Emily R. E. Baron
N10038026
Educational Theatre
Spring 2009
E85.1505.001 - The Performing Arts in Western Civilization
SUMMARY
Titled, "Husserl's Phanomenology," chapter three begins with a basic definition of phenomenology before going into Husserl's intricate theories. According to Ferrara, phenomenology is a, "way of doing philosophy." How Husserl made it his own was that he wanted to take away all subjectivity and call it a "direct investigation of phenomena." When he first started to explore phenomenology, he studied the things of consciousness rather than consciousness itself. It is at this time that Ferrara explores the history of phenomenology and the connections different philosophers had with it.
Kant, who coined the term, defined phenomena as the ideas of things as they are experienced by the human mind. His ideas evolved from idealism and objectivism; to him, man was seen as always needing to be better, unlike today where man is seen as powerful and multi-talented. Hegel used his interpretation of phenomenology as a way to show the development of human knowledge in the form of rigorous science. Even though he may have failed in creating absolute knowledge, what he did succeed in was establishing phenomenology as an important topic in the philosophical community. Lastly, Brentano explored, "inner perception," a reliable method of exploring one's present state of mind and being. What was frowned upon by Husserl is the fact that the analyst is then always looking at himself and not other people.
Going into the life history of Husserl, the reader finds out that during his pre-phenomenological phase, he provided psychological bases for fundamental mathematical problems and during his post-psychologistic stage, he began his phenomenological writings, such as Logical Invesitgations and Ideas: General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology.
Husserl thought that consciousness is not just awareness, but it is also directing the mind toward specific things. These things, noema, or "objects being intended by consciousness"
only noema have meaning, if they are by themselves, they do not have meaning. He also believes absolute knowledge is possible by use of the phenomenological method.
From this came his idea of phenomenological reduction, which has at least two stages, the transcendental reduction and the eidetic reduction. In the transcendental reduction, one shifts from ordinary perception to phenomenological perception, which involves directing the structures of consciousness instead of merely just being conscious. Eidetic reduction presents the essential structures of the object, deriving a universal knowledge from the specific nature of the transcendental reduction. This entails removing inessential characteristics of an object in order to find its essence.
Finally, Ferrara breaks down six main types of phenomenology, that act as a tool for enriching three areas of experience: subjective elements, ideas regarding meaning and values that are based in concrete events, and detailing of one’s “life-world.” Because no clear steps exist and we must create the process for ourselves, three operations form the foundation of descriptive phenomenology. The first is “phenomenological intuiting,” a way for learning through the description of phenomena. “Phenomenological analyzing” includes the examination of the structure and configuration of phenomena and the third element is “phenomenological describing,” which classifies phenomena but requires caution to make sure that the framework does not limit the work of art by its pre-imposed boundaries.
The six phenomenologies are as follows: Essential or eidetic phenomenology makes use of free imaginary variation, a method that can reveal relationships among various essential characteristics. Phenomenology of appearances requires one to view not only the object but also how it appears, as it doesn’t exist in the constantly changing world. Constitutive phenomenology focuses on the change from the initial perception of an object to a more developed concept formed by consciousness. Reductive phenomenology allows for the suspension of the “natural attitude,” leaving only consciousness itself. This method values purified data and relates closely to Descartes’ “systematic doubting of reality”. The last method, hermeneutic phenomenology, concerns interpretation and thus splits from the above methods that reference only “pure” descriptive phenomenology.
PERSONAL REACTION
This chapter confused me a lot and went, in my opinion, way too into detail in exploring Husserl's life. Yes, he is important to what phenomenology is today, but I feel very disconnected from the matter. However, there was one part that I did seem to connect to. When Ferrara introduces Brentano and his exploration of "inner perception," my mind keeps going back to how this connects to theater and performance on stage. When one is acting, you have to be in key with yourself before you are ready to affect others. Before performances, I always check in with myself to see if I am ready to commit and become another character on stage.
As I kept reading, another term also seemed to connect to the theater: Eidetic reduction. Here one needs to get rid of all the excessive characteristics and really focus on an object's pure essence. For some reason, pure essence are two words that have been sticking with me since reading the chapter and I go back to when I have to become a character on stage that I am having troubles connecting with. One really has to focus on the character, maybe write down similarities and differences you may have with that character. It is only until you are confident with yourself and confident about the character you are playing that you can go out and perform.
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