The Logic of Parts and Wholes in Husserl’s Investigations

Abstract

In his preface to the second edition of the Prolegomena Husserl makes the following remark about the Third of his Logical Investigations, which is entitled, “Toward a Theory of Wholes and Parts.” “I have the impression that this Investigation was all too little read. It helped me a great deal, and indeed it is an essential presupposition for full understanding of the Investigations that follow it.”¹ Neglect of this Investigation could indeed prove disastrous to understanding Husserl’s thought; although it seems to treat merely questions of logic and method and says nothing about subjectivity, it provides a formal structure that reappears at many strategic places in the Investigations and in Husserl’s later work. It serves as the skeleton for Husserl’s more elaborate philosophical doctrines about subjectivity and its world.

First published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. 28, 1967–68, pp. 537–553: Reprinted here with permission — J.N.M.