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The Freiburg Encounter: Aron Gurwitsch and Edmund Husserl on Transformations of Consciousness

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Book cover The Reception of Husserlian Phenomenology in North America

Part of the book series: Contributions to Phenomenology ((CTPH,volume 100))

Abstract

The “Freiburg Encounter” begins with a short history painting the picture of Aron Gurwitsch’s factual encounters during the time of his doctoral studies in 1920s Germany. These encounters included exposure to Gestalt theory as well as Husserlian phenomenology, both of which would make a major impact on him. The point is to show how such encounters can shape the thought of an individual who can then go on to shape regional movements. The bulk of the essay concentrates on Gurwitsch’s encounter with Edmund Husserl, the development of his field theory of consciousness, and the manner in which such can be understood as an advancement of Husserlian phenomenology through modifications of consciousness in particular. Close attention is paid to Husserl’s texts available to Gurwitsch at the time and the ways in which Husserl had anticipated such a theory. These approaches are closely compared and it is ultimately shown how Gurwitsch’s critique of the searchlight theory of attention marks his field theory as a genuine advancement. The essay finishes with Gurwitsch emigrating to the United States, describing the encounters he has there, and outlining his tremendous impact on North American phenomenology.

I would love to hope that those who come afterwards will take up these beginnings and will carry them on persistently but will also repair their admittedly great imperfections, imperfections which can hardly be avoided in the beginnings of a science. (Husserl, E. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Second Book, 429.)

– Edmund Husserl

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Embree, L. 1972. Biographical Sketch. In Lifeworld and Consciousness: Essays for Aron Gurwitsch, xvii–xxx. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, xvi.

  2. 2.

    Embree, L. 1972. Biographical Sketch. In Lifeworld and Consciousness: Essays for Aron Gurwitsch, xvii–xxx. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, xviii.

  3. 3.

    Embree, Lester. 1972. Biographical Stretch. In Lifeworld and Consciousness: Essays for Aron Gurwitsch, xvii–xxx. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, xv.

  4. 4.

    Gurwtisch, Aron. 1964. The Field of Consciousness (trans: Butor, M.). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 363.

  5. 5.

    Sven Arvidson adds a lot of important detail to Gurwitsch’s discussion from the research of contemporary psychology in his “Transformations in Consciousness: Continuity, the Self, and Marginal Consciousness”. See also chapter three of his “The Sphere of Attention: Context and Margin”.

  6. 6.

    There is a good discussion of the theme’s invariance across changes of context in Aron Gurwitsch’s Field of Consciousness, 228–29.

  7. 7.

    Gurwtisch, Aron. 1964. The Field of Consciousness (trans: Butor, M.). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 224.

  8. 8.

    Gurwtisch, Aron. 1964. The Field of Consciousness (trans: Butor, M.). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 224.

  9. 9.

    Aron Gurwitsch briefly discusses elucidation in his Field of Consciousness, 363–64.

  10. 10.

    Gurwtisch, Aron. 1964. The Field of Consciousness (trans: Butor, M.). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 224–25.

  11. 11.

    Gurwtisch, Aron. 1964. The Field of Consciousness (trans: Butor, M.). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 225.

  12. 12.

    Arvidson, S. “Transformations in Consciousness: Continuity, the Self, and Marginal Consciousness”, 60.

  13. 13.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 226.

  14. 14.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 227–28.

  15. 15.

    Aron Gurwitsch discusses serial modifications in his “Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology”, 230–32.

  16. 16.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 231–32.

  17. 17.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press., 233.

  18. 18.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 237–38.

  19. 19.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 239. Italics added.

  20. 20.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 241–42

  21. 21.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 243.

  22. 22.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 244–48.

  23. 23.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. William James’s Theory of the ‘Transitive Parts’ of the Stream of Consciousness. Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 301–31. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 327.

  24. 24.

    Götzl, Herbert. 2003. Wolfgang Metzger: A Perspective on his Life and Work (trans: Heiko, H.). In Portraits of Pioneers in Psychology (eds: Kimble, G.A., and Wertheimer, M.), 177–9. Lawrence Erlbaum, 183.

  25. 25.

    See Sven Arvidson’s “Transformations in Consciousness: Continuity, the Self, and Marginal Consciousness”.

  26. 26.

    1989. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Second Book (eds: Roycewicz, R., and Schuwer, A.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989, §26, p. 107.

  27. 27.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, §35, 64. See also §83, 166.

  28. 28.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 62.

  29. 29.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, §45, 84; §80, 160; §84, 169; and §113, 230–31 (these quotes come respectively from the first and the third).

  30. 30.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, §80, 169.

  31. 31.

    Husserl, E. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Second Book, §22, 98–99. There is a similar discussion concerning motivation in Husserl, E. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Second Book, §50, 189, and in Experience and Judgment, §17–18.

  32. 32.

    1989. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Second Book (eds: Roycewicz, R., and Schuwer, A.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989, §26, 107.

  33. 33.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1973. Experience and Judgment (trans: Churchill, J., and Ameriks, K.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, §8, 38.

  34. 34.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1973. Experience and Judgment (trans: Churchill, J., and Ameriks, K.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press., §33, 150.

  35. 35.

    Hursserl, Edmund. 2001. Analyses Concerning Passive and Active Synthesis: Lectures on Transcendental Logic (trans: Steinbock, A.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 18–19.

  36. 36.

    Husserl, E. Analyses Concerning Passive and Active Synthesis, Part 1.5, 18.

  37. 37.

    Hursserl, Edmund. 2001. Analyses Concerning Passive and Active Synthesis: Lectures on Transcendental Logic (trans: Steinbock, A.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Appendix to §28, 505–6. Cf. Arvidson, S. The Sphere of Attention: Context and Margin, 95–106.

  38. 38.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, §92, 192.

  39. 39.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, §92, 190–91.

  40. 40.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, §92, 191.

  41. 41.

    Husserl, Edmund. 1998. Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology and to a Phenomenological Philosophy, Book I (trans: Kersten, F.). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishersl, §92, 191.

  42. 42.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 204.

  43. 43.

    Gurwtisch, Aron. 1964. The Field of Consciousness (trans: Butor, M.). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 351.

  44. 44.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 245.

  45. 45.

    Gurwitsch, Aron. 1966. Phenomenology of Thematics and of the Pure Ego: Studies of the Relation between Gestalt Theory and Phenomenology (trans: Kersten, F.). In Studies in Psychology and Phenomenology, 175–286. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 205.

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  1. Herzing University, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Daniel Marcelle

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  1. Holy Apostles College and Seminary, Cromwell, CT, USA

    Michela Beatrice Ferri

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Marcelle, D. (2019). The Freiburg Encounter: Aron Gurwitsch and Edmund Husserl on Transformations of Consciousness. In: Ferri, M.B. (eds) The Reception of Husserlian Phenomenology in North America. Contributions to Phenomenology, vol 100. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99185-6_3

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