Phenomenology and Imagination in Husserl and Heidegger

by Brian Elliott

Phenomenology is one of the most pervasive and influential schools of thought in twentieth-century European philosophy. This book provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the idea of the imagination in Husserl and Heidegger. The author also locates phenomenology within the broader context of a philosophical world dominated by Kantian thought, arguing that the location of Husserl within the Kantian landscape is essential to an adequate understanding of phenomenology both as an historical event and as a legacy for present and future philosophy.

Genres: Philosophy

Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2004

Reviews

[Kamakana · Rating 4 out of 5]

291118: day after. i have told myself many times no more heidegger- but this involves husserl. so i read it. this begins with the innovation of phenomenology by husserl, much close argument, history, assertions, which interests me less than subsequent chapters. the insight which astute readers on or by these philosophers have noticed (therefore is surprising to me...) is the different heritages, lineage, worldview that forms their perspectives, leading husserl to 'create' phenomenology and heidegger to 'destroy' it and though i had known this before, i had not understood fully how key these sources are. briefly, husserl comes from a background of logic, math, science, and heidegger from theology, art, poetry...

whenever i feel sympathy with husserl, this is what i mean: phenomenology is promoted as an abstract 'presuppositionless' method of engaging with 'the things themselves', founding this entire 'absence' on logic, math, science and unspoken rather obvious focus on the cartesian cogito as the originary presence of meaning, said to be adherent in the world and thus somewhat determining how events etc are 'constructed', whereas the cogito is an achievement and not 'given' and the language of math is inadequate for creation, not merely that 'life' is not all 'quantitative' but also in perception, emotion, body etc...

heidegger comes to critique his mentor and ends up invalidating phenomenology. for him, the key (took a break so now by recall) is that it is impossible to be truly ‘presuppositionless’ for there is always usnpoken primacy of unified cogito, an abstract construction by assumed ‘objective’ logic, math, science, that is thereby unmoored from essential and inescapable human subjectivity... best expressed through careful parsing of relevant ‘poetic’ views, obviously based on religious/nationalistic bases...

so there is a problem here. this work has given me the best arguments for how h could be seen as nazi, not merely supporter, but propagandist who gives archaic/racist thought in terms of ‘blood’, of ‘soil’, of course ‘the special destiny of the german people...’- some kind of deceptive intellectual veil over frankly reprehensible ways of thinking. okay defend the man but not the thoughts. and when the thoughts are the man...