Phenomenology And Future Generations

Demonstrates the fertility of the phenomenological tradition of philosophy for intergenerational justice and climate ethics.

Phenomenology is the philosophy of our times. Through the entire twentieth century this philosophy unfolded and flourished, following stepwise the intrinsic logic and dynamism of its original project as proposed by its founder Edmund Husserl. Now its seminal ideas have been handed over to a new era. The worldwide contributors to this volume make it manifest that phenomenological inspiration knows no cultural barriers. It penetrates and invigorates not only philosophical disciplines but also most of the sectors of knowledge, transforming our way of seeing the world, our actions toward others, and our lives. Phenomenology's universal spread has, however, oftentimes diluted its original sense, even beyond recognition, and led to a weakening of its dynamics. There is at present an urgent need to retrieve the original understanding of phenomenology, to awaken its dormant forces and redirect them. This is the aim of the present book: resourcement and reinvigoration. It is meant to be not only a reference work but also a guide for research and study. To restore the authentic vision of phenomenology, we propose returning to its foundational source in Husserl's project of a `universal science', unpacking all its creative capacities. In the three parts of this work there are traced the stages of this philosophy's progressive uncovering of the grounding levels of reality: ideal structures, constitutive consciousness, the intersubjective lifeworld, and beyond. The key concepts and phases of Husserl's thought are here exfoliated. Then the thought of the movement's classical figures and of representative thinkers in succeeding generations is elucidated. Phenomenology's geographic spread is reviewed. We then proceed to the culminating work of this philosophy, to the phenomenological life engagements so vigorously advocated by Husserl, to the life-significant issues phenomenology addresses and to how it has enriched the human sciences. Lastly the phenomenological project's new horizons on the plane of life are limned, horizons with so powerful a draw that they may be said not to beckon but to summon. Here is the movement's vanguard. This collection has 71 entries. Each entry is followed by a relevant bibliography. There is a helpful Glossary of Terms and an Index of Names.

In this collection of essays, the sophistication and vibrancy of contemporary phenomenological research is documented, including both its engagement with key figures in the history of philosophy, and with critical problems defining future directions of philosophical investigations. It honors the writings of Richard Cobb-Stevens, whose work in phenomenological philosophy, analytic philosophy and the history of philosophy has served as model for generations of philosophers working between these three fields of research. The essays collected in this volume provide a unique window on the contemporary state of the art in phenomenological philosophy by leading scholars of international reputation from North America and Europe. Historical figures such as Aristotle and Hobbes are innovatively brought into dialogue with phenomenological thinking. Phenomenological thinking is brought to bear on a wide variety of problems, from the nature of artworks and photography to questions concerning consciousness and knowledge. Among the topics discussed in these specially commissioned essays: phenomenology and Aristotle; the nature of the primal ego; Hobbes and Husserl; intentionality and reference; Neo-Aristotelian ethics; Husserl and Wittgenstein; photography; the nature of artworks.

At a time when many philosophers have concluded that Husserl's philosophy is exhausted, but when alternatives appear to be exhausted as well, Anthony J. Steinbock presents an innovative approach to Husserlian phenomenology. His systematic study of the problems and themes of a generative phenomenology, normality and abnormality, and sociohistorical concepts of homeworld and alienworld, and the steps he takes toward developing such a generative phenomenology, open new doors for a phenomenology of the social world, while casting new light on work done by Husserl himself and by many philosopher working more or less in a Husserlian vein. Both critique and an appropriation of a large and diverse body of work, Home and Beyond is a major contribution to contemporary Husserl scholarship.

This book seeks to confront an apparent contradiction: that while we are constantly attending to environmental issues, we seem to be woefully out of touch with nature. The goal of Ecopsychology, Phenomenology and the Environment is to foster an enhanced awareness of nature that can lead us to new ways of relating to the environment, ultimately yielding more sustainable patterns of living. This volume is different from other books in the rapidly growing field of ecopsychology in its emphasis on phenomenological approaches, building on the work of phenomenological psychologists such as Maurice Merleau-Ponty. This focus on phenomenological methodologies for articulating our direct experience of nature serves as a critical complement to the usual methodologies of environmental and conservation psychologists, who have emphasized quantitative research. Moreover, Ecopsychology, Phenomenology and the Environment is distinctive insofar as chapters by phenomenologically-sophisticated ecopsychologists are complemented by chapters written by phenomenological researchers of environmental issues with backgrounds in philosophy and geology, providing a breadth and depth of perspective not found in other works written exclusively by psychologists.

David Carr examines the paradox of Husserl's transcendental philosophy and his later historicist theory.

Prompted and ever diversified by the specifically human interrogative logos, scientific inquiries seek a common system of links in order to mutually confirm and rectify their results. Coming closer and closer to phenomenology, the sciences of life find the common ground of the reality in the ontopoiesis of life. Could it not be that the interrogative logos of science, participating in human creative inventiveness will bring together also the divergent scientific methods in a common network? A network which comprises natural processes, societal sharing-in-life, and existential communication. Papers by: Gary Backhaus, Anjana Bhattacharjee, Simon Du Plock, Ignacy Fiut, Maria Golaszewska, Wendy C. Hamblet, Alexandr Kouzmin, Nikolay Kozhevnikov, Olga Louchakova, Jarlath Mc Kenna, Amy Louise Miller, Aria Omrani, Arthur Piper, Leszek Pyra, W. Kim Rogers, A.L. Samian, Camilo Serrano Bonitto, Natalia Smirnova, Eva Syristova, Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, Roberto Verolini, Eldon C. Wait, Leo Zonneveld.

During its century-long unfolding, spreading in numerous directions, Husserlian phenomenology while loosening inner articulations, has nevertheless maintained a somewhat consistent profile. As we see in this collection, the numerous conceptions and theories advanced in the various phases of reinterpretations have remained identifiable with phenomenology. What conveys this consistency in virtue of which innumerable types of inquiry-scientific, social, artistic, literary – may consider themselves phenomenological? Is it not the quintessence of the phenomenological quest, namely our seeking to reach the very foundations of reality at all its constitutive levels by pursuing its logos? Inquiring into the logos of the phenomenological quest we discover, indeed, all the main constitutive spheres of reality and of the human subject involved in it, and concurrently, the logos itself comes to light in the radiation of its force (Tymieniecka).