The Fourth Logical Investigation Revisited

Abstract

This paper rereads Edmund Husserl's Fourth Logical Investigation, which sets out the project of a pure logical grammar. We examine two central issues that have given rise to various interpretations: a) The way the theory of whole and parts is applied to expressions; and b) The possibility that the argument contains another implicit and contradictory argument (see Bundgaard, 2004, 2010). Given this, we postulate with respect to (a), that although Husserl's position is clear, its numerous ambiguities give rise to various interpretations. And in relation to (b), we defend that there is an implicit contradictory argument, developed in the first part of the investigation. Finally, turning to Hua XXX, we show that Husserl later modified, in part, his ideas. This resolves the ambiguities behind (a) but does not seem to do so with (b), which, we judge, calls into question the feasibility of the project itself.