1931.

Customer Reviews (1)

POSSIBLY THE MOST IMPORTANT BOOK OF THE 20th CENTURY
I am surprised that there have been no reviews for this splendid book. Husserl's IDEASis a significant book in the history of human thought and Western philosophy, any student of philosophy or psychology would do themselfs a favor by reading this very important book. It is not my intention to write a Cliff's notes review regarding the content of this book, but the modern reader will find that Husserl's ideas makes points that expand on Kant's CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. Ideas refers to transcendental phenomenonlgy, a school of thought that placeshuman experience into a realm of personal understanding attained through a series of conceptual reductions. A trained phenomenologist (sic.) should be able to reduce objects of experience to their fundamental concepts, then remove these concepts to understand the essential features of human experience. This "PHENOMENOLOGICAL REDUCTION" is applicable to all phenomena, and when applied properly this technique isolates human experience to certain core concepts that are universal to all phenomena irregardless of space and time. I believe that Husserl's Ideas is an invaluble contribution to modern psychology, and should be required reading for all students in a liberal arts program. ... Read more

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Coming from what is arguably the most productive period of Husserl's life, this volume offers the reader a first translation into English of Husserl's renowned lectures on `passive synthesis', given between 1920 and 1926. These lectures are the first extensive application of Husserl's newly developed genetic phenomenology to perceptual experience and to the way in which it is connected to judgments and cognition. They include an historical reflection on the crisis of contemporary thought and human spirit, provide an archaeology of experience by questioning back into sedimented layers of meaning, and sketch the genealogy of judgment in `active synthesis'.Drawing upon everyday events and personal experiences, the Analyses are marked by a patient attention to the subtle emergence of sense in our lives. By advancing a phenomenology of association that treats such phenomena as bodily kinaesthesis, temporal genesis, habit, affection, attention, motivation, and the unconscious, Husserl explores the cognitive dimensions of the body in its affectively significant surroundings. An elaboration of these diverse modes of evidence and their modalizations (transcendental aesthetic), allows Husserl to trace the origin of truth up to judicative achievements (transcendental logic).Joined by several of Husserl's essays on static and genetic method, the Analyses afford a richness of description unequalled by the majority of Husserl's works available to English readers. Students of phenomenology and of Husserl's thought will find this an indispensable work. ... Read more

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This is a complete translation of "Husserlians X", the volume in the critical edition of Husserl's work that includes his writings on time and the consciousness of time written between 1893 and 1917. The texts come from a crucial period of development in Husserl's thought, and cover topics of central importance in his phenomenology of time-consciousness arguably represents the most thorough, careful, and insightful reflection on the phenomenon of the experience of time in the literature, whether ancient or modern. Among the themes Husserl investigates are perception as a form of time-consciousness; retention and protention as immediate forms of awareness of past and future; memory and expectation and their differences from and dependence on perception, retention, and protention; the temporal modes in which objects appear; the way in which the various forms and modes of time-consciousness are constituted; the connection between subjective or immanent time and objective time; and the absolute time-constituting flow of consciousness as the fundamental level of cosnciousness life.Students of Husserl's thought, and anyone interested in the philosophical issue of time should find this text useful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Challenging, but worthwhile
The professor with whom I read this book touted it as one of the most difficult works of 20th century phenomenology, and I would agree. It's also tedious. But despite this, it repays close reading.

The primary topic is how time is perceived by an individual, but this has implications for epistemology, psychology, and ontology.

I would not recommend this book to readers with a casual interest because it is a difficult read and other (later) works by Husserl would be more fulfilling for casual readers. However, in the context of Heidegger's _Being and Time_ this work by Husserl is an important precursor and the object of Heidegger's criticism. In this context it is important reading for students of phenomenology.

