Abstract

Van Peursen’s book is an authorized translation and is published under the auspices of the Duquesne Philosophical Series. The purpose of the work is to effect a rapprochement between two of today’s most notable approaches to philosophy: phenomenology and linguistic analysis. These respective philosophical methods are frequently looked upon as two of the conspicuous polar trends within contemporary philosophy, and the author arranges their confrontation in such a way that their most fundamental convergencies and divergencies are revealed. The original phase of phenomenology, that of Edmund Husserl, and the earlier phase of logical positivism as represented by Carnap and Schlick, are described by focusing on their treatment of the problem of meaning. A further comparison is made between the respective ways phenomenological reduction and analytical reduction treat the question of factual existence. Both philosophical methods are presented clearly and sympathetically in their historical depth and with emphasis on their methodological aspects. The author then makes a provisional confrontation between them which centers on the critical problem of defining the appropriate relation between operational and intuitive meaning, the truths of reason and the truths of fact. These two methods of philosophy stem from essentially different attitudes whose significance transcends the limits of philosophy, and one of Van Peursen’s purposes is to explain both schools of thought to a wider public. He then traces the further development of phenomenology through the later Husserl and Merleau-Ponty, while concentrating on the phenomenology of the ego and of the Life-World. This analysis is followed by a description of the movement from logical positivism to analytical philosophy as it was shaped by the linguistic orientation of Wittgenstein and Ryle. The last chapter offers a final confrontation between the transcendental and the linguistic approaches.