LPSG Phenomenology

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/philosophy/LPSG/Phenomenology.htm

PHENOMENOLOGY
Last Updated 26/04/05 BACK TO LPSG CONTENTS 1. The Paper 2. General Reading To gain a general idea of Kant's Philosophy General books on phenomenology 3. Specific Authors Husserl Main Text Additional Texts Secondary Reading Heidegger Main Text Additional Texts Secondary Reading Sartre Main Text Additional Texts Secondary Reading Merleau-Ponty Main Text Additional Texts Secondary Reading

1. The Paper
This paper covers the main philosophers belonging to the school of phenomenology, which began early in the twentieth century with Husserl and was later developed and highly modified (and given its existential' form) by Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. As with the Nineteenth-Century German Philosophy paper, a broad knowledge of Kant's philosophy is a considerable advantage. Knowledge of the original languages (German, French) is helpful but not necessary. In the exam, students are asked to answer three questions, on at least two of the authors. Most of the questions refer to one philosopher only, but there may be in addition some questions that are general or comparative (students may be asked, for example, to discuss an aspect of Merleau-Ponty's critique of Sartre). As there is a wide range of questions asked on each author, it is sufficient for examination purposes to select two philosophers, and to examine their doctrines, and the arguments for and against them, in depth and detail. However, in view of the fact that Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty are responding in large part to their predecessors, a broad knowledge of all the philosophers on the paper is essential for a full understanding of those you choose to study in detail. BACK TO TOP

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2. General Reading
The following sections offer suggestions for reading and list some of the central topics studied for each philosopher. The most useful books are marked with an asterisk. This is of course not an exhaustive list, and more detailed reading will be required for particular topics.

To gain a general idea of Kant's Philosophy

Gardner, Sebastian. 1999. Kant and the Critique of Pure Reason. London: Routledge. Scruton, Roger. 1997. Kant. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982. Reprinted in German Philosophers: Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Wood, Allen. 2005. Kant. Oxford: Blackwell. Guyer, Paul, ed. 1992. The Cambridge Companion to Kant. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. BACK TO TOP

General books on phenomenology

Cooper, David. 1991. Existentialism. Oxford: Blackwell. (2 nd edn, 1999.) *Hammond, J., M. Howarth, and R. Keat. 1991. Understanding Phenomenology. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Macann, Christopher. 1993. Four Phenomenological Philosophers: Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty. London: Routledge. *Moran, Dermot. 2000. An Introduction to Phenomenology. London: Routledge. Pivcevic, Edo, ed. 1975. Phenomenology and Philosophical Understanding. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Spiegelberg, Herbert. 1955. The Phenomenological Movement: A Historical Introduction. 3 Vols. 3 rd ed. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1982. Theunissen, Michael. 1984. The Other: Studies in the Social Ontology of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Buber. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. A selection from the writings of the phenomenologists: Mooney, Tim, and Dermot Moran, eds. 2002. The Phenomenology Reader. London: Routledge. BACK TO TOP

3. Specific Authors

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Husserl (1859 - 1938)

Topics studied include: Husserl's idea of presuppositionless philosophy and relation to Descartes; the phenomenological reduction; Husserl's conception of intentionality and analysis of consciousness; Husserl's theory of time-consciousness; Husserl's theory of the transcendental ego; Husserl's account of other minds.

Main Text
Cartesian Meditations. Translated by Dorion Cairns. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1960. BACK TO TOP

Additional Texts
The Paris Lectures: An Introduction to Phenomenology. Translated by Dorion Cairns. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1960. The Idea of Phenomenology. Translated by William P. Alston and George Nakhnikian. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1964. The Phenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness. Translated by James S. Churchill. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1964. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy. The Hague: Nijhoff, 1980. First Book. Phenomenology and The Crisis of Philosophy: Philosophy as Rigorous Science; and Philosophy and the Crisis of European Man. Translated by Quentin Lauer. New York: Harper & Row, 1965. Husserl: Shorter Works. Edited by P. McCormick and F. A. Elliston. Brighton: Harvester Press, 1981. Pt. 1, and Ch. 10. BACK TO TOP

Secondary Reading
*Bell, David. 1990. Husserl. London: Routledge. Bernet, R., I. Kern, and E. Marbach. 1993. An Introduction to Husserlian Phenomenology. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. Dreyfus, H. L., ed. 1982. Husserl, Intentionality and Cognitive Science. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Elliston, F. A., and P. McCormick, eds. 1977. Husserl: Expositions and Appraisals. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. Kockelmans, Joseph, ed. 1967. Phenomenology: The Philosophy of Edmund Husserl and Its Interpretation. Garden City, New York: Doubleday. Levinas, Emmanuel. 1973. The Theory of Intuition in Husserl's Phenomenology. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press.

