Edmund Husserl: Biography Of This Philosopher Of Phenomenology
Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) is one of the most influential and prominent figures in 20th century philosophy. His ideas still endure in the 21st century, and are still studied in universities.
This author was a German philosopher and logician, founder of transcendental phenomenology. In this article we will see a brief biography of Edmund Husserl with the most important events of his life, and we will mention some of his works and contributions to philosophy.
Husserl’s full name is: Edmund Gustav Albercht Husserl (we will refer to him as Edmund Husserl). Husserl was a German philosopher and logician. He was born in Prossnitz (today Prostejov, current Czech Republic), in 1859, and died in Freiburg, Germany, in 1938.
As we will see, Husserl was a disciple of Franz Brentano and Carl Stumpf. Edmund Husserl is considered the founder of transcendental phenomenology He also created, through said phenomenology, the phenomenological movement. This movement consists of a philosophical movement that is one of the most influential of the 20th century.
Husserl worked as a teacher. In 1887 he was in Halle, and then in Göttingen (from 1906). Ten years later, in 1916, he became a full professor at the University of Freiburg. There he worked until he retired (rather, he was removed from teaching due to Nazism), in 1928.
Origin: beginnings
Edmund Husserl was born into a wealthy Jewish family on April 8, 1859 in the town of Prostějov, located in the Moravian region. At that time this region was part of the Austrian Empire; currently, however, it belongs to the Czech Republic.
Edmund Husserl initially studied mathematics , mainly at the universities of Leipzig (1876) and Berlin (1878), with the then famous professors Karl Weierstrass and Leopold Kronecker. In 1881 he went to Vienna to study under the supervision of Leo Königsberger (a former student of Weierstrass) and obtained his doctorate in 1883 with the work Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the calculus of variations).
Trajectory
Husserl studied mathematics, astronomy, physics and philosophy at different universities : Vienna, Berlin and Leipzig. Specifically, he began studying mathematics at the University of Leipzig (1876) and Berlin (1878).
A little later, in 1881, Husserl went to Vienna for work. There he worked under the supervision of Leo Leo Königsberger, a German mathematician. It was in Vienna where he obtained his doctorate, in 1883, with his work that had as its original title Beiträge zur Variationsrechnung (Contributions to the calculation of variations).
It was a year later, in 1884, when Edmund Husserl receives classes from sociologist Franz Brentano , in some courses on psychology and philosophy that were held in Vienna. Brentano greatly influenced Husserl’s philosophical training, and his decision to commit to philosophy. Edmund Husserl studied with Brentano for a short time; He later went to the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg.
He was there with Carl Stumpf (a former disciple of Brentano). It was then that Husserl wrote his work Uber den Begriff der Zahl (About the Concept of Number) in 1887. This work served as the basis for another, much more important work (in fact, his first important work): “Philosophie der Arithmetik (Philosophy of Arithmetic”), from 1891.
After several years dedicated to teaching, as we already mentioned, Edmund Husserl was removed from teaching due to the arrival of Nazism.
Contributions
Edmund Husserl’s first texts are dated 1891; We find a work from that year entitled Philosophy of arithmeticwhere analyzes the origin and use of numerical symbols That is, it relates mathematics to philosophy.
Soon Edmund Husserl began to write about philosophy (philosophical texts). He began with them in the years 1900 and 1901, with “Logical Investigations.” With this text Husserl intended to determine an epistemological basis for philosophy; that is to say, He wanted philosophy to be considered a science To defend this idea, Husserl relied on a method that he himself called “phenomenological.”
Construction site
Edmund Husserl’s work is extensive His complete works are found in original manuscripts, consisting of more than 45,000 pages. They can be seen at the Institute of Philosophy of the Catholic University of Leuven, under the name “Husserl Archives”.
Scholars from all over the world come to see them. They are above all people who study (or are interested in) phenomenology. Furthermore, many of his works continue to be published and republished. On the other hand, they have been translated into many languages.
Titles of his works
Some of Husserl’s most notable works are (in chronological order): “Philosophy of Arithmetic” (1891); “Logical Investigations” (1900); “Ideas Relating to a Pure Phenomenology and a Phenomenological Philosophy” (1913); “Cartesian Meditations” (1931); “The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology: Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy” (1936) and “Experience and Judgment” (1939).
Edmund Husserl is considered the founder of transcendental phenomenology. Transcendental phenomenology aims to “renew” philosophy looking for its connection with science (or its possibility of becoming one of them).
It is a way of understanding philosophy, of describing the meaning of the world. It is based on a specific method, the phenomenological method , which describes phenomena as they appear in consciousness; Then, he accesses the field of consciousness and subjects it to an intentional analysis.
Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology is a philosophical current that has influenced other authors and other prominent figures in the intellectual field; These are personalities like Ortega y Gasset, Heidegger or Scheler.
Death and legacy
Edmund Husserl died on April 27, 1938, in Freiburg, Germany She was 79 years old. Previously, she had fallen ill with pleuritis, a disease that consists of inflammation of the pleura, usually caused by pneumonia.
Husserl spent the last months of his life dedicated to the revision and analysis of his texts. Furthermore, he continued to give lectures (in Prague and Vienna).
Husserl’s legacy lives on in the field of psychology and philosophy. His contributions to the field of phenomenology continue to be of notable academic interest. Furthermore, his work was transferred to Leuven (Belgium), as we have seen, where it can be consulted. Fortunately, the Nazis were unable to destroy it.
