DOCSLIB.ORG

On Liking and Enjoyment: Reassessing Geiger's Account Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
On Liking and Enjoyment: Reassessing Geiger's Account Of On Liking and Enjoyment: Reassessing Geiger’s Account of Aesthetic Pleasure Íngrid Vendrell Ferran Goethe-Universität Frankfurt* [email protected] ABSTRACT. This paper examines the notion of aesthetic pleasure within the framework of an aesthetics of value. The topic is introduced in sect. 1, while sect. 2 presents "oritz Gei$er%s distinction &etween two kinds of aesthetic pleasure: likin$, which enables us to grasp the aesthetic values of the artwork; and en)o*ment, which is understood to &e an emotional response. +ect. 3 reassesses the main tenets of Gei$er%s account in the li$ht of current research. -n particular - provide ar$uments in favor of Gei$er%s distinction &etween likin$ and en)o*ment, &ut - call into question the claim that likin$ reveals aesthetic values. -n sect. 4, - su$$est that likin$ is a form of feelin$ motivated &* the co$nition of aesthetic value and - distin$uish it from &oth the $raspin$ of values and emotional responses. - conclude in sect. 5 b* brief* summarizin$ m* main claims. KEYWORDS. 2esthetic pleasure; 2esthetic value; 3motion; 3n)o*ment( 4ikin$; Value Feelin$. * Correspondence: Íngrid Vendrell Ferran – Institut f6r 7hilosophie, 8or&ert-Wollheim-7lat# 1 60629 Frankfurt am Main. "etodo Vol. 8, n. 2 (!;!;? @A-: 10.19079/metodo.8.2.207 !;= Íngrid Vendrell Ferran 1. ntroduction 2s is the case with other aesthetic concepts includin$ &eaut* the concept of aesthetic pleasure almost vanished from the aesthetic discourse durin$ the second half of the last centur*.1 An the one hand the si$niDcance of aesthetic pleasure was challen$ed &* those authors inspired &* Erecht and 2dorno%s materialist aesthetics who considered that the main function of art is not to please &ut to move us to social and moral action.! An the other hand the rise of aesthetic co$nitivism after Eeardsle* and Fospers led to a shiftin$ of attention toward the co$nitive powers of art rele$atin$ the notion of pleasure to the &ack$round., -n addition the few contemporar* accounts of aesthetic pleasure that do exist have tended to explain its function in terms close to emotivist and pro)ectionist views ar$uin$ that aesthetic pleasure confers value on those o&)ects a&le to elicit it./ 2$ainst this &ackdrop Gorodeisk* has drawn attention to a &lind spot in contemporar* research &* considerin$ aesthetic pleasure to &e revelator* of aesthetic value. -n this paper m* aim is to advance the de&ate on aesthetic pleasure in the o&)ectivist direction hi$hli$hted &* Gorodeisk*. -n particular - will focus on two main .uestions' What is the place of aesthetic pleasure within the mindG Fow is pleasure connected to valuesG The answers that - will develop in response to these .uestions take inspiration from the phenomenolo$ical tradition. "ore precisel* - am interested in presentin$ and reassessin$ "orit# Gei$er%s >1==;H1<,B? account of aesthetic pleasure. 2ttention will &e paid to a distinction &etween two kinds of aesthetic pleasure' likin$ which ena&les us to 1 For an anal*sis of the historical causes of the decline of &eaut*, which in m* view can also &e applied to the parallel loss of interest in the notion of aesthetic pleasure, see FU3"3I 28@ V38@I344 F3II28 2019. ! EI3JFT 1953, 110 and 2@AI8A 1970, 409. , E32I@+43K 1981 and FA+73I+ 1946. / See GAIA@3-+LK 2019a, 2 and 2019b. "etodo Vol. 8, n. 2 (!;!;? On i!ing and En"o#$ent !;< $rasp the aesthetic values of the work( and en)o*ment which is an emotional response toward the $rasped values. Gei$er%s account is interestin$ in the context of current aesthetics for two reasons. First &* distin$uishin$ &etween likin$ and en)o*ment he oMers us a $ood startin$ point to shed li$ht on the nature of likin$ as an activit* of the mind which is not assimila&le