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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2011
Edmund Husserl strongly emphasized the importance of reduction to his phenomenology. For his followers, however, it has proved a formidable task to specify exactly how this intricate accomplishment that opens up the possibility for phenomenological research is to be performed. In this article, we study different approaches to gaining access to reduction and conclude by suggesting that we should read Husserliana itself as a set of accomplished reductions. In other words, our task is to pinpoint chapters where the movement of reduction takes place. As an example of such a reading, I will point out events that come about in Husserl’s Idea of Phenomenology.
Husserl a fortement insisté sur l’importance de la réduction dans sa phénoménologie. Pour ses disciples, cependant, s’est avéré être redoutable la tâche de préciser comment doit être exécutée cette réalisation complexe qui ouvre la possibilité pour la recherche phénoménologique. Dans cet article, nous étudions les différentes approches de la réduction et nous concluons en suggérant que l’ouvrage Husserliana lui-même doit se lire comme un ensemble de réductions accomplies. Notre tâche consistera donc à identifier les chapitres où a lieu ce mouvement de réduction. À titre d’exemple d’une telle lecture, j’évoquerai quelques-uns des événements de L’idée de la phénoménologie de Husserl.
I would like to thank Janita Hämäläinen and Hannu Sivenius, whose thoroughness and insights during the process (1993–95) of translating The Idea of Phenomenology into Finnish helped me a lot in learning to read Husserl.
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