Research On The Issue Of The Cartesian Way To The Transcendental Phenomenological Reduction

Transcendental reduction is the beginning of phenomenological philosophy. Transcendental field can never appear if the natural attitude could not be changed into transcendental attitude. Therefore, Husserl takes every effort to introduce a number of ways to the transcendental reduction, which can be regarded as the introduction to phenomenology. Kern has distinguished, within Husserl’s philosophy, three types of ways to the transcendental reduction, namely the Cartesian way, the way through intentional psychology and the way through ontology.This paper will sketch the theory of transcendental reduction in the view of the Cartesian way. Evidence, which can be separated into adequate evidence and apodictic evidence, is the focus on this way. In First Philosophy, adequate evidence and apodictic evidence are regard as the same category. Adhering to the principles of evidence, the perceptions of world are criticized and the world is revealed as "transcendental gloss". Therefore, the world should be put into bracket. Then, the transcendental subjectivity can be revealed, and thus the transcendental reduction is "driven" to appear itself. Later, Husserl extends the Cartesian way. Employing the results of the reflections on time-consciousness, he changes the mode of the transcendental subjectivity and expands it into the form of the transcendental life. Transcendental subjectivity not only has the present, but also has past and future forms of life. The Cartesian way, therefore, must be extended to include an "apodictic reduction". However, this critique is postponed. In Cartesian Meditations the identity of the adequate evidence and apodictic evidence must be broken. Husserl insists on a starting point of adequate evidence no longer, but pursues an absolute starting point. The Cartesian way, finally, completed the absolute criticism. And what is given in the apodictic evidence is the constituting time form of ego, namely the "living present".Transcendental subjectivity has been revealed in the Cartesian way, but its flaws can not be avoided. Among these flaws, the oblivion of the world is a fundamental one. Therefore, the function of the transcendental subjectivity could not be clarified. And the transcendental ego revealed in the Cartesian way did not show its priority. All these flaws provide the possibility of disclosing a new ontological way, which is just in reverse order contrary to the Cartesian way. This way ensures the transcendental ego as an absolute priority, so we can obtain the indubitability and priority of transcendental ego in the ontological way together with the Cartesian way. In addition, the world as a constitutive product of transcendental has got the correct interpretation. The Cartesian way and the ontological way complement each other, reveal ego and world, and constitute the two poles of the transcendental reduction. The Cartesian way can be seen as a "top-down" way, while the ontological way "bottom up". As for the third way of the transcendental reduction, it can be regarded as an extention to the Cartesian way or a special case of the ontological way, and a way which clarifies the nature of transcendental field.