to the cate$or* of emotion. +econd he oMers an explanation of how ever* kind of pleasure relates to aesthetic value. Fowever as we will see Gei$er%s claims are not exempt from controvers*. - will su&)ect his claims to scrutin* examinin$ them in the li$ht of recent accounts. While - will provide further ar$uments in favor of Gei$er%s claim that likin$ is distinct from emotional responses such as en)o*ment - will also call into .uestion the claim that likin$ reveals aesthetic values. Throu$h this framework - will su$$est that likin$ is a form of feelin$ elicited &* the co$nition of aesthetic value and - will distin$uish it from &oth the $raspin$ of values and emotional responses. The aim of this paper is twofold. The Drst aim is historical' m* intention is to oMer a readin$ of Gei$er%s writin$ on aesthetic pleasure which makes his work suita&le for a dialo$ue with contemporar* philosoph*. The earl* sta$es of phenomenolo$ical aesthetics have &een lar$el* ne$lected and are completel* a&sent in man* text&ooks on aesthetics.0 -t is hi$h time to reconsider them to pa* tri&ute to their insi$htful contri&utions and to demonstrate their value for contemporar* research.: The second aim is more s*stematic. - will take 0 5enanzio Iaspa has made the same diagnosis in the case of the 2esthetics of the Graz School >to which authors like "einon$ and Witasek &elon$? >I2+72 2010, =?. For a discussion of phenomenolo$ists workin$ on aesthetics, see E-3"34 1995, 337-50. : Gei$er%s contri&utions to the stud* of empath* and emotional expression as well as his valuable accounts of the role of consciousness in the emotional experience have attracted recent attention (see 253IJF- 2015; JI3+7A 2015; +24-J3 2020; and 538@I344 F3II28 2019). Fowever, his contri&ution to the topic of aesthetic pleasure, which is the focus of this paper, has not cau$ht the attention of current aestheticians, despite receivin$ laudator* remarks such as the followin$: N2mon$ the older thinkers Lant, and amon$ the more recent ones "oritz Gei$er, each dedicated penetratin$ in.uires to it, and the results the* o&tained &elon$ to the &est that has &een achieved in the realm of aestheticsO >F2IT"288 2014, B/?. -n a recent paper, Summa approaches &rie1* the notion of aesthetic en)o*ment in +U""2 (!;!;?. "etodo 5ol. 8, n. 2 (!;!;? !1; Íngrid Vendrell Ferran Gei$er as a startin$ point to advance the de&ate on aesthetic pleasure sheddin$ li$ht on its relation to other aMective mental phenomena at work durin$ the aesthetic experience and examinin$ its speciDc connection with aesthetic value. The paper is structured as follows. +ect. ! presents and discusses "orit# Gei$er%s distinction &etween two kinds of aesthetic pleasure. +ect. , reassesses the main tenets of Gei$er%s account in the li$ht of current research. -n sect. / - present m* view that likin$ is a form of feelin$. - conclude in sect. 0 &* &rie1* summari#in$ the main claims. 2. Geiger on Aesthetic Pleasure 2.1 The Dis%inc%ion Be%)een iking *+e,allen- and En"oymen% *+en.ss- Gei$er%s aesthetics is as he used to put it an Paesthetics of valueQ >Wertästheti!?.B Fe coined this expression to contrast his aesthetics from the more dominant Paesthetics of eMectQ >Wirk.ngs/stheti!? which was concerned mainl* with the ps*cholo$ical eMects of artworks (i.e. with sensations emotions and moods? rather than their artistic values.