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Introduction to Phenomenology

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Author: Robert Sokolowski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$29.99~~
Buy Used: $19.49
You Save: $10.50 (35%)

New (18) Used (11) from $19.49

Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 248
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.6

ISBN: 0521667925
Dewey Decimal Number: 142.7
EAN: 9780521667920
ASIN: 0521667925

Publication Date: October 28, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: SHIPS FAST! via UPS(AK/HI Priority Mail) within 24 hours/ used sticker on back/some highlighting

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
This book presents the major philosophical doctrines of phenomenology in a clear, lively style with an abundance of examples. The book examines such phenomena as perception, pictures, imagination, memory, language, and reference, and shows how human thinking arises from experience. It also studies personal identity as established through time and discusses the nature of philosophy. In addition to providing a new interpretation of the correspondence theory of truth, the author also explains how phenomenology differs from both modern and postmodern forms of thinking.

Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Bojan September 7, 2008
It is not important how many of books regarding phenomenology you have read, this Introduction is much, much more than only introduction. Can help you focused your mind again to the matter.

5 out of 5 stars

The lifeworld awaits... no wait, we're in it already... February 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

The phenomenological tradition, an oft used misnomer for "Continental Philosophy," diverges from Analytic philosophy in dramatic ways. One commentator stated, possibly disparagingly, that the Analytic side is all about problems while the Continental side is all about proper names. Regardless of that statement's veracity (both traditions seem equally addicted to eminent names), newcomers to phenomenology, or even to the Continental tradition altogether, will find the fibers of this book almost unsullied by proper names. In near defiance to the stereotype above, it seems populated with problems. For many of these it even suggests solutions. Though phenomenology comprises only part of the entire Continental lineage, it nonetheless played a massive role in that tradition's development. Heidegger and Sartre, names known everywhere, founded their thought in phenomenology and simultaneously expanded its influence and scope. Anyone desiring to understand either major figure's thought should ground themselves in the concepts, terminology, and approach of this introduction.br /br /Human experience provides the basis for phenomenology. No matter how "elevated" the cognition, in phenomenology our shared human faculties provide the foundation. In stark contrast to Cartesian, Humean, and Hobbesian conceptions, phenomenology puts full trust in our sensory experiences. This idea gets emphasized and reemphasized throughout the book. Not only that, most concepts receive illumination through repetition and other literary devices. This elucidates the subject matter to an exponential degree as well as moistening up what could have been a very dry read. It proves that the experience of reading about experience can entertain.br /br /Intentionality, the first chapter's subject, provides a good starting block for phenomenology. This concept connects our consciousness to the world. It essentially means that consciousness is consciousness "of" something. We're connected to the thing experienced, and our experiences make up a part of that thing's being. Our beings criss-cross and validate each other. The implications of this get discussed in great detail. Following this, the discussion explodes into phenomenology's three crucial structures: Parts and Wholes, Identity in Manifolds, and Presence in Absence. These three found the remaining discussions, from the Natural versus the Phenomenological Attitude, Categorial Intentionality, ego consciousness, and temporality, to the lifeworld, evidence, Eidetic Intuition, and intersubjectivity. Later chapters build on early ones. The whole edifice comes together in the final chapters. In true fashion, the parts found and construct the whole. Though not everything attains lucidity. The almost mystical notion of "Internal Time Consciousness" apparently requires more discussion than this book allows. Regardless, everything comes back to intentionality and the three basic structures. br /br /Although the discussion evades proper names for the most part, an appendix provides a short history of the field from Husserl to the present. The book in general follows Husserlian terminology. Overall, the unorthodox approach taken here fits well with the subject matter. Phenomenology is something that people can actually perform. Some consider it a science. In places, the discussion even attempts to expand natural sciences to a new level based on human experience. It even suggests in one place that modern indeterminancy in science originates from science's disinterest in the variation of human experience. Obviously not everyone will find the arguments, or even phenomenology itself, convincing. But as a reaction to "mind in a box" epistemology it at least provides a refreshing new perspective. It also puts the human being in the world fully connected. We are reality, reality is us. Anyone who wants insight into one of Continental philosophy's most influential movements should read this book cover to cover and repeat.

5 out of 5 stars

a clear presentation of the basics December 19, 2005
7 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is an excellent introduction to phenomenology. While the history of phenomenology is fascinating and rewards serious study, this book, unlike others, cuts through the differences between phenomenological thinkers to the 'meat and bones' of the approach and presents the basic methods of phenomenological analysis in a clear and penetrating fashion. I found it thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening. Anyone interested in philosophy would do well to sit down with this book for a few hours. It could very well change the way you look at the world and the way you approach philosophical problems (for the better!). Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

What is phenomenology? September 16, 2005
11 out of 12 found this review helpful

As Cal Schrag notes in a fantastic litte essay called "The Recovery of the Phenomenological Subject": "In 1945 Maurice Merleau-Ponty began the preface to his classic work Phenomenologie de la perception, with the observation that the reader might find it odd that the question What is phenomenology? still needs to be answered one-half a century after the first writings of Edmund Husserl. The fact however remains, wrote Mereleau-Ponty, that this question still awaits an answer. Some fifty years after the publication of Merleau-Ponty's seminal work on perception we are still asking the question What is phenomenology?" br /br /I do not hesitate (well, maybe a little) to reply that reading this excellent book by Sokolowski will certainly put the beginner on the path to answering this difficult question. Perhaps it answers best What is Husserlian phenomenology? but what better place to begin the journey than at the beginning. This is certainly not a scholarly text. You will not find footnotes at the bottom of every page. You won't even get citations to Husserl's texts. And you certainly won't find anything like a ten-page analysis of the words "phenomenon" and "logos" as encountered at the outset of Heidegger's Being and Time. But it's not supposed to be a critical scholarly text, it is just what it says: an introduction to phenomenology. br /br /I think this text will be especially beneficial to readers who are familiar with philosophy but who stand outside the continental tradition - e.g. analytic philosophers. Also, those who already understand Husserl (or think they do) will find this book a fantastic read as well. Don't think that just because it is an introduction that it is beneath you. I think you will be suprised (and perhaps encouraged) by the ability of Sokolowski to state so clearly an answer to the question What is phenomenology?

4 out of 5 stars

Phenomenal Introduction to Phenomenology August 26, 2005
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

I came to this book hoping to find an overview of phenomenology that wouldn't tax my middle-aged brain with dense prose or obscure jargon. It met my expectations fully. The writing is clear and graceful; phenomenology is related to broader cultural concerns (such as the rise of mathematized science); and the narrative tackles simple issues (such as perception and memory) before moving on to tough ones (such as temporality and language). Throughout, the "natural attitude" (our experience of the world) is contrasted with the "phenomenological attitude" (our reflection on the natural attitude). The book has whet my appetite for sampling the phenomenology canon.br /br /I gave the book only four stars because Sokolowski doesn't really engage with rival philosophical projects, especially analytic philosophy. To be fair, he does draw distinctions between phenomenology and analytical approaches to human experience; in particular, he rejects any suggestion that internal mental entities mediate our experience of the world. Unfortunately, he rarely grapples with analytic arguments in detail. br /br /Maybe it's unfair to expect this in an introductory work. However, given phenomenology's minority status in academia, most readers will have an analytic background. Sokowlowski needed to show them, with explicit arguments, why phenomenology gives a superior account of our experience. He rarely rose to this challenge. But with that caveat, I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in modern philosophy. br /

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