Transcendental phenomenology and psychology: from the idea of "fundamentation of sciences" in Edmund Husserl to the appropriation of Gestalt theory by Aron Gurwitsch

• Grant number: 13/13035-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: November 01, 2013
• End date: September 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Fundamentals and Assessments in Psychology
• Principal Investigator: Danilo Saretta Verissimo
• Grantee: Hernani Pereira dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Letras (FCL-ASSIS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Assis. Assis , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since the very beginning of his work, Edmund Husserl (1859-1938) remained himself close to the psychological sciences. He even has appropriated some theories and hypotheses of his intellectual circle about the structure of the psyche. Despite of this heritage, he sought to move away from the influence of empirical psychology to, then, erect an a priori eidetic psychology. This would come to be one of the means of access to transcendental phenomenology, apex of the apodictic and without presuppositions science, as desired by the author, and which supports the idea of "foundation" of sciences in general. On the other hand, some attempts to integrate empirical research originating from psychology in a phenomenological point of view were made by authors such as Aron Gurwitsch (1901-1973), who contends the possibility, or even necessity, of considering the results of Gestalt psychology in the face of certain limits of husserlian phenomenology. This approach, however, seems to create a problem in the very idea of phenomenology: What changes can be occasioned in the conception of phenomenology in the acceptance of the theses of Gestalt Theory, an empirical psychology, and through the criticism of constancy hypothesis, as operated by Aron Gurwitsch as from Gestalt psychology? Based on this question, we aim at exploring the possible connections between transcendental phenomenology and empirical psychology at the thought of Edmund Husserl and of Aron Gurwitsch. The study, theoretical in nature, will be developed through consultation and reading, followed by analysis and interpretation of the major works of Husserl and Gurwitsch relating to the thematic scope circumscribed in this project. With regard to Husserl, it should be noted the importance of the work entitled "Phenomenological Psychology". As for Gurwitsch, we will focus mainly on his more systematical work, "The Field of Consciousness". We expect that this study contribute to the understanding of the scientific and philosophical activities present in phenomenological and psychological investigations, envisioning, moreover, the possibilities of a "theoretical psychology". (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SANTOS, Hernani Pereira dos. A teoria da intencionalidade nas obras de Husserl e de Gurwitsch: entre fenomenologia transcendental e psicologia da Gestalt. 2015. Master's Dissertation - Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências e Letras. Assis Assis.