PHILOSOPHY 338
PHENOMENOLOGY: HUSSERL & HEIDEGGER
FALL 2013
Instructor: Robert Dostal
Office: Thomas 148
Email: rdostal@brynmawr.edu
Office phone: 5063
Office hours: Mondays 2-3:30
Tuesdays 11-12
And by appointment
Requirements:
class participation
1 seminar presentation
2 papers—1 short midterm paper (due Oct 25)
1 longer final paper
(in lieu of an exam, due Dec 20)
This is a seminar and not a lecture class. Regular attendance and the
participation of the members of the seminar are essential. A presentation in
the second half of the term is a requirement.
Texts to be purchased:
Edmund Husserl, Cartesian Meditations (CM)
Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (B&T)
(please note: the newly revised Stambaugh translation)
All other Texts: On Moodle, see calendar below (and Moodle website)
Brief selections from Descartes, Locke, Hume, Kant
Husserl, “Philosophy as a Rigorous Science”
Husserl, “Crisis” lecture
Husserl, selections: On the Phenomenology of the Consciousness of
Internal Time
Heidegger, “The Letter on Humanism”
Heidegger, “The Age of the World Picture”
Heidegger, “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking”
Sartre, “Existentialism is a Humanism”
Merleau-Ponty, “Preface”, The Phenomenology of Perception
Robert Sokolowski, “Phenomenological Description”
What this course is about: PHENOMENOLOGY.
Phenomenology is one of the most important philosophical movements
in the 20th century. Existentialism, in large part, develops out of and in
response to phenomenology. Hermeneutics (Gadamer and Ricoeur),
deconstruction (Derrida), post-structuralism (Foucault) and other leading postmodern thinkers began within or in response to phenomenology.
Phenomenology is the attempt to restart philosophy on a radically new
basis. Husserl, phenomenology’s founder, thought modern philosophy to be
at a dead end and the contemporary alternatives within philosophy barren.
This new basis relies on a new method that is descriptive in nature.
According to phenomenology, philosophy should resist any and all
speculation (as can be found in metaphysics) and rely on a close examination
and description of human experience as it is experienced.
This is an upper level seminar that concentrates on the two seminal
figures of the phenomenological movement: Edmund Husserl and Martin
Heidegger. We look closely at a selection of Husserl’s texts including
Cartesian Meditations (in its entirety), selections from his lectures on innertime consciousness and the late lecture on the crisis of European sciences (and
civilization). Our primary text by Heidegger is Being and Time (1927)
which we will read in its entirety. We will also consider later developments in
Heidegger’s thought including his critique of Sartre’s existentialism in his
essay, “The Letter on Humanism.” Sartre’s essay, “Existentialism is a
Humanism” and the Preface to Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s influential
Phenomenology of Perception will introduce French phenomenology and
provide a basis for a conversation about later developments.
Questions this seminar will address include the relation of
phenomenology to modern philosophy (especially the philosophies of
Descartes and Kant), the concept of truth, the notion of method in philosophy,
the relation of philosophy to the empirical sciences and ordinary experience,
and the understanding of time. In reading Husserl we will consider the
concept of “crisis” as well as the “European” status of the sciences. In
reading Heidegger we will consider his dependence on and his critique of
Husserl. We will get clear on the meaning of the “transcendental,”
“hermeneutical,” “existential,” and “ontological” character of Heidegger’s
enterprise. We will also pay attention to the ethical and political ramifications
of both Husserl’s and Heidegger’s work. Husserl was a Jew, persecuted by
the Nazi’s. Heidegger, at least for a while, was an active Nazi.
Structure of this seminar: 3 parts.
Part I: Husserl. Husserl attempts to found philosophy anew as
phenomenology. We look briefly at the historical and philosophical context
of his attempt. We consider two early lectures and read closely his Cartesian
Meditations which originated as lectures at the Sorbonne (Paris) in 1929. We
conclude our study of Husserl’s phenomenology by reading a late lecture
(early 1930’s) on the crisis of European sciences and civilization.
Part II: Heidegger and Being and Time. In his own way Heidegger
attempts to restart philosophy phenomenologically with this incomplete text,
considered by many to be his greatest accomplishment. It is one of the most
influential and controversial texts in philosophy in the 20 th century. We will
read and discuss the text in its entirety.
Part III: The later Heidegger and the development of French
phenomenology and existentialism. Here we consider as a focal point for
later developments in the phenomenological movement and in Continental
philosophy, Heidegger’s response to Sartre’s phenomenological
existentialism. We will also look briefly at Merleau-Ponty’s existential
phenomenology and at Heidegger’s attempt to move beyond philosophy.
(or the course can be construed as having 2 parts:
Part I: Husserl
Part II: Heidegger
Part IIA—Being and Time
Part IIB—the later Heidegger and the development of
French phenomenology and existentialism)
Calendar:
Week 1 Introduction and background
Sept 4 Introduction—historical background of phenomenology.
Discuss representationalism and modern philosophy, especially
Descartes, Locke, Hume, and Kant.