= Gei$er%s main aim in aesthetics was to reconcile the B Fe also refers explicitl* to aesthetics as “value science” (G3-GEI 1986, 61). = -n the course of his criti.ue of an aesthetics focused exclusivel* on the psycholo$ical eMects of the artwork, Gei$er develops an insi$htful and detailed criti.ue of sentimentalism in the arts, i.e., a criti.ue of the attitude in which we en$age with an artwork with the sole aim of experiencin$ emotions. Gei$er elaborates a distinction &etween two attitudes of aesthetic en$a$ement: Pinner concentrationQ >0nnen!on1en%ra%ion?, which focuses on the emotions that the artwork elicits in us, and “outer concentration” >A.ssen!on1en%ra%ion?, which is concerned with the values of the work. Outer concentration is necessar* for the appreciation of the artwork. However, not all t*pes of inner concentration are reproachable. Fe distin$uishes &etween inner concentration in the emotion >0nnen!on1en%ra%ion in S%i$$.ngen?, which consists in attendin$ the experience of the emotion dissolvin$ the &oundaries &etween the experiencin$ self and the experienced emotion, and inner concentration %o)ard the emotion >0nnen!on1en%ra%ion a., S%i$$.ngen? throu$h which we attend to %he e$o%ion experienced &ut preserve the &oundaries &etween ourselves and the emotion. This second kind of inner concentration mi$ht have an aesthetic function. For a discussion of Gei$er%s criti.ue of sentimentalism, see 538@I344 F3II28 (forthc.). "etodo Vol. 8, n. 2 (!;!;? On i!ing and En"o#$ent !11 su&)ectivit* of the aesthetic experience with the o&)ectivit* of aesthetic values.< -n this context he developed the complex account of aesthetic pleasure in which we can Dnd the distinction &etween likin$ >+efallen? and en)o*ment >+en.ss? that forms the focus of this paper.1; For Gei$er aesthetic values are $iven to us with phenomenolo$ical o&)ectivit*. 2s he o&serves this view does not make the value properties Na&soluteO &ecause it does not impl* that values are permanent properties of the o&)ect &ut it does indicate that we experience aesthetic properties as &ein$ o&)ectivel* present.11 2ccordin$ to Gei$er aesthetic values are immediatel* $rasped throu$h our likin$.1! This likin$ must &e distin$uished strictl* from en)o*ment which is descri&ed as pure feelin$ and excitement and does not contri&ute to $raspin$ the values of the work.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Dialogues in Philosophy, Mental and Neuro Sciences Crossing Dialogues ORIGINAL ARTICLE
    Dialogues in Philosophy, Mental and Neuro Sciences Crossing Dialogues ORIGINAL ARTICLE Association The roots of psychopathological understanding: Karl Jaspers’ Verstehen and the infl uence of Moritz Geiger’s empathy Crossing Dialogues Association, Rome (Italy) M This paper presents the main contents of Geiger’s 1910 lecture on empathy and focuses on its possible infl uence on Jaspers’ General Psychopathology. In particular, some key methodological distinctions traced by Jaspers (explaining vs. understanding, static vs. genetic understanding, understandability vs. non-understandability) are compared to Geiger’s similar concepts. Geiger’s role in shaping Jaspers’ concept of understanding (and non-understandability) is still neglected and it is time to recognize it. In particular, Geiger’s distinction between the direct empathy for the other’s expressions at one side, and the ‘reliving after the event’ of the ‘inner correlation of the psyche’ on the other side had a major role in shaping Jaspers’ similar distinction between static and genetic understanding. Keywords: psychopathology, phenomenology, hermeneutics, history of psychiatry, Einfühlung. DIAL PHIL MENT NEURO SCI 2016; 9(2): 36-42 INTRODUCTION Understanding (Verstehen) is a crucial issue the psychological ground: in hermeneutics since Schleiermacher’s claim “a sensuous object distinct from me ‘expresses’ that its task is “to understand the discourse [ausdruckt] something interior or soul-like” (Lipps, just as well and even better than its creator” 1906, p.1). (Schleiermacher, 1819/1978, p.9). Empathy was the instrument humans have Through the epistemological debate that took in order to grasp the psychological level, and place in the second half of the nineteenth century according to Lipps there was a projection (known as the Methodenstreit), the following of the observer’s feelings onto the observed distinctions were fi nally imported into Karl Jaspers’ expressions.