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Pivcevic, Edo. 1970. Husserl and Phenomenology. London: Hutchinson. Ricoeur, Paul. 1967. Husserl: An Analysis of His Phenomenology. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. *Smith, A. D. 2003. Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Husserl and the Cartesian Meditations. London: Routledge. Smith, D. W., and R. McIntyre. 1982. Husserl and Intentionality. A Study of Mind, Meaning and Language. Dordrecht: D. Reidel. Smith, Barry, and D. Woodruff Smith, eds. 1995. The Cambridge Companion to Husserl. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Zahavi, Dan. 2003. Husserl's Phenomenology. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press. BACK TO TOP

Heidegger (1889 - 1976)

Topics studied include: Heidegger's question of Being and distinction of Being and beings/entities; Heidegger's conception of phenomenology and hermeneutics; Heidegger's analytic of Dasein; Heidegger's critique of traditional epistemology and metaphysics; Heidegger's conception of authenticity and account of being-towards-death; the later Heidegger.

Main Text
Being and Time. Translated by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson. Oxford: Blackwell, 1962. BACK TO TOP

Additional Texts
The Basic Problems of Phenomenology. Translated by Albert Hofstadter. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1981. History of the Concept of Time: Prolegomena. Translated by Theodore Kisiel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985. An Introduction to Metaphysics. Translated by Ralph Manheim. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1959. Basic Writings from Being and Time' (1927) to The Task of Thinking' (1964), edited by D. F. Krell. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1978. BACK TO TOP

Secondary Reading
Adorno, Theodor. 1973. The Jargon of Authenticity. Translated by Knut Tarnowski and Frederic Will. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

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Crowell, Stephen Galt. 2001. Husserl, Heidegger, and Space of Meaning: Paths Toward Transcendental Phenomenology. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. *Dreyfus, Hubert. 1991. Being-in-the-World: A Commentary on Heidegger's Being and Time, Division I. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Guignon, Charles. 1983. Heidegger and the Problem of Knowledge. Indianapolis: Hackett. *Guignon, Charles, ed. 1993. The Cambridge Companion to Heidegger. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Inwood, Michael. 1997. Heidegger. Oxford: Oxford University Press. *Inwood, Michael. 1999. A Heidegger Dictionary. Oxford: Blackwell. Macann, Christopher, ed. 1996. Critical Heidegger. London: Routledge. Murray, Michael, ed. 1978. Heidegger and Modern Philosophy: Critical Essays. New Haven: Yale University Press. *Mulhall, Stephen. 1996. Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Heidegger and Being and Time. London: Routledge. Olafson, Frederick A. 1997. Heidegger and the Philosophy of Mind. New Haven: Yale University Press. Pattison, George. 2000. Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to the Later Heidegger. London: Routledge. Polt, Richard. 1998. Heidegger: An Introduction. London: Routledge. *Richardson, John. 1986. Existential Epistemology: A Heideggerian Critique of the Cartesian Project. Oxford: Clarendon Press. Rorty, Richard. 1991. Essays on Heidegger and Others: Philosophical Papers, Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Part I. Steiner, George. 1992. Heidegger. London: Fontana. Vogel, Lawrence. 1994. The Fragile "We": Ethical Implications of Heidegger's 'Being and Time'. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. Young, Julian. 2001. Heidegger's Later Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. BACK TO TOP

Sartre (1905 - 1980)

Topics studied include: Sartre's early theories of the self, emotion, and imagination; Sartre's theory of consciousness; Sartre's account of the reality of nothingness; Sartre's theory of bad faith and critique of Freud; Sartre's account of the fundamental project; Sartre's account of other minds and theory of interpersonal relations; Sartre's anti-determinism and conception of freedom; Sartre's ethics.

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Main Text
Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology. Translated by Hazel E. Barnes. London: Methuen, 1958. BACK TO TOP

Additional Texts
'Intentionality: a fundamental idea of Husserl's phenomenology'. Translated by J. P. Fell, Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology 1, no 2, 1970, 4-5; also in D. Moran and T. Mooney eds., The Phenomenology Reader, pp. 382-4. The Transcendence of the Ego: A Sketch for a Phenomenological Description. Translated by Andrew Brown, introduction by Sarah Richmond. London: Routledge, 2004. Sketch for a Theory of the Emotions. Translated by Philip Mairet. London: Methuen, 1971. The Imaginary: A Phenomenological Psychology of the Imagination. Revised by Arlette Elkam Sartre, translated by Jonathan Webber. London: Routledge, 2003. Existentialism and Humanism. Translated by Philip Mairet. London: Methuen, 1973. Notebooks for an Ethics. Translated by David Pellauer. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. BACK TO TOP