Week 2 Two early Husserl lectures and the Cartesian Meditations
September 9 Husserl, “Philosophy as Rigorous Science” (1911)
Husserl, “Inaugural Lecture” (1916)
September 11 CM I, 1-26 (Introduction and First Meditation)
Week 3 Cartesian Meditations and lectures on “inner time”
September 16 CM II, 27-55
September 18 CM II continued & selections from lectures on
inner time consciousness
Week 4 Cartesian Meditations
September 23 CM III, 56-64
September 25 CM IV, 65-88
Week 5 Cartesian Meditations
September 30 CM V, 85-151
October 2 CM V continued and conclusion, 151-157.
Week 6 the “later” Husserl
October 7 Husserl, the “Crisis” lecture
October 9 Retrospective discussion of Husserl’s phenomenology;
Sokolowski, “The Theory of Phenomenological Description”
Introduce Heidegger.
Week 7 FALL BREAK
FALL BREAK
Week 8 Being and Time
October 21 B&T, Introduction, 1-37 (Sections #1-8)
October 23 B&T, Introduction, 1-37 (continued)
Short Paper due—October 25 (topic questions/prompts provided)
Week 9 Being and Time
October 28 B&T, Dasein, Being-in-the –world, and the
worldliness of the world, 39-87 (#9-18)
October 30 B&T, critique of Descartes, spatiality, 87-110 (#19-24)
Week 10 Being and Time
November 4 B&T 111-138 (#25-30) Being-with, being-a-self, the
“they” (das Man); Being-in as attunement, 111-138 (#25-30)
Presentation #1 The account of intersubjectivity, Being-with; 114-122 (#26)
November 6 B&T 138-173 Being-in as understanding and
interpretation; language; everydayness and “falling prey”
Presentation #2 The account of everydayness, 161-173 (#35-38)
Week 11 Being and Time
November 11 Anxiety (Angst) and Care, B&T 175-193
Presentation #3 Anxiety, 178-189 (#40-41)
November 13 Idealism/Realism, Truth, B&T 193-220 (#43-44)
Presentation #4 Idealism/Realism 193-204 (#43)
Presentation #5 Truth 204-220 (#44)
Week 12 Being and Time
November 18 Death, Conscience, Authenticity, B&T 221-288 (#45-60)
(Recommended reading: Tolstoi, “The Death of Ivan Illich”)
Presentation #6 Death 229-255 (#47-53)
Presentation #7 Conscience 257-288 (#54-60)
November 20 Temporality, B&T 289-318 (#61-66)
Presentation #8 Authenticity 292-297 (#62)
Presentation #9 Temporality 309-318 (Sections #65 & #66)
Week 13 Being and Time (complete the text!)
November 25 Temporality and Everydayness, B&T 319-354 (#67-71)
Presentation #10 The temporality of disclosedness 320-334 (#68)
Presentation #11 Transcendence 324-349 (#69)
November 27 Historicity, clock-time, B&T 355-415.
Presentation #12 Vulgar understanding of history and historicity, 360-372
(Sections #73, 74, &75)
Presentation #13 Clock-time (Sections #80 & 81), 391-406
Week 14 The “later” Heidegger, Sartre, and existentialism
December 2 Heidegger, The Letter on Humanism (entirety)
Sartre, “Existentialism is a Humanism”
Presentation #14 Letter on Humanism 232-247
Presentation #15 Sartre’s essay
December 4 Heidegger, “The Age of the World Picture”
Heidegger, “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking”
Presentation #16 “The Age of the World Picture”
Presentation #17 “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking”
Week 15 Merleau-Ponty and Conclusion
December 9 Merleau-Ponty,“Preface to Phenomenology of Perception”
Presentation #18 The Preface
December 11 The aftermath and concluding discussion
Final Paper, due December 20
SUMMARY OF POSSIBLE PRESENTATIONS:
(for dates, see above calendar)
Presentation #1 Intersubjectivity, Being-with; 114-122 (#26)
Presentation #2 Everydayness, 161-173 (#35-38)
Presentation #3 Anxiety, 178-189 (#40-41)
Presentation #4 Idealism/Realism 193-204 (#43)
Presentation #5 Truth 204-220 (#44)
Presentation #6 Death 229-255 (#47-53)
Presentation #7 Conscience 257-288 (#54-60)
Presentation #8 Authenticity 292-297 (#62)
Presentation #9 Temporality 297-306 (Sections #65 & #66)
Presentation #10 The temporality of disclosedness 320-334 (#68)
Presentation #11 Transcendence 324-349 (#69)
Presentation #12 Vulgar understanding of history and historicity, 360-372
(Sections #73, 74, &75)
Presentation #13 Clock-time, 391-406 (#80 & 81)
Presentation #14 Letter on Humanism 232-247
Presentation #15 Sartre’s essay
Presentation #16 “The Age of the World Picture”
Presentation #17 “The End of Philosophy and the Task of Thinking”
Presentation #18 The Preface to Phenomenology of Perception