How subjective is phenomenology?

Herbert Spiegelberg

pp. 72-79

in: Herbert Spiegelberg, Doing Phenomenology, The Hague, Nijhoff, 1975

Abstract

There is no better way to honor Husserl than to obey his most advertised if not quite authentic motto: "Zw den Sachen," i.e., "Go to the things." But what are "the things" in Husser's sense? Right here seems to be one of the paradoxes about his present fame. For in his final interpretation these "things" led him not to the "objects," but toward "subjectivity" as the ultimate foundation for the new scientific rigor which he wanted to bring to philosophy. Just how subjective is phenomenology? There is no sense in tackling this question before there is some measure of agreement about the meaning of the almost hopelessly ambiguous terms "subjective," and "objective." Even if we disregard here the scholastic meaning, which our modern usage has reversed, so many uses of the terms remain that an initial clarification is imperative.

Cited authors

Husserl Edmund