"Intuition" has perhaps been the least understood and the most abused term in philosophy. It is often the term used when one has no plausible explanation for the source of a given belief or opinion. According to some sceptics, it is understood only in terms of what it is not, and it is not any of the better understood means for acquiring knowledge. In mathematics the term has also unfortunately been used in this way. Thus, intuition is sometimes portrayed as if it were the Third Eye, something only mathematical "mystics," like Ramanujan, possess. In mathematics the notion has also been used in a host of other senses: by "intuitive" one might mean informal, or non-rigourous, or visual, or holistic, or incomplete, or perhaps even convincing in spite of lack of proof. My aim in this book is to sweep all of this aside, to argue that there is a perfectly coherent, philosophically respectable notion of mathematical intuition according to which intuition is a condition necessary for mathemati cal knowledge. I shall argue that mathematical intuition is not any special or mysterious kind of faculty, and that it is possible to make progress in the philosophical analysis of this notion. This kind of undertaking has a precedent in the philosophy of Kant. While I shall be mostly developing ideas about intuition due to Edmund Husser there will be a kind of Kantian argument underlying the entire book."

This fresh and innovative approach to human-environmental relations will revolutionise our understanding of the boundaries between ourselves and the environment we inhabit. The anthology is predicated on the notion that values shift back and forth between humans and the world around them in an ethical communicative zone called 'value-space'. The contributors examine the transformative interplay between external environments and human values, and identify concrete ways in which these norms, residing in and derived from self and society, are projected onto the environment.

History doesn't have to mean only an effort to know the past. It can be instead, according to Kierkegaard, a willful and personal choice regarding the creation of the future. Kierkegaard offers us an amazing new approach to the problem of what is history and who makes it.

Age and aging are pressing social-political issues. Yet, philosophers still have not paid sufficient attention to one of the major explorations of this topic, Simone de Beauvoir's seminal work The Coming of Age (1970). For much too long, it has been overshadowed by her other groundbreaking work, The Second Sex (1949). Now, for the first time, this volume focuses on Beauvoir's essay on old age and critically explores its significance from a phenomenological and feminist perspective. International Beauvoir scholars and renowned feminist phenomenologists from Europe and North America offer a unique look at one of the 20th century's most outstanding existential-philosophical studies on age and aging. Thematically, the articles and short comments collected in this volume cover three main issues which are crucial with respect to an investigation of Beauvoir's study on age: gender, ethics, and time. The volume essentially contributes to Beauvoir studies, aging studies, cultural and gender studies, feminist theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy.

Both/And is a new interpretation of Kierkegaard's writings which attempts to make sense of a very diverse authorship by offering a comprehensive interpretation of both Kierkegaard's so-called aesthetic and his religious writings. Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) stands for a turning point in philosophy from a systematic philosophy - which, with its focus on objectivity, attempts to place itself on the secure path of science - to a "philosophy" that focuses its attention in subjectivity and openly acknowledges itself as fragmentary and provisional. Strawser examines Kierkegaard's works as religious, aesthetic/poetic, and philosophical and argues that irony runs through both the aesthetic and the religious works - indeed, Kierkegaard referred to himself as the Magister of Irony. But Strawser goes beyond these boundaries to draw in the interpretation of Kierkegaard's writing not a line which cuts off the aesthetic from the religious, but connects them. This is what Strawser calls the line from irony to edification. This line is the line of both/and, the line of connection. Strawser addresses the problematic but natural relationship between Kierkegaard and postmodernism and offers exciting possibilities. Strawser believes that contemporary postmodern philosophical considerations aid a critical reading of Kierkegaard, but such a reading must not be overwhelmed by them. Such a comprehensive reading is what Strawser offers the reader in Both/And.

