Abstract
In the present section we will take to the next level our previous discussion of the concept of eidos. In particular, we will discuss Husserl’s notion of eidetic or a priori sciences, with a special focus on geometry (which Husserl takes to be the most paradigmatic example of a priori, material sciences). In particular, we will argue that for Husserl the importance of geometry is that it perfectly epitomizes the function that he ascribes to every eidetic sciences, i.e., that of rationalizing the empirical world.
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For a systematic discussion of the relation between phenomenology and sciences, see the groundbreaking work by Trizio (2020).
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For a further analysis, see also what Husserl will explain in the famous §31 of Formale und Transzendentale Logik on “The Pregnant Concept of Manifold and, Correlatively, that of a ‘Deductive’ and ‘Nomological System’ Clarified by the Concept of ‘Definiteness’” (Hua XVII, pp. 98–102), wherein Husserl clarifies, for example, that space in the Kantian sense is only an individual case of the analytic form of the “Euclidean manifold” (p. 98, footnote).
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See for example Hua V, p. 23, where psychology, understood as an a priori science, is called “rational psychology”; and also Hua V, p. 78.
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For instance, Husserl will speak of die methodische Fundamentierung (of experiential sciences such as empirical psychology) durch eine entsprechende apriorische Wissenschaft (Hua IX, p. 298). Or, as Husserl also insists in another passage, sciences as to matters of fact, namely, the sciences of the “world of experience,” can attain the level of “rigorous sciences” (echte Wissenschaften) solely by being traced back to the (essential) form of the relevant rational ontology (nur in der Rückbezogenheit auf diese Form) (Hua IX, p. 525). As he explains during his 1925 lectures on Phenomenological Psychology: “Empirically inductive natural science mounted an incomparably higher level of knowledge at that moment when it appropriated the mathematics of nature and recognized that the systematic formation of that a priori which belongs inseparably to nature provides ipso facto an infinity of absolutely necessary laws for factual nature. The same must hold for every experiential science. It must rise above the level of vague inductive empirical procedure. If it is to become rigorous science, its first concern must be to establish those essential laws that govern its province a priori, therefore, before any additional consideration of the contingently factual” (Hua IX, p. 49).
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“For example, with regard to corporeal nature: pure mathematics, as the a priori whereby nature can be thought at all, makes possible genuine philosophical science and even mathematical natural science. Yet, this is more than just an example, since pure mathematics and mathematical natural science have allowed us to see, in an admittedly narrow sphere, exactly what it was that the original objectivistic idea of philosophy/science was striving for” (Hua XXVII, p. 167). For a discussion of this topic, see Hartimo (2010) and Ortiz Hill (2010). For an introduction to the topic in relation to Plato, see Crapanzano (2014) and De Caro (2012). On Husserl on Plato and geometry, see Majolino (2017).
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De Santis, D. (2021). The Function of Eidetic Sciences. In: Husserl and the A Priori. Contributions to Phenomenology, vol 114. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69528-6_9
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