Abstract

Henry Pietersma’s Phenomenological Epistemology presents a thoughtful reflection upon the great figures active in what may be called “the transcendental turn.” Originating with Kant, Pietersma traces its development in Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. The book can be read as an informed and unusually clear exposition of an aspect of their thought, but it is more than that. Its philosophical acuity stems from two factors: first, the decision—no doubt, controverted by others—to illuminate the thought of these seminal philosophers in the light of epistemological issues, and second, to view these issues against the background of their shared repudiation of modern realism—a repudiation, however, that haunts Pietersma’s own reflection. For throughout his work, he addresses “the character of transcendental epistemology and its relation to realism.”