Logical Investigations. Volume 2, Part 1 Investigations on Phenomenology and Theory of Knowledge

In the introduction to the second volume of «Logical Investigations», the principle of presuppositionlessness is explained as the main principle of phenomenology and its correlative main requirement: «To the things themselves!», which becomes the slogan of the phenomenological movement. Phenomenology is introduced as a neutral science that should
become the foundation of both logic and psychology. The first part of the second volume consists of five studies united by a common theme: the correlation of meanings as ideal unities and acts of consciousness in which meanings are constituted. The first study introduces the main distinctions: between sign as indication and sign as expression of meaning, between meanings in communicative speech and in solitary mental life, between the intention of meaning (empty intention) and the realization of meaning, between meaning and object. The second study examines the distinction between the intention of the general and the particular, with perception posited as a necessary basis for discernment of essence. The third and fourth studies consider the structural relationships of meanings. The distinction introduced in the third study between independent and dependent parts prepares the main distinction of the fourth study—between independent and dependent meanings. The idea of a purely logical grammar is put forward, which should establish the formal connection of meanings and allow for the avoidance of lack of sense and nonsense. The fifth study presents an outline of the phenomenological theory of consciousness as the connections of experiences and as intentional acts.

For students and teachers of humanities and for all those interested in contemporary philosophy.