The present volume containing the dissertation of Dorion Cairns is the
first part of a comprehensive edition of the philosophical papers of one
of the foremost disseminators and interpreters of Husserlian
phenomenology in North-America.
Based on his intimate knowledge of Husserl's published writings and
unpublished manuscripts and on the many conversations and discussions he
had with Husserl and Fink during his stay in Freiburg i. Br. in
1931-1932 Cairns's dissertation is a comprehensive exposition of the
methodological foundations and the concrete phenomenological analyses of
Husserl's transcendental phenomenology.The lucidity and precision of
Cairns's presentation is remarkable and demonstrates the secure grasp he
had of Husserl's philosophical intentions and phenomenological
distinctions. Starting from the phenomenological reduction and Husserl's
Idea of Philosophy, Cairns proceeds with a detailed analysis of
intentionality and the intentional structures of consciousness. In its
scope and in the depth and nuance of its understanding, Cairns's
dissertation belongs beside the writings on Husserl by Levinas and Fink
from the same period.