Introduction to Phenomenology Martin Heidegger, Edmund Husserl
Edmund Husserl •
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl
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8 April 1859 – 27 April 1938
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Husserl was born in 1859 in Prostějov in the Czech Republic
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Husserl studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy before philosophy
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In 1884 at the University of Vienna he attended the lectures of Franz Brentano on philosophy and philosophical psychology. Brentano introduced him to the writings of Bernard Bolzano, Hermann Lotze, J. Stuart Mill, and David Hume. 2
Martin Heidegger • 26 September 1889 – 26 May 1976 • German philosopher who is best known for contributions to phenomenology, hermeneutics, and existentialism
• Raised a Roman Catholic • Studying theology at the University of Freiburg while supported by the church, later he switched his eld oHeidegger had a four-year affair with Hannah Arendtf study to philosophy.
• in uenced by Edmund Husserl's phenomenology • Heidegger had an affair with Hannah Arendt (political philosopher, author, and Holocaust survivor)
• By its very nature the beautiful is isolated from everything else. From beauty no
road leads to reality. Another interesting philosopher, speaks of beauty, evil, totalitariansm
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PHAINOMENON Phenomenon — illusion, occurence
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A greek world phenomenon (phainomenon) originally titled an illusion, then any phenomenon (occurrence).
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In critical philosophy of e.g. Emanuel Kant, there is a distinction between sensory phenomenon and thing in itself.
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We should distinguish the thingness from the seen reality of the object and not see it just rationally.
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This distinction was evolved by philosopher Martin Heidegger and before him by Edmund Husserl in his phenomenology, which wants to examine true phenomena, not distorted by our prejudice. 6
THING IN ITSELF X PHENOMENON
PHENOMENOLOGICAL REDUCTION • As architects following this philosophy, we have to make phenomenological reduction. • This means to temporarily put aside our prejudiced opinions, not our conviction, including the assumption, that it is only about real existing object. (Like a jar on a table or a house in a site).
• Usually it is assumed that a phenomenon is a psychologically oriented attitude towards a thing, towards ones intention, so in architectural thinking it does not give attention, how the object is precisely shown.
• Philosopher Edmund Husserl does not doubt the reality of objects also as things, but in architecture, if
all sensory experiences of space are accepted as phenomena, it is important to precisely understand its thing essence.
• In phenomenon of space the thing is originally given. I can relatively freely look at it from more sides, closely or from a far, not just in a memory or fantasy (also in photography, lm - here I don’t have this possibility).
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PHENOMENOLOGY IN ARCHITECTURE •
Phenomenology is here, in theory of architecture, a philosophically based approach where thinking about objects is established by Edmund Husserl in attempt to rmer and more precise grasping of objects in architecture and architecture itself, that it could become the basis for spatial examination of reality.
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The use in architecture should enable methodical reform of understanding mainly Thing of space in succession of Kant’s transcendental philosophy, which discovered conditional cognition by assumptions - time, space etc.
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Philosophy for architectural theory, based on legacy of phenomenology, is trying to examine these conditions, by noticing the experiences - for example of the space itself - as it is given or as it phenomenologically shows.
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INTENTIONALITY IN ARCHITECTURE AND EPOCHÉ • (it refers to a process of setting aside assumptions and beliefs) • If we follow Husserl’s philosophy, it is necessary to perceive, that it is based on Franz Brentano, who was mostly interested in Aristotle and scholastic philosophy and as a priest he was ghting with some dogmata.
• Even though he received professorship in Vienna university, where he successfully continued his teaching carrier up till 1895, he was so critical to his own work, that in his era, he only published his lectures.
• His students mostly became renowned philosophers, such as Edmund Husserl, one of
his listeners was also T.G. Masaryk ( rst Czech president), and also Martin Heidegger and Max Scheler said they were in uenced by Brentano’s philosophy (another adherer was for example Franz Kafka). fi
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HUSSERL’S PHILOSOPHY • In his essays he also shows his opinion on ethical topics. • We as architects are led to him as we try to understand contents of architectural experience objectively, without being led by just feelings and assumptions, in better case - psychological conditions.
• Here we talk about the self-givenness of Things. Our aim - intentionality, if it means an
interest or professional attention towards the subject matter, it exceeds the experience - assumptions and prejudice towards the Thing itself. Whereas everything that we learn and know about architecture, we gain through the experience of the Thing.
