Husserl in Contemporary Context: Prospects and Projects for Phenomenology: 26 (Contributions to Phenomenology) - Tapa dura

James F. Sheridan Allegheny College As we come to the end of the century, an attentive student of con­ temporary European philosophy will no doubt be startled by a volume titled Husserl in Contemporary Context. Such philosophers are most likely to believe that Hussed has now been declared II classical" rather than a contemporary thinker or, worse, simply old fashioned. Access to Hussed today will most likely come through the allegedly definitive critiques of his work by Heidegger and Derrida and to a lesser extent through the readings of his work by Levinas and Merleau­ Ponty although Merleau-Ponty himself has been declared old fashioned by some postmodems. Hence, if by II contemporary" one understands the problematic set by the work of the late Heidegger, Derrida, Foucault, et. al., Hussed's work seems strange indeed in such a contemporary context, seems better understood as the last gasp of philosophy dominated by metaphysics and thus fit only for inclusion in courses in the history of philosophy.

The volume contains contributions from major interpreters of Husserl's phenomenology. Among the topics investigated are phenomenology and ontology, the phenomenology of the ego, the phenomenology of logic, the phenomenology of the life-world, and phenomenology and science.
`These essays remind us that what Husserl proposed to the philosophical community was a program of research rather than a systemization of results. One simply does not read Husserl as one reads, say, Sartre. To take Husserl as a teacher is to agree to do philosophy rather than to engage in the sort of activity well described as `philosophy appreciation'. To understand Husserl is to do what the contributors to this volume have done, to appropriate his work and to extend that work in his terms and in theirs.' (from the Preface).