HUSSERL'S THEORY OF PHENOMENOLOGY
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HUSSERL'S THEORY OF PHENOMENOLOGY Edmund Husserl began his career as a mathematician, and his philosophy is informed by a rigorous scientific outlook. His primary contribution to the history of philosophy lies in his theories of phenomenology, which he developed in response to the prevailing paradigm of psychologism, which, ironically, he helped to introduce as well. Psychologism argued that mathematical and logical objects are generated from the mind rather than exist independently of the mind. This theory led to the assertion that such abstract objects were necessarily dependent upon psychological laws. By 1900, Husserl had abandoned this view and adopted the view that mathematical and logical truths relate not only to the mind, but also to ideal objects such as theories and ideas. The validity of a mathematical equation could only be ÒprobablyÓ true, were the equation subject to the laws of mental perception. If the truth could be arrived at only through an inductive process, the truth could never be finally and categorically stated. If psychologism were a valid picture of the world, then it would mean that each set of argumentative facts would be dependent upon psychological facts for its veracity. A further blow to psychologism lies in the assertion that truth resides in the individual mind, and not outside it. If the mind is the final arbiter of truth in every sphere, then truth cannot exist apart from humanity. Science, mathematics, and logic all become subjective d
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, after all, judged not by its capacity to theorize about the world, but by its capacity to demonstrate concrete results, and to apply them. The legacy of Husserl has been a philosophic train of thought, but not a series of scientific breakthroughs, nor the establishment of an objective science to which all other sciences would urn for guidance: ÒThe method lacks just the feature to make it scientific--intersubjective testability, the confirmability beyond question of whatever is asserted based on the basis of this method. The phenomenologists still owe us proof that their method satisfies this overriding and indispensable requirement for a scientific method (Stegmuller 95).
HusserlÕs philosophy offers a direction toward which one might aim, but in terms of actual practical application, it was left to his followers to take up where he had left off and revise his theories so that they might provide the missing elements.
HEIDEGGER AND THE PRIMACY OF INTERPRETATION
Martin Heidegger addresses the question of foundational truth by asking about the nature of truth itself, and whether or not it exists as an entity separate and apart from the observer and the phenomenon observed. Were one to gaze at a cloud in the sky and ponder ÒT
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Approximate Word count = 1755
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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