Description
Book SynopsisEdmund Husserl, founder of the phenomenological movement, is usually read as an idealist in his metaphysics and an instrumentalist in his philosophy of science. In Nature's Suit, Lee Hardy argues that both views represent a serious misreading of Husserl's texts.Drawing
Trade Review“Lee Hardy’s study of Husserl is an outstanding achievement. The argumentation is crisp and clear throughout, and the discussion of primary and secondary texts is lucid and detailed. Above all, he makes a very good case for an important point that is highly relevant to the current resurgence of interest in phenomenology. Against the tendency of many other interpretations, he shows how Husserl’s phenomenology is in principle compatible with a realistic understanding of modern scientific theories.”
Table of Contents* Acknowledgments * Abbreviations * Introduction * 1. Husserl: Realist or Instrumentalist? * 2. Laws and Theories * 3. The Plan of This Study * Part One: Husserl's Phenomenological Philosophy of Science * 1: The Idea of Science in Husserl and the Tradition * 1. The Classical Idea of Science * 2. The Idea of Science in Husserl's Phenomenology * 3. The Problem of Empirical Science: Locke * 4. The Problem of Empirical Science: Husserl * 5. The Unity of the Empirical Sciences * 6. Explanation in the Empirical Sciences * 7. The Laws of Empirical Science * 8. Empirical Science as Science * 9. The Idealization of the Idea of Science * 10. Summary * 2: Husserl's Phenomenology and the Foundations of Science * 1. Pure Logic as a Wissenschaftslehre * 2. Regional Ontology * 3. Transcendental Consciousness as the Ground of the Sciences * 4. Phenomenology as the All-Embracing Foundational Science * Part Two: Evidence and the Positing of Existence in Husserl's Phenomenology * 3: Truth, Evidence, and Existence in Husserl's Phenomenology * 1. Knowledge, Evidence, and Truth * 2. Evidence as an Ideal Possibility * 3. The Fallibility of Occurrent Cases of Evidence * 4. Evidence and Justification * 5. The Rational Indubitability of the Principle of Evidence * 6. Summary and Transition * 4: Evidence, Rationality, and Existence in Husserl's Phenomenology * 1. Husserl's Theory of Rationality: Ideas I * 2. The Strong Formulation and Philosophical Rationality * 3. Rationality in Nontheoretical Contexts * 4. Positive Scientific Rationality * Part Three: The Problem of Theoretical Existence in Husserl's Philosophy of the Physical Sciences * 5: Physical Things, Idealized Objects, and Theoretical Entities * 1. The Physical Thing * 2. Geometry and the Physical Thing * 3. Geometry and Physical Science * 6: Consciousness, Perception, and Existence * 1. Perceptions and Existence * 2. Consciousness and Existence * 3. The "Existence-Independence" of Intentional Relations * 4. The Ontological Status of the Noema * 5. Summary * Conclusion * 1. Husserl's "Dogmatism" * 2. The "Ambiguity" of Husserl's Philosophy of Science * 3. Husserl's "Instrumentalism" * 4. Husserl's "Provisional Instrumentalism" * 5. Summary and Prospect * Notes * Bibliography * Index
