Marvin Farber, The foundation of phenomenology

Aron Gurwitsch

pp. 463-470

Review of:

Farber Marvin, The foundation of phenomenology: Edmund Husserl and the quest for a rigorous science of philosophy, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1943.

Professor Farber's work may well be characterized as a most useful and helpful introduction to phenomenological philosophy. It is, however, an introduction quite unique in character. The reader does not find himself confronted with that well-known type of simplifying, sometimes oversimplifying, presentation by which he is offered formulations of tenets of Husserl's, and, at the very best, is made acquainted with the results of Husserl's analytical work. In Farber's book, it is the analytical work itself that is displayed, and the results are presented within the context of phenomenological research out of which they have grown. Emphasizing, though not confining himself to the logical phase of Husserl's work, Farber enables his readers to assimilate phenomenological research. Careful study which this book both requires and deserves is rewarded, on the part of the beginner in phenomenology, by an incipient skill to think along phenomenological lines.