Secondary Reading
Bell, L. 1989. Sartre's Ethics of Authenticity. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. *Catalano, J. S. 1980. A Commentary on Sartre's Being and Nothingness'. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Caws, Peter. 1979. Sartre. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Danto, Arthur C. 1991. Sartre. 2 nd ed. London: Fontana. le Doeuff, Michle. 1991. Hipparchia's Choice: Aan Essay Concerning Women, Philosophy, etc. Oxford: Blackwell. *Hartmann, Klaus. 1966. Sartre's Ontology. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. Howells, Christina. 1988. Sartre: The Necessity of Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. *Howells, Christina, ed. 1992. The Cambridge Companion to Sartre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. King, Magda. 2001. A Guide to Heidegger's Being and Time. Ed. John Llewellyn. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. McCulloch, Gregory. 1994. Using Sartre: An Analytical Introduction to Early Sartrean Themes. London: Routledge.

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Mszros, Istvn. 1979. The Work of Sartre. Brighton: Harvester Press. Morris, P. 1975. Sartre's Concept of a Person: An Analytic Approach. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. Murdoch, Iris. 1953. Sartre, Romantic Rationalist. Cambridge: Bowes and Bowes. Natanson, Maurice. 1972. A Critique of Jean-Paul Sartre's Ontology. New York: Haskell House. *Schilpp, Paul Arthur, ed. 1981. The Philosophy of Jean-Paul Sartre. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court. Schroeder, William R. 1984. Sartre and His Predecessors: The Self and the Other. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Silverman, H. J., and F. A. Elliston, eds. 1980. Jean-Paul Sartre: Contemporary Approaches to His Philosophy. Brighton: Harvester Press. Whitford, Margaret. 1982. Merleau-Ponty's Critique of Sartre's Philosophy. Lexington, Ken.: French Forum. BACK TO TOP

Merleau-Ponty (1908 - 1961)

Topics studied include: Merleau-Ponty's conception of phenomenology; Merleau-Ponty's relation to empirical psychology; Merleau-Ponty's critique of empiricism and intellectualism (of 'objective thought'); Merleau-Ponty's account of perception; Merleau-Ponty's account of embodiment (bodily intentionality'); Merleau-Ponty's account of intersubjectivity; MerleauPonty's account of freedom; Merleau-Ponty's critique of Sartre.

Main Text
Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by Colin Smith. Revised edn. London: Routledge, 2002. [NB Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Basic Writings, ed. Thomas Baldwin (London: Routledge, 2004), contains extensive selections from the Phenomenology of Perception, (excerpts from) earlier and later writings, a helpful Editor's Introduction, and a topic-based guide to Further Reading.] BACK TO TOP

Additional Texts
The Structure of Behaviour. Translated by A. Fisher. London: Methuen, 1965. The Primacy of Perception and Other Essays on Phenomenological Psychology, The Philosophy of Art, History and Politics. Translated by James M. Edie. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1964. The Visible and The Invisible: Followed by Working Notes. Translated by Alphonso Lingis. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1968.

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BACK TO TOP

Secondary Reading
*Carman, Taylor, and Mark Hansen, eds. 2004. The Cambridge Companion to MerleauPonty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Gillan, Garth, ed. 1973. The Horizons of the Flesh: Critical Perspectives on the Thought of Merleau-Ponty. London: Feffer & Simons. Hoeller, Keith, ed. 1993. Merleau-Ponty and Psychology. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanities Press International. Johnson, Galen A., ed. 1993. The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader: Philosophy and Painting. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. Kaelin, Eugene. 1962. An Existentialist Aesthetic: The Theories of Sartre and MerleauPonty. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. *Langer, Monica M. 1989. Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of Perception': A Guide and Commentary. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Madison, Gary. 1981. The Phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty: A Search for the Limits of Consciousness. Athens: Ohio University Press. Mallin, Samuel B. 1979. Merleau-Ponty's Philosophy. New Haven: Yale University Press. Matthews, Eric. 2002. The Philosophy of Merleau-Ponty. Chesham: Acumen. *Priest, Stephen. 1999. Merleau-Ponty, London: Routledge. Schmidt, James. 1985. Maurice Merleau-Ponty: Between Phenomenology and Structuralism. Basingstoke: Macmillan. Stewart, Jon, 1998. The Debate Between Sartre and Merleau-Ponty. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press. BACK TO TOP

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