If you would like to get the most out of Husserl, I would definitely recommend starting with Ideas I. Husserl’s works are usually divided into three periods: (1) The early Husserl of the Logical Investigations era, where Husserl arguing against psychologism, doing eidetic analyses of essence, and regional ontology. Here, phenomenology was a metaphysically neutral analysis of essence. (2) In Ideas I, Husserl turns towards transcendental philosophy and phenomenology starts focusing on the role of consciousness in perception. This is what most people think of when they talk about Husserl. (3) Later Husserl: intersubjectivity, embodiment, lifeworld, history, and all that good stuff. What is a good work to begin with? If you really want to understand Husserl, start with Ideas I. You don’t need to read the whole book, but should read, say, §1-7, §19 §24 of Part I. Then read all of Part II, and the first three chapters of Part III. (Chapter four of Part III is optional, it’s an interesting discussion of things like beliefs and judgments, but can be skipped). Those sections will give you enough to confidently speak about Husserl’s phenomenology, although it will give a somewhat one-sided view of it. It might give you the impression that Husserl is only interested in consciousness and not interested in other stuff, so looking a short text like Origin of Geometry might be a good idea after this. Ideas II is an absolutely fascinating text, especially if you’re interested in studies of gender or embodiment. It also shows how phenomenology can talk about the world of natural science, the role of our physical bodies in experience, and the social world. Hugely underrated text because it wasn’t published in Husserl’s lifetime, but the manuscript was the secret source for a lot of French phenomenology. — Updated on 2024-09-28 14:36:42
If you would like to get the most out of Husserl, I would definitely recommend starting with Ideas I. Husserl’s works are usually divided into three periods: (1) The early Husserl of the Logical Investigations era, where Husserl arguing against psychologism, doing eidetic analyses of essence, and regional ontology. Here, phenomenology was a metaphysically neutral analysis of essence. (2) In Ideas I, Husserl turns towards transcendental philosophy and phenomenology starts focusing on the role of consciousness in perception. This is what most people think of when they talk about Husserl. (3) Later Husserl: intersubjectivity, embodiment, lifeworld, history, and all that good stuff. What is a good work to begin with? If you really want to understand Husserl, start with Ideas I. You don’t need to read the whole book, but should read, say, §1-7, §19 §24 of Part I. Then read all of Part II, and the first three chapters of Part III. (Chapter four of Part III is optional, it’s an interesting discussion of things like beliefs and judgments, but can be skipped). Those sections will give you enough to confidently speak about Husserl’s phenomenology, although it will give a somewhat one-sided view of it. It might give you the impression that Husserl is only interested in consciousness and not interested in other stuff, so looking a short text like Origin of Geometry might be a good idea after this. Ideas II is an absolutely fascinating text, especially if you’re interested in studies of gender or embodiment. It also shows how phenomenology can talk about the world of natural science, the role of our physical bodies in experience, and the social world. Hugely underrated text because it wasn’t published in Husserl’s lifetime, but the manuscript was the secret source for a lot of French phenomenology. — Updated on 2024-09-28 14:36:42