edmund Husserlquotes

The German-Jewish philosopher and mathematician, Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) is best known for being the founder of Phenomenology.

Though he doubted his ability as a philosopher in his early years teaching at Halle, his pursuit to add a mathematical basis to the psychological analysis of consciousness, led him write Logical Investigations. This work was ground-breaking, and laid the foundation for his lifelong commitment to see phenomenology become a universal philosophical science, which indeed it became, especially with the publishing of General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology.

Husserl became a professor at the University of Göttingen and there had quite a faithful following of students, who created their own sort of philosophical school. However, Husserl was clear that phenomenology was not meant to be an end result, but a starting point from which to responsibly base questions, and that philosophers should continue to expound upon this field of study.

When Adolf Hitler took power in 1933, Husserl was forced into silence, but that did not stop his relentless search to resolve empiricism and rationalism through phenomenology. In fact, he took it as an opportunity to focus more intensely on his research and complete new writing.

He considered that phenomenology’s task was not only to preserve the freedom of the mind, but also to renew the spiritual life. His works are considered monumental and revolutionary to the field of philosophy though they were not immediately recognized as such.