''Cartesian Meditations: An Introduction to Phenomenology'' () is a book by the philosopher
Edmund Husserl
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl (; 8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938) was an Austrian-German philosopher and mathematician who established the school of Phenomenology (philosophy), phenomenology.
In his early work, he elaborated critiques of histori ...
, based on four lectures he gave at the
Sorbonne, in the Amphithéatre Descartes on February 23 and 25, 1929. Over the next two years, he and his assistant
Eugen Fink expanded and elaborated on the text of these lectures. These expanded lectures were first published in a 1931 French translation by Gabrielle Peiffer and
Emmanuel Levinas
Emmanuel Levinas (born Emanuelis Levinas ; ; 12 January 1906 – 25 December 1995) was a French philosopher of Lithuanian Jewish ancestry who is known for his work within Jewish philosophy, existentialism, and phenomenology, focusing on the rel ...
with advice from
Alexandre Koyré
Alexandre Koyré (; ; born Alexandr Vladimirovich (or Volfovich) Koyra; 29 August 1892 – 28 April 1964), also anglicized as Alexander Koyre, was a French philosopher of Russian origin who wrote on the history and philosophy of science. ...
. They were published in German, along with the original ''Pariser Vorträge'', in 1950, and again in an English translation by Dorion Cairns in 1960, based on a typescript of the text (Typescript C) which Husserl had designated for Cairns in 1933.
The ''Cartesian Meditations'' were never published in German during Husserl's lifetime, a fact which has led some commentators to conclude that Husserl had become dissatisfied with the work in relation to its aim, namely an introduction to transcendental
phenomenology
Phenomenology may refer to:
Art
* Phenomenology (architecture), based on the experience of building materials and their sensory properties
Philosophy
* Phenomenology (Peirce), a branch of philosophy according to Charles Sanders Peirce (1839â ...
. The text introduces the main features of Husserl's mature transcendental phenomenology, including (not exhaustively) the transcendental reduction, the
epoché
In Hellenistic philosophy, epoché (also
epoche;
pronounced or
;
)
is suspension of judgment but also "withholding of assent".
Pyrrhonism
Epoché plays an important role in Pyrrhonism, the skeptical philosophy named after Pyrrho, who is ...
, static and genetic phenomenology,
eidetic reduction
Eidetic reduction is a technique in the study of essences in Edmund Husserl's phenomenology whose goal is to identify the basic components of phenomena. Eidetic reduction requires that a phenomenologist examine the essence of a mental object, be ...
, and eidetic phenomenology. In the Fourth Meditation, Husserl argues that transcendental phenomenology is nothing other than
transcendental idealism
Transcendental idealism is a philosophical system founded by German philosopher Immanuel Kant in the 18th century. Kant's epistemological program is found throughout his '' Critique of Pure Reason'' (1781). By ''transcendental'' (a term that des ...
.
The name ''Cartesian Meditations'' refers to
René Descartes' ''
Meditations on First Philosophy
''Meditations on First Philosophy, in which the existence of God and the immortality of the soul are demonstrated'' (), often called simply the ''Meditations'', is a philosophical treatise by René Descartes first published in Latin in 1641. T ...
.'' Thus Husserl wrote:
Contents
The work is divided into five "meditations" of varying length, whose contents are as follows:
#First Meditation: The Way to the Transcendental Ego
#Second Meditation: The Field of Transcendental Experience
#Third Meditation: Constitutional Problems
#Fourth Meditation: Constitutional Problems Pertaining to the Transcendental Ego Itself
#Fifth Meditation: Transcendental Being as Monadological Intersubjectivity
Editions
* ''Meditations Cartesiennes: Introduction à la phenomenologie''. 1931. Gabrielle Peiffer and Emmanuel Levinas, trans. Paris: Armand Collin.
* ''Meditations Cartesiennes: Introduction à la phenomenologie''. 1947. Gabrielle Peiffer and Emmanuel Levinas, trans. Paris: Vrin.
*
Cartesian Meditations'' 1960. Dorion Cairns, trans. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
References
* Dermot Moran, Rodney K. B. Parker (eds.). 2016. ''Studia Phaenomenologica: Vol. XV / 2015