A great translation of the time lectures
The time lectures of Edmund Husserl are essential reading for anyone interested in the fields of phenomenology, psychology, or time in general. Here, Husserl attempts to unravel the many layers of our consciousness of time. Husserl's extended study stands as the most compelling analysis of the subject in the history of western philosophy and has exerted much influence onresearch in phenomenology. This particular work is also of interests since what is found here is taken up in much less detail in his other introductions. In addition, this particular aspect of Husserl's philosophy can be seen again in Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. The Brough translation excels in many ways. Brough offers a thorough and clear translation of the work with many scholarly bonuses. This is not to say that he made Husserl easy to read, but he retains the power of Husserl's thought through the difficult translation. He also offers clearifying notes throughout the text that cross reference appendices and sections of the Husserl's notes and an introduction that clearifies the context in which the text was produced and the many difficulties that are present in this work. Brough's translation is far superior to that of the previous english translation by James Churchill. This work is well worth the effort and the translation is the best yet (the price is another story altogether). Husserl's lectures on the consciousness of internal time are of continued value to the student and scholar alike and this editions offers much for both types.

Awesome Bearded Philosophers
Professor Brough delivers Husserl to English-reading audiences with remarkable flair. ... Read more

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     The "Cartesian Meditations" translation is based primarily on the printed text, edited by Professor S. Strasser and published in the first volume of Husserliana: Cartesianische Meditationen und Pariser Vorträge, ISBN 90-247-0214-3. Most of Husserl's emendations, as given in the Appendix to that volume, have been treated as if they were part of the text. The others have been translated in footnotes.
     Secondary consideration has been given to a typescript (cited as "Typescript C") on which Husserl wrote in 1933: "Cartes. Meditationen / Originaltext 1929 / E. Husserl / für Dorion Cairns". Its use of emphasis and quotation marks conforms more closely to Husserl’s practice, as exemplified in works published during his lifetime. In this respect the translation usually follows Typescript C. Moreover, some of the variant readings n this typescript are preferable and have been used as the basis for the translation. Where that is the case, the published text is given or translated in a foornote.
     The published text and Typescript C have been compared with the French translation by Gabrielle Pfeiffer and Emmanuel Levinas (Paris, Armand Collin, 1931). The use of emphasis and quotation marks in the French translation corresponds more closely to that in Typescript C than to that in the published text. Often, where the wording of the published text and that of Typescript C differ, the French translation indicates that it was based on a text that corresponded more closely to one or the other – usually to Typescript C. In such cases the French translation has been quoted or cited in a foornote.

Customer Reviews (4)

Not Completely Phenomenal
My cursory look at the text brought me to the conclusion that it is somewhat barren of secrets.

Text buried deep into the morass of subtitles yielded an idea in a public consciousness, a vaguery that I could not get over; it seemed to suggest that Husserl lacks consistent aphoristic power, at least in English.

Although there are vast differences, I find myself preferring Nietzche for aphoristic reasons.

Husserl is not only dense, but does not convey powerful ideas. Perhaps this is similar to the failures of Derrida.

Nonetheless it is full length volume -- I am amazed --- it brings on paranoia of subterfuge.

Great Introduction
The Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology was written by Edmund Husserl (the founder of phenomenology). This means the book is not muddled by the need to reconcile conflicting views on what phenomenology is according to various philosophers, like in commentaries. Also, many commentaries follow Sartre's, Heidegger's (as found in Being and Time) and Merleau-Ponty's human conciseness centered phenomenology leaving Husserl's phenomenology as a footnote. Being that Husserl's phenomenology is underrepresented in secondary sources, it is necessary to read Husserl's own writings. Cartesian Meditations offers a full understanding of Husserl's philosophy. The only other source for this is Husserl's Ideas Pertaining to Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, which is spilt in to three volumes and is around 900 pages. Ideas... is not only long, but it gives the reader a distinct feeling that many of the sections are dead ends and could have been edited out. Cartesian Meditations, on the other hand, is concise. Also, the book is easier to understand because the structure is similar to Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy. However, one should not think Husserl super-imposed his philosophy on Descartes'. In Cartesian Meditations, Husserl only made the similarities that could already be found in Ideas... explicit to help introduce Phenomenology to a larger audience though a familiar median. Even though the book was written as an introduction (as the title indicates), the audience need not be novice of Phenomenology. People who have read Ideas... cover to cover can still appreciate the book because it contains only what is essential to Husserl's Phenomenology, unlike Ideas..., which according to Husserl contains "imperfections".Cartesian Meditations makes one of the most influential twentieth century thinkers accessible.

