Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Husserl and the Cartesian Meditations (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks) [Hardcover]

A.D. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 16, 2003 | ISBN-10: 041528757X | ISBN-13: 978-0415287579

Husserl is one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century and his contribution to the phenomenology movement is widely recognised. The Cartesian Meditations is his most famous, and most widely studied work. The book introduces and assesses: Husserl's life and background to the Cartesian Meditations, the ideas and text of the Cartesian Meditations and the continuing imporance of Husserl's work to Philosophy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

David Smith's Husserl is a timely book which provides an excellent introduction to the Cartesian Meditations and thus to phenomenology as such. Smith displays a gift in making accessible a text that is mostly regarded as highly complex and ridden with philosophical jargon... [it] will most likely become an essential introductory book to any student wishing to become acquainted with Husserl's work.
–Lilian Alweiss, Trinity College Dublin

About the Author

A. D. Smith is lecturer in the department of Philosophy at the University of Essex. He has written in various journals as well as an article in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Routledge (May 16, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 041528757X
• ISBN-13: 978-0415287579
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,605,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent new book which fills a mighty scholarship gap, December 15, 2003

By 

E. M. Dale (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Husserl and the Cartesian Meditations (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks) (Paperback)

Edmund Husserl is really an unsung hero in early twentieth century philosophy. His fundfamental importance for such thinkers as Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty should in and of itself be cause for Husserl's popular rehabilitation; this is the book to accomplish just that.

Part of a new publishing venture Routledge press has initiated in order to produce introductory studies on important philosophers (the backlist so far includes thinkers from Plato to the later Heidegger) which are at the same time vital contributions to contemporary scholarship, this volume on Husserl is the first secondary text to address Husserl's Cartesian Meditations, a breathtaking lapse if you think about it, since authors seldom get taught in introductory classes in primary text alone. Husserl's students, intellectual progeny, and even enemies have really been the focus of Husserl studies (much like Irenaeus was the focus of gnostic studies until the full publication of the Nag Hammadi documents several years ago), and anyone wanting an introduction to Husserl's thought had to do the best they could. His work, and the Cartesian Meditations in particular, has been and is deserving of competent, thoughtful commentary, and Smith's volume neatly fits the bill. It is a deep and detailed investigation of the genesis of Husserl's thinking (in itself a phenomenological "to the thing itself" kind of approach), and almost a line-by-line commentary on the ideas, problems, and contributions of Husserl's book which never fails to remember that it is aimed at newcomers as well as specialists. Plainly put, it is no longer responsible to teach Husserl without this volume, and no class on existentialism, phenomenology, or deconstruction should proceed without it, either.

The person seeking to understand Husserl's masterwork should begin with the Cartesian Meditations in one hand and this volume in the other. Incidentally, any doctoral students responsible for the Cartesian Meditations in general exams without the benefit of a faculty that actually teaches Husserl (sadly, a rather common situation) owes Smith a heartfelt thank-you card. It is a book that makes anyone with Husserlian questions happy. It is not the final word on Husserl's work, but thankfully, it is a very important first word.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Introduction., December 24, 2008

By 

Axel Eljatib (Ciudad de Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Husserl and the Cartesian Meditations (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks) (Paperback)

An excellent and well-written explanation of the philosophy of Husserl and particularly of the Cartesian Meditations, for philosophy students which desperately need a "translation" of his complicated and sometimes tedious prose. The book resembles a University lecture in which the professor's personal opinions are rarely introduced. Highly recommended for students at upper-intermediate level.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars As bad as possible as a guidebook to Husserl, October 12, 2010

By 

conscience - See all my reviews

This review is from: Routledge Philosophy GuideBook to Husserl and the Cartesian Meditations (Routledge Philosophy GuideBooks) (Paperback)

The author's attempt to make this guidebook a Book is obviously confronted by his inability to deal with Husserl's, and more importantly, his own understanding of Husserl's ideas systematically and consistently. The book should have impressed its audience better if the author honestly faced his segmented manner in delivering its contents to beginners of Husserlian phenomenology. The ideas are simply not put together. They are scattered, and the narration always gets interrupted. I would more regard this guidebook as the authors' self-murmuring, a hallucination state of telling stories of certain apodicticity to himself.