    [Show full text]
  • Íngrid Vendrell Ferran1 Geiger and Wollheim on Expressive Properties and Expressive Perception
    Studi di estetica, anno XLVII, IV serie, 2/2019 Sensibilia ISSN 0585-4733, ISSN digitale 1825-8646, DOI 10.7413/18258646094 Íngrid Vendrell Ferran1 Geiger and Wollheim on expressive properties and expressive perception Abstract The aim of this paper is to reconstruct Geiger’s realist and Wollheim’s projection- ist accounts on expressive properties and expressive perception by considering them within the larger contexts from which they emerged, by using as far as pos- sible a common language and by focusing on the questions of the nature of ex- pressive properties and of how we grasp them. My aim is to show that it is possi- ble to put into dialogue phenomenological and Anglo-American aesthetics and that this dialogue might lead to new insights about how we engage with art. Keywords Aesthetics, Realism, Projectionism 1. A dialogue between phenomenological and Anglo-American aesthetics In recent years, philosophers working in the field of aesthetics have become increasingly interested in explaining how we are able to per- ceive qualities expressing emotional states in both nature and works of art. We speak of the cheerfulness of a landscape, the serenity of a poem, the melancholy of a painting, the sadness of a film, and so on. These examples do not refer to the emotional expressions of particu- lar humans, or human-like figures or animals appearing in these works, but to properties which seem to be expressed by natural ob- jects and by art works themselves. Contemporary philosophers em- ploy different names to refer to this phenomenon. On the one hand, authors inspired by the phenomenological tradition deploy the con- cepts of “moods”, “atmospheres” and “characters”; they also speak of “quasi objective feelings” and of “half-things”.
    [Show full text]
  • A Phenomenological Critique of the Idea of Social Science
    A Phenomenological Critique of the Idea of Social Science Jonathan D. F. Tuckett 17/11/2014 Submitted for the Degree of Ph.D. in Religious Studies School of Literature and Languages Religion University of Stirling Abstract Social science is in crisis. The task of social science is to study “man in situation”: to understand the world as it is for “man”. This thesis charges that this crisis consists in a failure to properly address the philosophical anthropological question “What is man?”. The various social scientific methodologies who have as their object “man” suffer rampant disagreements because they presuppose, rather than consider, what is meant by “man”. It is our intention to show that the root of the crisis is that social science can provide no formal definition of “man”. In order to understand this we propose a phenomenological analysis into the essence of social science. This phenomenological approach will give us reason to abandon the (sexist) word “man” and instead we will speak of wer: the beings which we are. That we have not used the more usual “human being” (or some equivalent) is due to the human prejudice which is one of the major constituents of this crisis we seek to analyse. This thesis is divided into two Parts: normative and evaluative. In the normative Part we will seek a clarification of both “phenomenology” and “social science”. Due to the various ways in which “phenomenology” has been invented we must secure a simipliciter definition of phenomenology as an approach to philosophical anthropology (Chapter 2). Importantly, we will show how the key instigators of the branches of phenomenology, Husserl, Scheler, Heidegger, and Sartre, were all engaged in this task.
    [Show full text]
  • Handbook of Phenomenological Aesthetics Contributions to Phenomenology
    HANDBOOK OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL AESTHETICS CONTRIBUTIONS TO PHENOMENOLOGY IN COOPERATION WITH THE CENTER FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH IN PHENOMENOLOGY Volume 59 Series Editors: Nicolas de Warren, Wellesley College, MA, USA Dermot Moran, University College Dublin, Ireland. Editorial Board: Lilian Alweiss, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Elizabeth Behnke, Ferndale, WA, USA Rudolf Bernet, Husserl-Archief, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium David Carr, Emory University, GA, USA Chan-Fai Cheung, Chinese University Hong Kong, China James Dodd, New School University, NY, USA Lester Embree, Florida Atlantic University, FL, USA Alfredo Ferrarin, Università di Pisa, Italy Burt Hopkins, Seattle University, WA, USA Kwok-Ying Lau, Chinese University Hong Kong, China Nam-In Lee, Seoul National University, Korea Dieter Lohmar, Universität zu Köln, Germany William R. McKenna, Miami University, OH, USA Algis Mickunas, Ohio University, OH, USA J.N. Mohanty, Temple University, PA, USA Junichi Murata, University of Tokyo, Japan Thomas Nenon, The University of Memphis, TN, USA Thomas M. Seebohm, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Germany Gail Soffer, Rome, Italy Anthony Steinbock, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, IL, USA Shigeru Taguchi, Yamagata University, Japan Dan Zahavi, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Richard M. Zaner, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA Scope The purpose of the series is to serve as a vehicle for the pursuit of phenomenological research across a broad spectrum, including cross-over developments with other fields of inquiry such as the social sciences and cognitive science. Since its establishment in 1987, Contributions to Phenomenology has published nearly 60 titles on diverse themes of phenomenological philosophy. In addition to welcoming monographs and collections of papers in established areas of scholarship, the series encourages original work in phenomenology.