At the heart of this volume is the assertion that Sartrean existentialism, most prominent in the 1940s, particularly in France, is still relevant as a way of interpreting the world today. Film, by reflecting philosophical concerns in the actions and choices of characters, continues and extends a tradition in which art exemplifies the understanding of existentialist philosophy. In a scholarly yet accessible style, the contributors exploit the rich interplay between Sartre's philosophy, plays and novels, and a number of contemporary films including No Country for Old Men, Lost in Translation and The Truman Show, with film-makers including the Dardenne brothers, Michael Haneke, and Mike Leigh. This volume will be of interest to students who are coming to Sartre's work for the first time and to those who would like to read films within an existentialist perspective.

This book contains essays written by eminent phenomenologists & scholars closely related to R. Bernet, a person and a philosopher (colleagues, friends and collaborators, former students). The intellectual and worldwide authority of R. Bernet's work is well represented by the list of contributors, as well as by the content of their chapters. In a sense, this volume is a good indication of the importance of Bernet's own books, articles and classes. The editors have chosen to concentrate the contributions on what could be estimated to be one of the three major themes of his philosophical itinerary: life, seen from a phenomenological point of view, its relation to subjectivity, experiences and consciousness, and both seen as the ground for an original reflection on art (paintings).

This book analyzes the philosophical foundations of sensorimotor theory and discusses the most recent applications of sensorimotor theory to human computer interaction, child s play, virtual reality, robotics, and linguistics.

Why does a circle look curved and not angular? Why does red not sound like a bell? Why, as I interact with the world, is there something it is like to be me? An analytic philosopher might suggest: if we ponder the concept of circle we find that it is the essence of a circle to be round . However, where does this definition come from? Was it set in stone by the Gods, in other words by divine arbiters of circleness, redness and consciousness? Particularly, with regard to visual consciousness, a first attempt to explain why our conscious experience of the world appears as it does has been attributed to Kevin O Regan and Alva Noe, who published their sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness in 2001.

Starting with a chapter by Kevin O Regan, "Contemporary Sensorimotor Theory" continues by presenting fifteen additional essays on as many developments achieved in recent years in this field. It provides readers with a critical review of the sensorimotor theory and in so doing introduces them to a radically new enactive approach in cognitive science."

Thisbook offers new reflections on the life world, from both phenomenological and hermeneutic perspectives. It presents a prism for a new philosophy of science and technology, especially including the social sciences but also the environment as well as questions of ethics and philosophical aesthetics in addition to exploring the themes of theology and religion.

Inspired by the many contributions made by the philosopher Joseph Kockelmans, this book examines the past, present and future prospects of hermeneutic phenomenology. It raises key questions of truth and method as well as highlights both continental and analytic traditions of philosophy.

Contributors to "The Multidimensionality of Hermeneutic Phenomenology" include leading scholars in the field as well as new voices representing analytic philosophers of science, hermeneutic and phenomenological philosophers of science, scholars of comparative literature, theorists of environmental studies, specialists in phenomenological ethics and experts in classical hermeneutics."

The 17 original essays of this volume explore the relevance of the phenomenological approach to contemporary debates concerning the role of embodiment in our cognitive, emotional and practical life. The papers demonstrate the theoretical vitality and critical potential of the phenomenological tradition both through critically engagement with other disciplines (medical anthropology, psychoanalysis, psychiatry, the cognitive sciences) and through the articulation of novel interpretations of classical works in the tradition, in particular the works of Edmund Husserl, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Paul Sartre. The concrete phenomena analyzed in this book include: chronic pain, anorexia, melancholia and depression."

The phenomenological approach to the philosophy of mind, as inaugurated by Brentano and worked out in a very sophisticated way by Husserl, has been severely criticized by philosophers within the Wittgensteinian tradition and, implicitly, by Wittgenstein himself. Their criticism is, in the epistemological regard, directed against introspectionism, and in the ontological regard, against an internalist and qualia-friendly, non-functionalist (or: broadly dualistic/idealistic) conception of the mind. The book examines this criticism in detail, looking at the writings of Wittgenstein, Ryle, Hacker, Dennett, and other authors, reconstructing their arguments, and pointing out where they fall short of their aim. In defending Husserl against his Wittgensteinian critics, the book also offers a comprehensive fresh view of phenomenology as a philosophy of mind. In particular, Husserl's non-representationalist theory of intentionality is carefully described in its various aspects and elucidated also with respect to its development, taking into account writings from various periods of Husserl's career. Last but not least, the book shows Wittgensteinianism to be one of the effective roots of the present-day hegemony of physicalism.

