Aron Gurwitsch (russian: Аро́н Гу́рвич; 17 January 1901,
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...
,
Vilna Governorate
The Vilna Governorate (1795–1915; also known as Lithuania-Vilnius Governorate from 1801 until 1840; russian: Виленская губерния, ''Vilenskaya guberniya'', lt, Vilniaus gubernija, pl, gubernia wileńska) or Government of V ...
– 25 June 1973,
Zurich) was a
Litvak American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
phenomenologist.
Work
Gurwitsch wrote on the relations between phenomenology and
Gestalt psychology, and in the problems of the organization of consciousness. In particular, he distinguished between the theme, the thematic context and the margin. This is the core of his theory of the Field of Consciousness. He also has his own theory of the noema, the horizon and the transcendental ego. Gurwitsch was an important influence for
Merleau-Ponty
Maurice Jean Jacques Merleau-Ponty. (; 14 March 1908 – 3 May 1961) was a French phenomenological philosopher, strongly influenced by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. The constitution of meaning in human experience was his main interest an ...
.
He taught at Brandeis University in the mid-1950s. He taught at
The New School For Social Research's Graduate Faculty of Social and Political Science from 1959 to 1973.
Academic genealogy
He was a student of
Moritz Geiger, among others. Notable students of Gurwitsch include
Lester Embree and
Henry E. Allison.
Bibliography
* ''Théorie du champ de la conscience'' (1957). Translated: ''Field of Consciousness'', Pittsburgh, Pa.: Dusquesne University Press (1964).
* ''Studies in phenomenology and psychology''. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press (1966).
* ''Leibniz'', New York: de Gruyter (1974).
* ''Phenomenology and the Theory of Science''. Edited by Lester Embree. Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press (1974).
* ''Kants Theories des Verstandes'', edited by Thomas Seebohm. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers (1990).
* ''The Collected Works of Aron Gurwitsch (1901–1973)'' published by Springer.
** Vol. I: ''Constitutive Phenomenology in Historical Perspective''
** Volume II: ''Studies in Phenomenology and Psychology''
** Volume III: ''The Field of Consciousness: Theme, Thematic Field, and Margin
See also
*
Transcendental phenomenology
Phenomenology (from Greek φαινόμενον, ''phainómenon'' "that which appears" and λόγος, ''lógos'' "study") is the philosophical study of the structures of experience and consciousness. As a philosophical movement it was founded i ...
External links
www.gurwitsch.net*
(by Lester Embree)
*
with photos
1901 births
1973 deaths
Lithuanian Jews
American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Jewish philosophers
20th-century Lithuanian philosophers
Phenomenologists
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States
{{Europe-philosopher-stub