Exploration On Husserl’s Theory Of Intentionality

This paper is aimed to explore Husserl’s theory of intentionality. My study isbased on Husserl’s works Logical Investigations, IdeasⅠ, Cartesian Meditation, Thephenomenology of Internal Time-Consciousness, Experience and Judgment, AnalysesConcerning Passive and Active Synthesis and Husserl’s other text concerning thistopic, as well as some woks of Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and so on. Themajor methods used in this paper is text-interpretation and analytic reflexion. My goalis to develop a coherent picture of Husserl’s understanding of the intentionality. By thecomprehensive study of Husserl’s text concerning the issue of intentionality, my paperpresents the whole picture of his intentionalty theory. And draws the followingconclusions:1)The theory of intentionality in Husserl’s early works that is LogicalInvestigations can be identified as "directedness intentionality",in his later works thatis IdeasⅠcan be exploratory identified as "constructivity intentionality".2)Thetraditional philosophy of consciousness in Europe establishes the independence of thesubjective self, but Husserl’s theory of intentionality finds the source of initiative inthe subjective self, and then make up the subject-object split which in the traditionalepistemology.3)This paper also discusses the problems of intentionality in geneticphenomenology, traces the preconditions of consciousness directs or constructs theobject. This also makes the study on "strict and scientific" intentionality theory morerigorous.4)Husserl’s theory of intentionality plays a direct impact on Heidegger’sexistential philosophy, Sartre’s existentialism and Merleau-Ponty’s intentionalitytheory."Intentionality" is one of the "triple greet-discovery" of phenomenology. Thistheory plays function not only in Husserl’s phenomenology, but also plays functionthroughout the whole process of the phenomenological movement in the20th century.Therefore, my paper choose the issue of "intentionality" in Husserl’s phenomenologyas the toplic of my paper. I intend to catch the system of Husserl’s theory ofintentionalty, and to understand the change of this theory after Husserl himself.Throughout the whole process of the development of Husserl’s thinking, he does notprovide any definition about the word "intentionality", he only provides a hint insection No.14of his works Cartesian Meditation. There he suggests that peoplealways think of "intentionality" as " consciousness is always of something". In this saying of Husserl’s, there are three problems to be explained. Firstly, why isconsciousness always of something? Secondly, How does consciousness of something?Thirdly, what is the legal premise of the consciousness of something? My paperattempts to analyze how Husserl response to the three questions.This paper is constituted of Introduction and five chapters as well as theConclusion.The Introduction covers three contents: Firstly, I provide an overview ofHusserl’s phenomenology and the theory of intentionality. Secondly, I examine thepresent situation of the study of Husserl’s theory domestic and abroad, and then Ipoint out the creative ideas of this paper. Finally, I illustrate the special perspective ofmy paper.The first chapter mainly is used to clarifies the problem of the origin of theory ofintentionality, and to discusses the theoretical change of Husserl’s theory ofintentionality. The first section mainly is used to elaborat Platon’s and Aristotle’s ideasrelated to issue of intentionality and Medieval Scholasticism related to intentionality.Then I give a general review of "development of intentionality theory in previoushistory". The second section elaborats Brentano’s theory of psychology intentionality,and then I point out the implication of "internality" and "directedness" features ofintentionality. I regard Brentano’s ideas as the direct origin of Husserl’sphenomenological intentionality. The third section points ou Husserl’s critical creationin his different periods about Brentano’s theory of intentionality.The second chapter examines Husserl’s theory of "directedness intentionality" inhis descriptive phenomenology stage work Logical Investigations, analysis ofHusserl’s response on "why is consciousness always of something" and "how isconsciousness of something. The first section describes the important significance ofthe theory of phenomenological intentionality. The second section examines the"intentional acts","intentional content" and the foundation, as well as the change of"intentional essence" in the "the fifth Logical Investigations", then points out the"directedness" feature of the consciousness. The third section inspects the"fulfilments","representation","categorial intuitions","the law of thinking", in the"the sixth Logical Investigations". then points out that the activities of consciousnessdirects to the object through interpretation.The third chapter examines the theory of "constructivity intentionality" inHusserl’s Pure Phenomenology, and to analysis Husserl’s response on "how is consciousness always of something" at the second perspective. The first sectionreviews the "epoche","eidetic reduction" and "transcendental reduction" in thephenomenological reduction, associates the meaning of intentionality with themeaning of subjectivity and constructivity. The second section examines the "hyle","Noesis" in reell factors of consciousness. The third section analyzes "the debateabout Noema", and examines the "predicate meaning","theme Characterizations" and"Determinable X" in the Noema. The fourth section analyzes the relationship betweenthe construction intentionality and transcendental idealism, and points out that the"constructivity" feature of the meaning of intentionality plays an important role inHusserl’s traditional Epistemology.The fourth chapter investigates the problems of intentionality in Husserl’sGenetic Phenomenology and analyze the legal preconditions of the statement"consciousness of something". The first section reviews the "original impression","retention" and "pretention" in the internal time-consciousness, and points out that thetime-consciousness ensure the occurrence of intentionality in the form. The secondsection examnines the principle of association among the "original association","reproductive association" and the "anticipation", tries to clarifies the intentionality ofthe passive constitution without self-participation. The third section examines theconcepts of "contemplative intuition","explicative contemplation" and "relationalcontemplation" in Husserl’s contemplation theory, tries to clarifie the intentionality ofthe active constitution with self-participation. The fourth section examines the theoryof intentionality of "others".The fifth chapter explores the effect of Husserl’s theory of intentionality in thehistory of Western Philosophy. The first section explores the influence of Husserl’sintentionality to Heidegger’s Existential philosophy, I point out that under theinfluence of Husserl’s theory of consciousness intentionality, Heidegger develops atheory of existential intentionality. The second section explores the influence ofHusserl’s intentionality to Sartre’s existentialism, I point out that under the influenceof Husserl’s subjective internal intentionality, Sartre develops a theory of immanenttranscendence. The third section explores Husserl’s intentionality influence onMerleau-Ponty’s phenomenology, I point out how Merleau-Ponty links intentionalityand body-perception, then he develops a theory of bodily intentionality.In the conclusion, I review and summarize the main viewpoints and discussionsof each chapter. then I briefly point out the creative views of my paper. I also summarizes the evolutionary scheme and the progressive picture of the theory ofintentionality in the history of Western philosophy. Finally, I provide a self-commentsabout the problems and inadequaciesof my paper.