Edmund Husserl

From Geography

Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (German pronunciation: [ˈhʊsɛʁl]; April 8, 1859, Prostějov, Moravia, Austrian Empire – April 26, 1938, Freiburg, Germany) was a mathematician and philosopher who is deemed the founder of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist (Positivism)orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, believing that experience is the source of all knowledge, while at the same time he elaborated critiques of psychologism and historicism.[1]His First work (philosophy of arithmetic) appeared in 1891. In this work Husserls combined his mathematical, psychological and philosphical competencies to attempt a psychological foundation of arithmetic[2].In 1900 he published his first phenomenological work.

A Short Biography [3]

• 1859 Apr 8 Edmund, the second of four children, born in Prossnitz (or Prostejow, Moravia)
• 1876-1887 Years of Study
• 1887-1901 Years at University of Halle as Privatdozent
• 1901-1915 Years at University of Göttingen as außerordentlichen Professor
• 1916 -1928 Years at University of Freiburg
• 1928 Mar 31 Husserl retires
• 1938 Apr 27 Husserl dies at 5:45 am in Freiburg

Phenomenology

Edmund Husserl is probaly most wellknown as the father of phenomenology. Phenomenology, in Husserl's conception, is primarily concerned with the systematic reflection on and analysis of the structures of consciousness, and the phenomena which appear in acts of consciousness. Such reflection was to take place from a highly modified "first person" viewpoint, studying phenomena not as they appear to "my" consciousness, but to any consciousness whatsoever. Husserl believed that phenomenology could thus provide a firm basis for all human knowledge, including scientific knowledge, and could establish philosophy as a "rigorous science" [4]

The term that Edmund Huserl uses for this 'firm basis for all human knowledge'is: Lifeworld. In other words: In order to find the universal horizon common to all humanity we must be objective. But because we are subjective beings we can't be objective. However, when we compare different subjective meaning of people we might find a Life world, universal horizon common to all humanity.[4]Edmund Husserl, framed his inquiries very much as a reflection upon the dominant natura attitude in which scientific positivistic researchers ignored the question of their own involvement in the research process (Cloke et all(1991). Husserls conceived his project as both a philosophical science and a radical refleciton on the foundations of all other sciences (Cloke et all, 1991). In his view humanistic geographers must use the drew of his phenomenology to get the true essences of the object under study. The researcher should be reintroduced into the geographical research process.

Links:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/husserl/

http://www.iep.utm.edu/husserl/

Books:

Edmund Hurrsel Collected Works Volume One, Phenomenology and The Foundations of the Sciences

The Idea of Phenomenology

References:

Unknown. Retrieved 2010 September 29 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Husserl

B. Sandmeyer. (2003). Husserl, Edmund 1859-1938. A Schematic biography. Retrieved 2010 September 29 from http://www.husserlpage.com/hus_bio.html

Unknown. Retrieved 2010 September 29 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenology_(philosophy)

Cloke, Philo & Sadler(1991)Approaching Humam Gepgraphy. London: Paul Clapman.

Production

Enhaced Pieter van Luijk 15 oktober 2012