Too transcendental?
Don't get me wrong, Husserl's contribution to post-modern philosophy is impossible to ignore.However, his constant beating of the transcendental horse is even more annoying then the Catholic theologian Karl Rahner's!At least with Rahner, you can expect man's transcedence toward God... with Husserl, it is a transcendence toward the self by the epoche - the "bracketting" - of the world and the retreat into the self.While the ideas are immensely important, they are more valuable as a transitional piece from the work of Descartes toward the work of Heidegger, Sartre, and others than they are on their own.An ego-pole?How is a pole, as Sartre would say, not simply a thing of the world?Husserl seems wed to the idea that the mind is constitutive of the world around us, and thankfully post-modern philosophy has not devoted itself entirely to that idea.

Perhaps it is the translation, but the work is hard to read, and you would be better to borrow it from a library then to spend the [price] on a 80 page book.

Still, it gets 3 stars.why?because it is so important.The work of Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and even Rahner wouldnot be possible without this work by Husserl.He is a bridge thinker - now that we've crossed the river maybe occasionally we can look back at his thought for its worth but we don't have to spend any more time on that bridge.

An Excellent Introduction To Phenomenology
This little book is an excellent introduction to Husserl's phenomenology. He outlines his idea of the intentionality of consciousness via the "transcendental ego". If Sartre had paid more attention to this,his outlook wouldn't have been so pessimistic.

Caveat: This book is hardreading -- it's not really for the newcomer to philosophy and Husserl'stoxic and dense style will probably put off all but the determined. ... Read more

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"(This) account constitutes one valuable introduction to Husserl's philosophy". -- International Philosophical Quarterly ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Superb book by a consummate expert on Husserl
This book is an outstanding presentation of Husserl's philosophy. The book draws upon important texts that are not readily available to English-speaking readers (e.g., the Husserls' lectures in Amsterdam and Paris), and it provides a careful analysis of how Husserl's ideas evolved over time. It provides a lucid account of the relation between phenomenological psychology and transcendental phenomenology. Chapter Seven ("The Transcendental Problem: Its Origin and Its Quasi-Solution by Psychologism") describes the origins of the concept of the transcendental and presents an account of how that concept evolved in the thought of Kant and Husserl. That chapter also discusses the evolution of Descarte's concept of the cogito. Dr. Kockelmans' understanding of Husserl's thought and of Husserl's importance to the history of philosophy is impeccable. He is currently Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Penn State. I had the good fortune of attending quite a few of his classes and seminars in the 1970s. He is a man of deep and abiding compassion. He was a superb teacher who invariably presented his subject with elegance, grace, critical exactitude, transparent clarity, and sublime intellectual humility. This book is a fine book, and I highly recommended it to anyone with an interest Husserl, phenomenology, and transcendental idealism.

not really inspiring
Unfortunately Kockelman's book turned out to be a encyclopedic summary of Husserlian phenomenology, and as such much poorer and less illuminative than the Brittanica article of Husserl's which was similar in aim, and which is the movement point for this book. Students of some intelligence need books that are really engaging and developing, and not just encyclopedic knowledge. Of course by reading this sort of a book we may learn definitions of concepts like noema and noemata, but I believe we would better have no idea of a subject than having a junk of poor and lifeless concepts. I would recommend the reader, especially the more sophisticated and good-willed one, to turn to Husserl's own numerous introductions like Cartesian Meditations or the Crisis even if he does not know much phenomenology, and put some sweat into them. Still this book might be helpful with some undergraduate exams- to'fill in' papers.

