Sense and Being in Husserl and Heidegger

Annotation

SUMMER 2019

Charles University

Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies

(MA Module)

Daniele De Santis, Ph. D.

Office hours: Friday 14:30-15:30

Email: [e-mail]

Sense and Being in Husserl and Heidegger

(Thursday: 9:10-10:45)

Room: P218 1. General Description and Aims of the Module

As Michel Henry remarked at the very beginning of his Material Phenomenology, “Phenomenology will be to the 20th century what German idealism was to the 19th, what empiricism was to the 18th, what Descartes was to the 17th, what Aquinas and Duns Scotus were to Scholasticism, what Plato and Aristotle were to antiquity.” Were we to sound a little more dramatic than Henry, we would say that it is the very confrontation between Husserl and Heidegger that will be to the 20th century what Plato and Aristotle, namely, their confrontation was to Antiquity: indeed, most of the history of 20th century phenomenology was dramatically characterized by the difference, if not even opposition, between their divergent conceptions of what phenomenology is all about. Heidegger’s emphasis on the practical dimensions of our existence would stand in opposition to the Husserlian interest in purely theoretical matters; the former’s Dasein would be totally irreconcilable with Husserl’s pure consciousness or transcendental subjectivity; Heidegger’s question of (the sense of) being would nowhere to be found in a conception of phenomenology that, just like Husserl’s, would consider the subject-object relation as the most fundamental determination of intentionality.

Now, this being recognized, the objective of the present module is not to discuss the stereotypical oppositions just mentioned so as to show to what extent they are nothing else but the result of a partial and misleading reading of what Husserl and Heidegger mean by phenomenology: the goal of the present module is rather to make the case for considering the question of the sense of being (i.e., the question of Seins-Sinn) as the main issue (in a sense to be defined) with which both Husserl and Heidegger respectively deal. In order to do so, a comparative reading of excerpts and passages from the Cartesian Meditations with excerpts and passages from Being and Time will be proposed so as to highlight similarities as well as differences between the philosophical projects outlined therein: the ambition being to understand the peculiarity of both Husserl’s conception of phenomenology, notably, of his project of a phenomenological philosophy, and Heidegger’s against the backdrop of that one fundamental problem. As we will see, what is really at stake in both philosophers is the possibility of ontology, which Heidegger understands as “fundamental” based upon the analytics of Dasein and that Husserl, on the contrary, view as irreducibly plural based upon his stance on both the concept of intentionality and the idea of a “phenomenological constitution” of the world. 2. Structure

The module will be “ideally” divided into three main parts:

(1) After a first section in which attention is mainly paid to the text of the entry “Phenomenology” for the Encyclopedia Britannica that Husserl and Heidegger tried to write together,

(2) We will consider Husserl’s idea of (material) ontologies and his double conception of “reason” and “rationality,” which will help us clarify in what sense and to what extent one can speak of the question of “the sense of being” in Husserl too (the main textual references will be the Cartesian Meditations and partially the first volume of Ideas);

(3) Finally, a discussion of (excerpts from) Heidegger’s Being and Time will be offered along with Husserl’s comments on them. 3. Requirements

Students will be evaluated based upon the following two distinct parameters:

(1) Participation (which includes, yet is not limited to: doing the assignments, attendance, in-class active participation). NOTA BENE: "Participation" may also include, depending upon the number of students, a mandatory in-class presentation (more info will be provided in due course). If you are absent, please ask some of your classmates for any assignments or key discussion materials missed.

(2) A Final Paper (deadline for submission, prompt and additional information will be provided in due course) (alternative options are: an in-class presentation or a final oral exam (to be discussed with your teacher) 4. Course Outline

Part 1

(Week 1-Week4)

Main Readings From:

The Different Drafts of the Encyclopedia Britannica Article "Phenomenology" (Husserl-Heidegger)

Cartesian Meditations (Husserl)

Part 2

(Week 5-Week 8)

Main Readings From:

Ideas for a Pure Phenomenology and a Phenomenological Philosophy. Volume I (Husserl)

Being and Time (Heidegger)

Part 3

(Week 9-Week 12)

Main Readings From:

Being and Time (Heidegger)

Notes on “Being and Time” (Husserl)

Recapitulation

(Week 13) 5. Essential Bibliography 5.1. Original Texts

E. Husserl, Ideen zu einer reinen Phänomenologie und phänomenologischen Philosophie. Band I, Husserliana III/1 (M. Nijhoff)

—, Cartesianische Meditationen und Pariser Vorträge, Husserliana I (M. Nijhoff)

—, Phänomenologische Psychologie, Husserliana IX (M. Nijhoff)

—, Randbemerkungen Husserls zu Heideggers Sein und Zeit und Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik, “Husserl Studies”, 11, 1994

M. Heidegger, Sein und Zeit (Max Niemeyer) 5.2. Translations

E. Husserl, Cartesian Meditations. An Introduction to Phenomenology (M. Nijhoff)

—, Ideas I (Hackett)

—, Psychological and Transcendental Phenomenology and the Confrontation with Heidegger (1927–1931) (Springer)

M. Heidegger, Being and Time (Blackwell)