The Concrete and the Plural

As the motto »To the matters themselves!« (Zu den Sachen selbst!) shows, Husserl’s phenomenology seeks to ground philosophy and the sciences on a solid foundation by going back to things themselves as concrete matters. Ever since the publication of Husserl’s Logical Investigations in the year 1900/1911 that launched the phenomenological movement, there have been many interpreters who believe that Husserl’s phenomenology is abstract and monistic. The aim of this book is to correct these interpretations by showing that it is a concrete and pluralistic philosophy. Discussing some basic themes such as intentionality, transcendental genesis, transcendental subjectivity, the life-world, the relationship between philosophy and empirical disciplines, and the issue of first philosophy and metaphysics, this book explains how the topic of ›The Concrete and the Plural‹ guided Husserl in developing his phenomenology from the beginning to the end and develops phenomenology into a more concrete and more pluralistic philosophy than any other philosophy that has appeared up until now.