kockelmans' approach clairvoyant, rigorous but "smooth"
Prof. Kockelmans navigates the reader (even the uninitiated, as was I) through the prinicpal features of Husserl's thought.His writing is extremely well-structured, such that the reader's comprehension proceeds in equal rhythm with the author's careful explanations.After studying some medieval philosophy with Prof. Kockelmans I can confidently say that his understanding of the history of thought, art, and science are inspiring; all of this adds to the finish of the book.His style is never cumbersome--though he retains all of the slippery terminology of the discipline--and his summary is without superfluity.This is a highly important and recommendable work. Jason Stell ... Read more

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The Logical Investigations is Edmund Husserl's most famous work and has had a decisive impact on the direction of twentieth century philosophy.This is the first time both volumes of this classic work, translated by J.N. Findlay, have been available in paperback. ... Read more

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Dermot Moran provides a lucid, engaging, and critical introduction to Edmund Husserl's philosophy, with specific emphasis on his development of phenomenology. This book is a comprehensive guide to Husserl's thought from its origins in nineteenth-century concerns with the nature of scientific knowledge and with psychologism, through his breakthrough discovery of phenomenology and his elucidation of the phenomenological method, to the late analyses of culture and the life-world. Husserl's complex ideas are presented in a clear and expert manner. Individual chapters explore Husserl's key texts including Philosophy of Arithmetic, Logical Investigations, Ideas I, Cartesian Meditations and Crisis of the European Sciences. In addition, Moran offers penetrating criticisms and evaluations of Husserl's achievement, including the contribution of his phenomenology to current philosophical debates concerning consciousness and the mind.

Edmund Husserl is an invaluable guide to understanding the thought of one of the seminal thinkers of the twentieth century. It will be helpful to students of contemporary philosophy, and to those interested in scientific, literary and cultural studies on the European continent. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent overview of Husserl and Phenomenology
Unfortunately one recent historian of ideas when studying phenomenology commented that it was 'abstract, and had little relevance', particularly in relation to the staggering triumph of science in the 20th century.Sadly, Peter Watson (otherwise a terrific writer on intellectual history) totally missed the great importance of Husserl and phenomenology to 20th century philosophy, both the analytical tradition and on the Continent.

Moran, a Professor of Philosophy at Dublin in Ireland,corrects this misunderstanding with this excellent analysis of Husserl, his background, and his philosophical and phenomenological method.Husserl's 'school' drew countless of Europe's finest philosophers and students at the time, from Martin Hiedigger to Hannah Arendt to Edith Stein to Sartre, and influenced many other great continental philosophers such as Levinas, Gadamer, and Derrida (who wrote his doctorate on Husserl's study of geometry).

Husserl was initially a professional mathematician who became interested in Philosophy through his own interests in the foundations of mathematics, and the influence of the former Catholic priest Brentano.Husserl attempted to understand the foundations of mathematical objects and how we can attain certain mathematical truth.For Husserl, it made no sense to say mathematical truths were either pure platonic realities or fictions of the mind.The relationships were more complex, and Husserl's philosophy matured into a highly sophisticated form of idealism.

Husserl then claimed to found phenomeology, a method of philosophy which involves studying conciousness and its contents while suspending prejudice about the nature of the object studied.In his later life, Husserl adopted a metaphysical position not unlike that of Liebnitz, who divided reality into 'monads', self aware beings whose intersubjective ideality creates the world.

Husserl's philosophy is many sided and he and his followers applied it to everything from mathematics and science to literature, art, and the study of religion.Even now, it is becoming clear he is one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th century, and of interest to both philosophers who follow the Continental tradition from Europe, or the analytical method which dominates the English speaking world.

