Newsletter of Phenomenology

Keeping phenomenologists informed since May 2002

Repository | Book | Chapter

148137

(2008) Meaning and language, Dordrecht, Springer.

The necessity of communicating phenomenological insights – and its difficulties

David R Koukal

pp. 257-279

The communication of insight—be it through a transcription, translation, a seminar or classroom lecture—is a philosophical task as old as Plato. Phenomenological insight, according to Husserl, is to be gained by temporarily "bracketing" the various presuppositions of the different realms of human activity for the purpose of intuiting the essential structures of experience that appear to a consciousness purified by the method of the epoché. And Husserl makes it abundantly clear that an essential part of phenomenology's task is the communication of phenomenology's insights to the various regions of human activity which it claims to ground through its activity. It is through such communication that phenomenology invites humanity to return to "the things themselves" that underlie all of our various preconceptions of these things, so that it may have a deeper understanding of the lived world common to all. This is often forgotten about phenomenology: it is not only about intuition, but also expression.

Publication details

DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4020-8331-0_13

Full citation:

Koukal, D.R. (2008)., The necessity of communicating phenomenological insights – and its difficulties, in F. Mattens (ed.), Meaning and language, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 257-279.

This document is unfortunately not available for download at the moment.