Husserl on Ethics and Intersubjectivity

"This book provides a look at the importance of Husserl's methodological shift from his original, purely "static" approach to the analysis of consciousness toward a later "genetic" view. Janet Donohoe shows that between 1913 and 1921, Husserl progressed in his thinking from a constitutive static analysis of how something is experienced - which focused primarily on the general structure of consciousness as an abstract entity - to an investigation into the origins of the subject as a unique individual interacting with and growing within the surrounding environment. Whereas his earlier work presents the ego as already fully developed and thus leaves much about human experience unaccounted for, Husserl's later writings demonstrate an appreciation for the development of the ego and for questions of history, culture, intersubjectivity, and ethics." "Engaging critics from contemporary analytic schools to adherents of critical theory and deconstruction, to second- and third-generation phenomenologists, Donohoe shows that they often do not do justice to the breadth of Husserl's thought. Their reliance upon the static approach leads to an understanding of Husserl's phenomenology as an idealism, as suffering from solipsism, and as being weighed down by a formalism that limits its realm of investigation. The development of genetic phenomenology that Donohoe lays out shows how Husserl moves beyond many of those limitations. In separate chapters, she elucidates the relevance of Husserl's later genetic phenomenology to his work on time consciousness, intersubjectivity, and such ethical issues as the categorical imperative, the relationship of the individual to the community, and tradition and self-responsibility." "This synthesis of Husserl's methodologies will be of interest to Husserl scholars, phenomenologists, and philosophers from both the Continental and analytic schools."--BOOK JACKET.