Gurwitsch and Husserl on attention

pp. 86-114

in: Sven Arvidson, The sphere of attention, Berlin, Springer, 2006

Abstract

Aron Gurwitsch studied Edmund Husserl's work closely, and persistently found philosophical points worth recapping, interpreting, and amplifying. He also critiqued Husserl where he felt it warranted. In this chapter, I condense and simplify Gurwitsch's report of how his own insights on attention parallel Husserl's, and how they contradict. I also feature a Gurwitschian reading of Husserl's Analyses Concerning Passive and Active Synthesis (2001), which it appears Gurwitsch himself did not read, but which is important for phenomenology of attention. All this further grounds the articulation of the sphere of attention, and marks a shift to considering phenomenological evidence rather than primarily experimental psychological evidence. We will also be poised to explore more fully subjectivity and morality in subsequent chapters.