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.