Age and aging are pressing social-political issues. Yet, philosophers still have not paid sufficient attention to one of the major explorations of this topic, Simone de Beauvoir's seminal work The Coming of Age (1970). For much too long, it has been overshadowed by her other groundbreaking work, The Second Sex (1949). Now, for the first time, this volume focuses on Beauvoir's essay on old age and critically explores its significance from a phenomenological and feminist perspective. International Beauvoir scholars and renowned feminist phenomenologists from Europe and North America offer a unique look at one of the 20th century's most outstanding existential-philosophical studies on age and aging. Thematically, the articles and short comments collected in this volume cover three main issues which are crucial with respect to an investigation of Beauvoir's study on age: gender, ethics, and time. The volume essentially contributes to Beauvoir studies, aging studies, cultural and gender studies, feminist theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy.

Above the dogmatic ideologies and utopias that have proved illusory, there is a resurgence of ideals of/for humanity in the human spirit's urgent quest after measure and harmony of the dispersed threads of existence. Devalued in the sectarism of postmodern thought, they affirm themselves in their original freedom as the irrepressible swing of the human spirit within the all-embracing new field of the Phenomenology of Life and of the Human Condition. Preceded by the exploration of allegory in aesthetics and the metaphysics of the ontopoiesis of life, the present collection opens with Tymieniecka proposing the 'golden measure' as the ideal our present day humanity calls and strives for. Studies of the 'Ascension in troubled times', 'On the way', 'The search for harmony', 'European message', and other sections, collect papers by: G. Vajda, M.A. Cecilia, E. di Vito, A. Balan, R. Kieffer, G. Overvold, L. Kimmel, J.B. Williamson, F.P. Crawley, P. Pylkko, N. Campi de Castro, and others. Introduced by the editor: Marlies Kronegger.

This book shows how phenomenology of the social sciences differs from positivistic approaches, and presents Schutz's theory of relevances--a key feature of his own phenomenology of the social world. It begins with Schutz's appraisal of how Husserl influenced him, and continues with exchanges between Schutz and Eric Voegelin, Felix Kaufmann, Aron Gurwitsch, and Talcott Parsons. This book presents, for the first time, Schutz's incisive criticisms of T.S. Eliot's theory of culture.

The desire for knowledge is an abiding facet of human experience and cultural development. This work documents curiosity as a sociohistorical force initiating research across the disciplines. Projects generated by theoretical curiosity are presented as historical and material practices emerging as expressions of embodied knowledge and experience. The shifting cultural, philosophical and practical relations between theory and curiosity are situated within classical, medieval, early modern and contemporary communities of practice. The Practice of Theoretical Curiosity advocates for a critical, aesthetic engagement in everyday life. Its purpose is to examine the pedagogical grounds and questions that motivate research programs in the sciences, education, technoculture and post-war social movements. Theoretical curiosity continually resists disciplinary limits. It is a core, embodied process uniting human pursuits of knowledge and power. This inquiry into inquiry itself offers an appreciation of the vital continuity between the senses, perception, and affect and concept development. It is informed by a critical reading of phenomenology as the embodied practice of researchers. This study sponsors a deepening of theory in practice and the practice of theoretical exploration. As a contribution to pedagogical practice, it offers a historical critique of the usually unquestioned philosophical, political and ethical grounds for educational, scientific and social research. The Practice of Theoretical Curiosity profiles significant alliances and persona as agents for the pursuit of novel and often controversial research, adventures and discovery. It claims that the place of technology and the technical is the primary channel for contemporary inquiry. The technosciences of genomics, artificial life and astrobiology are considered as contemporary extensions of a perennial desire to pursue and resist the limits of existing knowledge and representation.

