Existential uses of phenomenology

pp. 54-71

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

Abstract

Is it at all legitimate to subject phenomenology to questions of such a pragmatic, if not utilitarian, nature as that of its human uses? Isn't it below the dignity of a true science and particularly of a philosophy which started out with the ambition of being a rigorous science to submit to this kind of a cross examination? In fact, Edmund Husserl in his historic manifesto article on "Philosophy as a Rigorous Science" solemnly disclaimed all pretensions that it could bring aid and comfort to modern man in his dire need for a philosophy of life (Weltanschauung).