    [Show full text]
  • The Polish Journal of Aesthetics
    The Polish Journal of Aesthetics The Polish Journal of Aesthetics 49 (2/2018) Jagiellonian University in Kraków The Polish Journal of Aesthetics Editor-in-Chief: Leszek Sosnowski Editorial Board: Natalia Anna Michna (Deputy Editor), Dominika Czakon (Deputy Editor), Anna Kuchta (Secretary), Klaudia Adamowicz, Marcin Lubecki, Miłosz Markiewicz, Adrian Mróz Advisory Board: Władysław Stróżewski, Tiziana Andino, Nigel Dower, Saulius Geniusas, Jean Grondin, Carl Humphries, Ason Jaggar, Dalius Jonkus, Akiko Kasuya, Carolyn Korsmeyer, Leo Luks, Diana Tietjens Meyers, Carla Milani Damião, Mauro Perani, Kiyomitsu Yui Contact: Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University 52 Grodzka Street, 31-004 Kraków, Poland [email protected], www.pjaesthetics.uj.edu.pl Published by: Institute of Philosophy, Jagiellonian University 52 Grodzka Street, 31-004 Kraków Co-publisher: Wydawnictwo Nowa Strona – Marcin Lubecki 22/43 Podgórze Street, 43-300 Bielsko-Biała Editorial Layout and Typesetting: Katarzyna Migdał, Marcin Lubecki Cover Design: Katarzyna Migdał On the Cover: View through Seldom Seen by James Turrell with overflying crow and crescent moon (Wikimedia Commons) First Edition © Copyright by Jagiellonian University All rights reserved e-ISSN 2353-723X Editors of the Volume: Monika Murawska and Piotr Schollenberger CONTENTS Introduction 9 Articles MATTHEW E. GLADDEN A Phenomenological “Aesthetics of Isolation” as Environmental Aesthetics for an Era of Ubiquitous Art 11 MAGDALENA KRASIŃSKA The Convergence of Phenomenology and Semiotics in Georges
    [Show full text]
  • Dialogues in Philosophy, Mental and Neuro Sciences Crossing Dialogues ORIGINAL ARTICLE
    Dialogues in Philosophy, Mental and Neuro Sciences Crossing Dialogues ORIGINAL ARTICLE Association An introduction to Moritz Geiger’s psychological contribution on empathy FLORIAN GÖDEL Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena (Germany) Moritz Geiger is known for his work in aesthetics, while his contribution to psychology is rarely cited. There are biographical as well as theoretical reasons for this. However, his project of a Phenomenological Psychology of “pure self-given factuality”, in contrast to Husserl’s idealism of consciousness, deserves to be re-discovered. Here an early work on empathy is briefl y presented and discussed in the context of Geiger’s life and theoretical development, arguing that later ideas are already present in this contribution, although only later they will be developed more deeply. Key words: Empathy, psychology, philosophy, phenomenology. DIAL PHIL MENT NEURO SCI 2015; 8(1):16-18 INTRODUCTION The name of Moritz Geiger does not appear of a maximum of factuality [...]. For this prin- very often in today’s philosophical publications, ciple, it immolates even the demand of syste- and his ideas about the psychological science maticity of the given existence” (Zeltner, 1960, at the beginning of the 20th century are today p.455). Subsequently, Geiger returns to Munich almost forgotten. Certainly, there are sever- and participates in the “Munich Circle”. Several al reasons for this. On the one hand, there are publications follow as well as an appointment to biographical reasons: Moritz Geiger was born the University of Munich and fi nally Göttingen. July 26th 1880 in Frankfurt am Main. He be- In 1933 Geiger emigrates in the USA, because gan his studies in 1898 in Munich and changed he refuses to give up his academic functions at his subject several times.