This work represents an excellent attempt to summarise Husserl's complex though, often expressed in difficult prose (as with many German philosophers) and is well worth studying. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume presents the English translations of texts byEdmund Husserl, and some by Martin Heidegger, that date from 1927through to 1931. Most notably, the volume contains Englishtranslations of (a) all the drafts of -- as well as Heidegger'scontributions to -- Husserl's ill-fated article `Phenomenology'-- a garbled version of which was published in theEncyclopaedia Britannica in 1929; (b) Husserl's `AmsterdamLectures', delivered in 1928; (c) the copious notes that Husserl wrotein the margins of Heidegger's Sein und Zeit and Kant und dasProblem der Metaphysik; and (d) Husserl's lecture`Phanomenologie und Anthropologie', delivered in 1931. Ably edited, translated, and introduced by two leading scholars, thesetexts as a whole document Husserl's thinking as he approachedretirement from teaching and also shed light on the philosophicalchasm that was widening at the time between Husserl and Heidegger. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Phenomenological Confrontations
In the clash with Heidegger, Husserl's phenomenology came into close contact with a devisive bug named "intersubjectivity". After dealing with the differences inherent in their two positions, Husserldecided that the only way to remedy the situation, and thereforephenomenology, was to begin work on the phenomenological analytic ofethics, or how to found the possibility of an ethics (this comes thorugh inthe Amsterdam lectures).

To the book's credit, it demonstrates clearlythat where Heidegger lived a sum ergo cogito, Husserl rather thought thecogito ergo sum, all the way through to its "liminal" zone, theborder. This began the confrontation, and would also soon end it. Thus someof the decisive problems addressed in this Encyclopedia Brittanica bookwith regards to phenomenology are: history, the subject, time, the other,the possibility of phenomenology with respect to the position on time, etc.Derrida would indeed, as another reviewer has unwittingly pointed out,characterize some of these problems as the break between "thelaugh" and the laser-fine gaze of reason. That is, if time is aproblem for phenomenology in Husserl's sense, one must laugh at thepossibility of phenomenology. If it is rather a problem in Heidegger'ssense, then one must phenomenologically laugh (see "An Intro toHusserl's 'Origin of Geometry'")...Well worth the money either way.

a laugh riot
Edmund Husserl was the leading comedic writer of his time... This book is a strong example of his work and sheds new light on the relationship with his moronic sidekick, Martin Heidegger. ... Read more

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This book makes available to the English reader nearly all ofthe shorter philosophical works, published or unpublished, thatHusserl produced on the way to the phenomenological breakthroughrecorded in his Logical Investigations of 1900-1901. Here onesees Husserl's method emerging step by step, and such crucialsubstantive conclusions as that concerning the nature of Idealentities and the status the intentional `relation' and its `objects'.Husserl's literary encounters with many of the leading thinkers of hisday illuminates both the context and the content of his thought. Manyof the groundbreaking analyses provided in these texts were neveragain to be given the thorough expositions found in these earlywritings.
Early Writings in the Philosophy of Logic and Mathematics isessential reading for students of Husserl and all those who enquireinto the nature of mathematical and logical knowledge. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent study guide
Nearly all of the shorter philosophical works,published or unpublished, that Husserl produced on the way to the phenomenological breakthroughrecorded in his Logical Investigations of 1900-1901. Hereone sees Husserl's method emerging step by step, and such crucialsubstantive conclusions as that concerning the nature of Ideal entities andthe status the intentional `relation' and its `objects'. Husserl's literaryencounters with many of the leading thinkers of his day illuminates boththe context and the content of his thought. Many of the groundbreakinganalyses provided in these texts were never again to be given the thoroughexpositions found in these early writings. Early Writings in the Philosophyof Logic and Mathematics is essential reading for students of Husserl andall those who enquire into the nature of mathematical and logicalknowledge. ... Read more

