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On the development of Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology of imagination and its use for interdisciplinary research

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Abstract

In this paper I trace Husserl’s transformation of his notion of phantasy from its strong leanings towards empiricism into a transcendental phenomenology of imagination. Rejecting the view that this account is only more incompatible with contemporary neuroscientific research, I instead claim that the transcendental suspension of naturalistic (or scientific) pretensions precisely enables cooperation between the two distinct realms of phenomenology and science. In particular, a transcendental account of phantasy can disclose the specific accomplishments of imagination without prematurely deciding upon a particular scientific paradigm for its experimental investigation; a decision that is best left to the sciences themselves.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University College Cork, Ireland

    Julia Jansen

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  1. Julia Jansen
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Correspondence to Julia Jansen.

Additional information

You will find a more extensive version of the first sections of this paper in Rudolf Bernet, Donn Welton, Gina Zavota (eds), in press. Husserl: Critical Assessments (5 vol.). London: Routledge.

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Jansen, J. On the development of Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology of imagination and its use for interdisciplinary research. Phenom Cogn Sci 4, 121–132 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-005-0135-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-005-0135-9

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