    [Show full text]
  • William James and the Development of Phenomenological Psychology in Europe
    HISTORY OF THE HUMAN SCIENCES Vol. 8 No. 1 C~ 1995 SAGE (London, Thousand Oaks and New Delhi) 29- William James and the development of phenomenological psychology in Europe MAX HERZOG In sum, then, my effort has been to offer in a ’natural science’ of the mind a modus vivendi in which the most various schools may meet harmoniously on the common basis of fact. (William James) ’PHENOMENOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY’ If we are to write of ’phenomenological psychology’ we first require a clarification of the relationship between phenomenology and psychology. That is not easy: for these two elements are highly variable along synchronic and diachronic dimensions (cf. Graumann, 1991; Herzog, 1992). Even before Edmund Husserl made the step from descriptive psychology in his Logical Investigations (1900-1) to the transcendental phenomenology in his Ideas (1913) there were differing conceptions of the nature of psychology and of phenomen- ology. The meaning of ’phenomenological psychology’ was even less clear. Viewed historically, three relational determinants within the complicated entanglement of psychology and phenomenology can be discerned. First of all, for Husserl phenomenology is merely a propaedeutic, a transitional stage on the way to a pure (philosophical) phenomenology. Secondly, within the phenom- enological movement there are not a few psychologists who see things exactly in reverse: phenomenology as a means used in the methodical orientation of 30 science. Thirdly, before Husserl there did exist a phenomenologically oriented psychology, in the same way that a phenomenological psychology flourished after Husserl that, strictly speaking, had little to do with his programme. Hence the position of the American William James with respect to the European phenomenological movement varies depending on which of these three relational determinants is selected.
    [Show full text]
  • 8 Phenomenological Approaches to Hatred Scheler, Pfänder, and Kolnai
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by PhilPapers 8 Phenomenological approaches to hatred Scheler, Pfänder, and Kolnai Íngrid Vendrell Ferran Abstract: This chapter aims to reconstruct the phenomenological theories on hatred developed by Scheler, Pfänder and Kolnai and to refl ect upon its anthropological implications. Four essential aspects of this phenomenon are analyzed, taking as point of departure the works of these authors: (1) its place in the taxonomy of the affective life; (2) the world of its objects; (3) its expression in the form of bodily manifestations and motivating force; and (4) the inherent possibilities for overcoming it. The chapter concludes that hatred is a key phenomenon for understanding aspects of human nature that we generally try to ignore or overlook. Keywords: hatred, early phenomenology, intentionality, emotional act-experience, sentiment, emotive response Introduction: hatred and its place at the core of human nature In recent years, scholars working in phenomenology as well as in philosophy of mind have progressively acknowledged the philosophical importance of the work realized by Husserl’s fi rst students – the “early phenomenologists” – on the affective domain. Under Husserl’s infl uence, a very heterogeneous group of thinkers devel- oped accurate and inspiring accounts of the affective life. 1 Authors belonging to this group include Alexander Pfänder, Else Voigtländer, Willy Haas, Moritz Geiger, Max Scheler, Hedwig Conrad-Martius, Edith Stein, and Gerda Walther, to mention but a few. Even though the phenomenology of affectivity developed within this movement cannot be considered unitary, it is possible to identify some traits shared by all of these authors.
    [Show full text]
  • Gianfranco Soldati Husserl: a Short Intellectual Biography §1.From
    Gianfranco Soldati Husserl: a short intellectual biography Husserl's closest friends. Husserl’s habilitation thesis, On the Concept of §1. From Berlin to Halle through Vienna: Mathematician and Philosopher Number, was accepted in 1887 by a commission composed, among others, by the great mathematician Georg Cantor. During the same year Husserl married Malvine Steinschneider, Edmund Husserl was born in 1859 in Prossnitz (Prostejov), a small who had previously converted, like Husserl himself, from Judaism to city in the actual Czech Republic, at that time part of the Austrian Protestantism. Empire. One of four siblings, Husserl grew up in a well-established liberal Jewish family. Records do not report him as a brilliant school child, although he proved to be excellent at mathematics. From 1876 §2. In Halle as a Privatdozent: the Logical Investigations to 1883 he studied mainly physics and mathematics, first in Leipzig, where he also attended philosophy lectures by Wilhelm Wundt, one of the grounding fathers of experimental psychology, then in Berlin, and Husserl spent fourteen difficult years in Halle as a Privatdozent. He finally in Vienna, where he obtained his doctorate with a thesis on the felt depressed both, because most contemporary philosophy looked calculus of variation. shallow to him and because of the lack of public recognition for his Husserl returned to Berlin in 1883 in order to work as an assistant own work. Apart from some scattered grants, Husserl had no stable of Carl Weierstrass, the founder of modern analysis. Husserl’s income for him and his family to live on during all those years.