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This is a translation of Husserl's `Thing-lectures'(Dingvorlesung) of 1907, published posthumously in 1973. Thelectures deal with the constitution of the thing as a resextensa, an extended spatial structure filled with sensuousqualities and not yet with substantial or causal properties. Key tothis phenomenological account is the role of the kinaesthetic systemsof the body in the constitution of both three-dimensional space andthe thing in its identity, its manifold of possible movements, and itsposition in relation to the ego.
The `Thing-lectures' form part of the project of a `phenomenology andcritique of reason' announced in a general introduction to the samelectures and published separately as The Idea of Phenomenology.There for the first time the idea of a transcendental phenomenologybased on the principle of the phenomenological reduction was laid out.The lectures presented here thus form a striking example of theapplication of this idea to a concrete and fundamental field ofresearch. ... Read more

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This course on logic and theory of knowledge fell exactly midway between the publication of the "Logical Investigations" in 1900-01 and "Ideas I" in 1913. It constitutes a summation and consolidation of Husserl's logico-scientific, epistemological, and epistemo-phenomenological investigations of the preceding years and an important step in the journey from the descriptivo-psychological elucidation of pure logic in the "Logical Investigations" to the transcendental phenomenology of the absolute consciousness of the objective correlates constituting themselves in its acts in "Ideas I". In this course Husserl began developing his transcendental phenomenology as the genuine realization of what had only been realized in fragmentary form in the Logical Investigations. Husserl considered that in the courses that he gave at the University of Gottingen he had progressed well beyond the insights of the Logical Investigations.Once he exposed the objective theoretical scaffolding needed to keep philosophers from falling into the quagmires of psychologism and skepticism, he set out on his voyage of discovery of the world of the intentional consciousness and to introduce the phenomenological analysis of knowledge that were to yield the general concepts of knowledge needed to solve the most recalcitrant problems of theory of knowledge understood as the investigation of the thorny problems involving the relationship of the subjectivity of the knower to the objectivity of what is known. This translation appears at a time when philosophers in English-speaking countries have heartily embraced the thoughts of Husserl's German contemporary Gottlob Frege and his concerns. It is replete with insights into matters that many philosophers have been primed to appreciate out of enthusiasm for Frege's ideas. Among these are: anti-psychologism, meaning, the foundations of mathematics, logic, science, and knowledge, his questions about sets and classes, intensions, identity, calculating with concepts, perspicuity, and even his idealism. ... Read more

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This is a biography of the philosopher Edmund Husserl, giving an account of his life and work. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An eloquent presentation of Husserl's phenomenology
Natanson's book is amazingly well-written.Husserl's often difficult and wordy ideas of phenomenology are covered clearly enough for the beginner, and in-depth enough for the student of Husserl.Natanson offers not just areview of phenomenology, but covers all from attitudes to methods,existence to the application of phenomenology.This is the first book Irecommend to anyone studying Husserl. ... Read more

Product Description
In this fresh translation of five lectures delivered in 1907 atthe University of Göttingen, Edmund Husserl lays out thephilosophical problem of knowledge, indicates the requirements for itssolution, and for the first time introduces the phenomenologicalmethod of reduction. For those interested in the genesis anddevelopment of Husserl's phenomenology, this text affords a uniqueglimpse into the epistemological motivation of his work, his conceptof intentionality, and the formation of central phenomenologicalconcepts that will later go by the names of `transcendentalconsciousness', the `noema', and the like. As a teaching text,The Idea of Phenomenology is ideal: it is brief, it isunencumbered by the technical terminology of Husserl's later work, itbears a clear connection to the problem of knowledge as formulated inthe Cartesian tradition, and it is accompanied by a translator'sintroduction that clearly spells out the structure, argument, andmovement of the text. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Bit Pricey but Good
The Idea of Phenomenology is Volume VIII of the recent Husserl's Collected Works Series published by Kluwer.This small text consists of five short lectures (and some immediate post-lecture reflections) given by Husserl in 1907.These lectures represent the first public exposition of his phenomenology and are reminiscent of Descartes' Meditations - in that Husserl grapples with the question of knowledge.Lee Hardy's new English translation is generally clear and readable.Although probably for a limited readership, I recommend it for fans of Husserl and readers interested in the origins of phenomenology.
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