This highly personal account of a lifetime s spiritual and philosophical enquiry charts the author s journey of faith through contemporary culture. Distinguishing between what she posits as the universal and the rhapsodic "logos," Tymieniecka interrogates concepts as varied as creativity and the media, joy and suffering, and truth and ambiguity. She contemplates the possibilities and limits of communication between human beings, and outlines what she calls the transnatural destiny of the human soul.

The book asserts that unlike theory, which unfolds a logical continuity, and unlike dialogue, which is directed sequentially upward toward intellectual conclusions, the mode of reflection of the rhapsodic logos imposes no limits or caps upon its understanding. Instead, the logoic flow interlaces the rhapsodic cadences of our reflections on reality, in all their innumerable fluctuations, and sifts them to mold the intimate mind/soul inwardness that we experience as faith.

The radiative meditations of this rhapsodic logos weave their way through the entanglements of the mystery of incarnation, the constitutive archetypes, the inwardly sacred, the transnatural destiny of the soul, and finally ascend the rhapsodic scales toward culminating faith in the Christo-Logos."

This book features papers written by renowned international scholars that analyze the interdependence of art, phenomenology, and social science. The papers show how the analysis of the production as well as the perception and interpretation of art work needs to take into consideration the subjective viewpoint of the artist in addition to that of the interpreter. Phenomenology allows a description of the subjectively centered life-world of the individual actor-artist or interpreter-and the objective structures of literature, music, and the aesthetic domain in general. The perspective of social science serves to reconstruct the socio-historical structure involved in the creation and reception of the art work. The authors concentrate on this specific theoretical focus which combines both phenomenology and social science and offers an innovative framework for the analysis of works of art from the fields of literature, music, visual arts, photography, and film. Some of the contributions present creative interpretations of a variety of distinct art works in addition to the realization of theoretical reflections on the interdependence of arts, phenomenology, and social science. This book features papers that were presented at the international and interdisciplinary conference Phenomenology, Social Sciences, and the Arts, held at the University of Konstanz, May 2009, in commemoration of philosopher and social scientist Alfred Schutz, the developer of phenomenologically oriented sociology. It will appeal to researchers, scholars, and students in phenomenology, social sciences, art theory, and the arts.

Thomas Sheehan and Richard E. Palmer The materials translated in the body of this volume date from 1927 through 1931. The Encyclopaedia Britannica Article and the Amsterdam Lectures were written by Edmund Hussed (with a short contribution by Martin Heideg ger) between September 1927 and April 1928, and Hussed's marginal notes to Sein und Zeit and Kant und das Problem der Metaphysik were made between 1927 and 1929. The appendices to this volume contain texts from both Hussed and Heidegger, and date from 1929 through 1931. As a whole these materials not only document Hussed's thinking as he approached retirement and emeri tus status (March 31, 1928) but also shed light on the philosophical chasm that was widening at that time between Hussed and his then colleague and protege, Martin Heidegger. 1. The Encyclopaedia Britannica Article Between September and early December 1927, Hussed, under contract, composed an introduction to phenomenology that was to be published in the fourteenth edition ofthe Encyclopaedia Britannica (1929). Hussed's text went through four versions (which we call Drafts A, B, C, and D) and two editorial condensations by other hands (which we call Drafts E and F). Throughout this volume those five texts as a whole are referred to as "the EB Article" or simply "the Article. " Hussed's own final version of the Article, Draft D, was never published of it appeared only in 1962."

Today, when systematic philosophy - and reason itself - are challenged both outside of and within philosophy, is it still possible to do metaphysics? This volume provides a broad perspective on contemporary approaches to the nature and the fundamental questions of metaphysics. Drawing on scholars from continental Europe, Asia, Canada, the United States, and Great Britain, and representing a variety of philosophical cultures and traditions, this volume surveys and extends work in metaphysics and its implications for broader philosophical concerns (e.g., in ethics and social philosophy, in mathematics and logic, and in epistemology). It also addresses such questions as the role of history and historicity in undertaking metaphysics, the nature of metaphysics, the priority of metaphysics over epistemology, and the challenges of empiricism and postmodernism.

