THE "EMPIRIOCRITICIST" SOURCES OF THE CONCEPT OF NATURAL WORLD IN E. HUSSERL

Abstract

In this paper I investigate the relationship between the philosophies of Edmund Husserl and Richard  Avenarius. Despite this tapie has been almost disregarded by Husserlian scholars, it is of uttermost importance if one  aims at illuminating  the origins of Hus­serl's phenomenological thinking. My thesis is that Husserl's concept of natural attitude and its correlate, the natural  world (Umwe/t) -as they emerge in various lectures during the 1910s and  especially in Ideen I with respectmto the phenomenological  reduction- stem from an early confrontation with Avenarius' "empiriocriticist" standpoint as laid out in his book Der menschliche Weltbegriff. In order to up­ hold this claim, I will discuss in my paper Husserl's gradual approach to the theories of the Swiss-German philosopher as well as his late critique of the same. Although Husserl in fact  conceived of  Avenarius' standpoint as a valuable beginning, he was decisively  prompted in his late reflections to call into question sorne of the premises of the "empirio-criticist" philosophy.