This volume is a selection of essays from the Japanese-American Joint Seminar on Phenomenology held in the suburbs of Sanda-city (Japan) October 24-27, 1989, under the auspices of the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, Inc. Florida Atiantic University and the Phenomenological Association of Japan. Professor Eiichi Shimomisse played a particularly impartant role in the organizational processes. The theme of the conference was "Japanese and Western Phenomenology. " This seminar marks the first attempt to organize, on a comparatively large scale, a cooperative research meeting in phenomenology (perhaps for the first time even in philosophy in general) between Japan and the English speaking West. Eighteen phenomenologists from the United States, Canada, and Australia and about thirty Japanese colleagues attended the meeting. Revised vers ions of aimost all the papers that were read and discussed in the sessions are inc1uded. It was not a trifling affair to setHe upon what language we phenome nologists from across the world could use to communicate with each other at this conference. As many of the Japanese scholars had studied in Germany and speak better German than English, the official language of the seminar was defined to inc1ude both German and English. So me of the papers, accordingly, were written and read in German. But now they are all rewritten here in English. Not only these papers, but aH the manuscripts written by Japanese authors were edited both grammaticaHy and stylisticaHy by Professor Blosser."

This volume is a selection of essays from the Japanese-American Joint Seminar on Phenomenology held in the suburbs of Sanda-city (Japan) October 24-27, 1989, under the auspices of the Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology, Inc. Florida Atiantic University and the Phenomenological Association of Japan. Professor Eiichi Shimomisse played a particularly impartant role in the organizational processes. The theme of the conference was "Japanese and Western Phenomenology. " This seminar marks the first attempt to organize, on a comparatively large scale, a cooperative research meeting in phenomenology (perhaps for the first time even in philosophy in general) between Japan and the English speaking West. Eighteen phenomenologists from the United States, Canada, and Australia and about thirty Japanese colleagues attended the meeting. Revised vers ions of aimost all the papers that were read and discussed in the sessions are inc1uded. It was not a trifling affair to setHe upon what language we phenome nologists from across the world could use to communicate with each other at this conference. As many of the Japanese scholars had studied in Germany and speak better German than English, the official language of the seminar was defined to inc1ude both German and English. So me of the papers, accordingly, were written and read in German. But now they are all rewritten here in English. Not only these papers, but aH the manuscripts written by Japanese authors were edited both grammaticaHy and stylisticaHy by Professor Blosser."

Das Problem der Grundlegung der Ethik wurde am Anfang dieses Jahrhunderts mit der Frage nach der "naturalistic fallacy" in England 1 und durch einen phanomenologischen Versuch auf Grund der Werttheorie auf dem Kontinent 2 wiederum zu einem der brennenden Themen der gegenwartigen philosophischen Be- sinnung. Wahrend es als ein zentrales Problem in der deutschen Philo- sophie seit Nicolai Hartmanns "Ethik" in Vergessenheit geraten und durch die "Existenzphilosophie" fast abgeloest zu sein scheint, drangt sich die philosophische Besinnung auf dieses Problem in Grossbritannien und den Vereinigten Staaten auf der Basis der neu entwickelten "analytischen Philosophie" bis heute weiter in den Vordergrund 3. Die wichtigsten Ergebnisse ihrer scharfsinni- gen Analyse bieten vielleicht fur unsere Fragestellung eine ganz neue Perspektive. Damit ist aber nicht gesagt, dass jene "analy- tisch-philosophischen Bestrebungen" die Frage nach dem Problem der Grundlegung der Ethik schon klar und eindeutig beantwortet hatten, sondern nur, dass sie die Streitfrage nun viel praziser her- ausgestellt haben. Dabei handelt es sich einerseits um die Bestim- mung des Wesens von sittlich "Gut" und "Boese" und der Werte uberhaupt, woruber sich "Intuitionisten" und "Reduktionisten" 1 Wie wohl schon bekannt ist, hob G. E. Moore die "naturalistic fallacy" in seinem Werk Principia Ethica (S. 6-17 u. a. ) hervor und glaubte, die naturalistischen sowie die metaphysischen Reduktionismen damit zuruckzuweisen und einen utilitaristischen Intuitionismus zu begrunden. S Wenn auch verschiedene Versuche von den Neukantianern sowie von Franz Brentano unternommen worden sind, muss man Max Scheler auf diesem Gebiet den den Ausschlag gebenden Beitrag zusprechen.