Despite hundreds of millions of visitors each year, zoos have remained outside of the realm of philosophical analysis. This lack of theoretical examination is interesting considering the paradoxical position within which a zoo is situated, being a space of animal confinement as well as a site that provides valuable tools for species conservation, public education, and entertainment. Why Do We Go to the Zoo? argues that the zoo is a legitimate space of academic inquiry. The modes of communication taking place at the zoo that keep drawing us back time and time again beg for a careful investigation. In this book, the meaning of the zoo as communicative space is explored. This book relies on the phenomenological method from Edmund Husserl and a rhetorical approach to examine the interaction between people and animals in the zoo space. Phenomenology, the philosophy of examining the engaged everyday lived experience, is a natural method to use in the project. Despite its rich history and tradition it is interesting that there are very few books explaining "how to do" phenomenology. Why Do We Go to the Zoo? provides a detailed account of how to actually conduct a phenomenological analysis. The author spent thousands of hours in zoos watching people and animals interact as well as talking with people both formally and informally. This book asks readers to bracket their preconceptions of what goes on in the zoo and, instead, to explore the meaning of powerful zoo experiences while reminding us of the troubled history of zoos.

This is an unusual volume. During his periods of study with Ed mund Husserl - first from I924 1. 0 I926, then from I93I to I932 - Dorion Cairns had become imnlensely impressed with the stri king philosophical quality of Husserl's conversations with his students and co-workers. Not unlike his daily writing (five to six hours a day was not uncommon, as Husserl reports herein, the nature of which was a continuous searching, reassessing, modi fying, advancing and even rejecting of former views), Husserl's conversations, especially evidenced from Cairns's record, were remarkable for their depth and probing character. Because of this, and because of the importaIlt light they threw on Husserl's written and published works, Cairns had early resolved to set down in writing, as accurately as possible, the details of these conversations. Largely prompted by the questions and concerns of his students, including Cairns, the present Conversations (from the second period, I93I-I932, except for the initial conversation) provide a significant, intriguing, and always fascinating insight into both the issues which were prominent to Husserl at this time, and the way he had come to view the systematic and historical placement of his own earlier studies. Cairns had often insisted - principally in his remarkable lec 1 tures at the Graduate Faculty of the New School - that attaining a fair and accurate view of Husserl's enormously rich and complex 1 Cairns's lectures between 1956 and 1964 are especially important."

The essays collected in the present volume introduce the reader to the phenomenological work done in the Nordic countries today. The material is organized under three general headings: metaphysics, facticity, and interpretation. The volume is of interest to researchers and students working in the areas of epistemology and ontology as well as philosophy of language, history, and intersubjectivity.

The Origins of Husserl's Totalizing Act At noon on Monday, October 24th, 1887, Dr. Edmund G. Husserl defended the dissertation that would qualify him as a university lecturer at Halle. Entitled "On the Concept of Number," it was written under Carl Stumpf who, like Husserl, had been a student of Franz Brentano. In this, his first published philosophical work, Husserl sought to secure the foundations of mathematics by deriving its most fundamental concepts from psychical acts. In the same year, Heinrich Hertz published an article entitled, "Con cerning an Influence of Ultraviolet Light on the Electrical Discharge." The article detailed his discovery of a new "relation between two entirely different forces," those of light and electricity. Hermann von Helmholtz, whose theory guided Hertz's initial research, called it the "most important physical discovery of the century," and Hertz became an immediate sensation. He lectured on his discovery in 1889 before a general session of the German Association meeting in Heidelberg. In this lecture that, as he wrote beforehand to Emil Cohn, he was deter mined should not be "entirely unintelligible to the laity," Hertz explained that light ether and electro-magnetic forces were interdependent. He went on to tell his audience that they need not expect their senses to grant them access to these phenomena. Indeed, he said, the latter are not only insusceptible of sense perception, but are false from the standpoint of the senses."