    [Show full text]
  • Phenomenology As Descriptive Psychology
    Phenomenology as Descriptive Psychology PHENOMENOLOGY AS DESCRIPTIVE thanks to Husserl, as Lipps’ psychologism, but also to contrast their own position with Husserl’s conception of phenomenology. The ex‐ PSYCHOLOGY: cerpt from a letter from Reinach to Conrad, quoted above, provides an THE MUNICH INTERPRETATION eloquent illustration of their somewhat ambivalent attitude toward Husserl’s phenomenology. Interestingly, although the Munich phenomenologists were well Guillaume Fréchette (University of Salzburg) aware of the inluences of Franz Brentano’s descriptive psychology upon Husserl’s phenomenology, they never quite agreed with Husserl upon the identiication of phenomenology with descriptive psychology Is phenomenology nothing else than descriptive psychology? In the as formulated in the irst edition of the LI. There are good reasons to irst edition of his Logical Investigations (LI), Husserl conceived of believe that Husserl’s discussions with the Munich phenomenologists phenomenology as a description and analysis of the experiences of in played a signiicant role in his abandonment of the label of knowledge, unequivocally stating that “phenomenology is descriptive “descriptive psychology” in his lectures on the theory of judge‐ psychology.” Most interestingly, although the irst edition of the LI ment, attended by many Munich phenomenologists.3 Expanding on was the reference par excellence in phenomenology for the Munich these reasons will show that Husserl’s rejection of “descriptive psy‐ phenomenologists, they remained suspicious of this characterisation chology” as a label for phenomenology was differently motivated than of phenomenology. The aim of this paper is to shed new light on the the Munich phenomenologists’ rejection, as we will see in the irst two reception of descriptive psychology among Munich phenomenologists sections of this paper.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses The work of Rudolf Otto and its relevance to religious education in Britain at the present time Minney, Robin How to cite: Minney, Robin (1993) The work of Rudolf Otto and its relevance to religious education in Britain at the present time, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5550/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Robin Minney. "THE WORK OF RUDOLF OTTO AND ITS RELEVANCE TO RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN BRITAIN AT THE PRESENT TIME" Ph.D. thesis, University of Durham, 1993. ABSTRACT Rudolf Otto (1869-1937) was brought up in circles of Lutheran piety, and looked for the meeting point of academic theology and religious experience. Deeply influenced by mystics like Eckhart, he sought a solution with the help of the philosopher Kant, the theologian Schleiermacher, and the psychologist William James.
    [Show full text]
  • HUSSERL and STEIN
    Cultural Heritage and Contemporary Change Series I. Culture and Values, Volume 31 HUSSERL and STEIN Edited by Richard Feist William Sweet The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy 1 Copyright © 2003 by The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy Gibbons Hall B-20 620 Michigan Avenue, NE Washington, D.C. 20064 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Husserl and Stein / edited by Richard Feist, William Sweet. p.cm.—(cultural heritage and contemporary change. Series I, Culture and values ; vol. 31) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1.Husserl, Edmund, 1859-1938. 2. Stein, Edith, Saint, 1891-1942. I. Feist, Richard. II. Sweet, William. III. Series. B3279.H94H855 2003 2003021425 193—dc22 CIP ISBN 1-56518-194-8 (pbk.) 2 Table of Contents Introduction: Husserl, Stein, and Phenomenology 1 William Sweet and Richard Feist 1. Brentano and Intentionality 21 Rolf George 2. Altered States: American Empiricism, Austrian Rationalism, and Universal Intuition 35 Anoop Gupta 3. The Sixth Meditation 49 Richard Holmes 4. Carnap, Husserl, Euclid, and the Idea of a Material Geometry 57 René Jagnow 5. Reductions and Relativity 89 Richard Feist 6. Are There Really Appearances? Dennett and Husserl on Seemings and Presence 103 David L. Thompson 7. Other Bodies and Other Minds in Edith Stein: Or, How to Talk About Empathy 119 Judy Miles 8. Edith Stein and Intersubjectivity 127 Ernest J. McCullough 9. The Humane Community: Husserl versus Stein 141 Marianne Sawicki 10. Edith Stein and Modern Philosophy 155 Chantal Beauvais Contributors 3 Introduction Husserl, Stein, and Phenomenology William Sweet and Richard Feist Introduction The philosophy of Edmund Husserl is difficult to categorise.
    [Show full text]