• Husserl’s method for better understanding of architectural space can be compared to a process of when we carefully watch, what objects we see in reality. 11
HUSSERL’S PHILOSOPHY •
As Husserl saw necessary to put aside assumptions and beliefs, as we usually are guided by our experience, we also are standing before an experiment to set aside our assumptions and let them confront the reality.
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This is the core of philosophically based architectural theory, the one that is based on phenomenological epoché - process of setting aside assumptions and beliefs - it can help us to get as close as possible to the original source or phenomenon.
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HUSSERL - TIME AND PRESENCE •
Classical example of epoché as phenomenological reduction is Husserls exploration of time, respectively time consciousness.
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The core of time consciousness is more real consciousness of being then contemporaneity of architecture. It is an ethical experience with things, that cannot be only contemporary - just in one instant.
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HUSSERL - TIME AND PRESENCE • Just as a musician or poet, architect is a person, that links the whole piece of work, containing the whole, but as a poet showing part at a time.
• Word after word, verse after verse, listeners put it together in one uni ed, total work. If a person is supposed to understand the whole - the essence of creation, in poetry, in music - in symphony, being closer to architecture, one has to keep in their consciousness, what they have already heard, but also to expect what is to come.
• This is how we can understand the phenomenon of time. Keeping in mind what
has happened and expecting what is to come - spacious presence with retention of past - St. Augustine. fi
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THING IN ORIGINAL AND CONCEPT • When we perceive the space, and a thing as a material object, when we
perceive its only seen side, we also know about the unseen side, because of the spatial cognition we can look from another side and assume, that we saw the thing as a whole.
• The unseen here means - transcendent side of the thing, distinguishing
the thing in original form mere assumption of an object, like a memory of an assumed picture, that does not grant us the spatial experience anymore.
• It essentially is an original architectural experience, that a person already
gives a name to and judges it, and by this the thing is as a catalogue object already put to a category. This way we can be misled. 15
EIDETIC VARIATION •
An approach to architectural theory of phenomenological character is eidos (=image, form, shape) and eidetic variation.
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Using the method of eidetic variation, we can as architects discover, what is unknown as a Thing for us, (to look at a known thing with new eyes without the presumptions).
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HEIDEGGER’S PHILOSOPHY • One of most important students of Husserl, already as his assistant, then his successor, followed his philosophy of consciousness dedicated to the role of time.
• Husserl, if he took over Kant’s scheme - subject - object, it was doubted with his original phenomenological approach. Because of
that phenomenon is neither objective, nor subjective, but is involved in harmony, which is in a dialog - when subject meets an object.
• Separation of subject and object is evoking senseless questions after the reality of the object, even though real in the sense of original/essential can only be Thing as a phenomenon.
• Any person having reason and emotions is not a mere observer, but he intentionally watches his goals. The intentionality in
object or Thing, shows us that knowledge has a practical meaning as a knowledge of reality, but also we aim for something in obtaining the knowledge.
• Heidegger decided to restore the ancient question of Being - western metaphysics has forgotten to study this. To be has lost sense also in architecture.
• Heidegger’s ontology with main question of being has only slightly got into opposition with phenomenology, if we understand that phenomenology wanted to avoid the question of being in itself. 17
BEING AND TIME • Heidegger’s method still remains phenomenological for architecture - it is a detailed analysis of our existence - dasein - being-there, presence, also of human existence of being in the world.
• It shows the relationship between presence and its world - a human is always somewhere and is a natural center of his own world, spatial living around him.
• In German da-sein which means to be, to dwell, lead our lives, the spatial relationship is always declared towards space - towards there.
• In a general sense, it means an important sociologically architectural and urban reality, that human is not alone in the world, but shares the space with other people, with whom he creates a common attitude and view (das Man, they-self to our-self, rid ourselves of The Chatter - the super cial things in this world, media bias etc). fi
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PRESENCE AND CARE •
A detached approach of an architect as an observer, a distance philosophy has usually worked with, characterizes a scientist, not an architect, in human existence it is rare, utmost possibility, among many states of mind.
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For a human being it is essential, that in architecture, in the world he lives in, he already somehow understands it and puts in it his objects of his need.
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The condition and means to this understanding is mainly expression - for Heidegger it is speech or language, by which we open the world and obtains an access to it.
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Presence or existing in space mainly characterizes, a human cares for his existence. Heidegger describes the nature of being in space as care (in architecture historical protection), which originally is a care for being itself.
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Presence in the sense of care/protection - historical protection - phenomenon of timelessness. 19
TEMPORALITY (tempore-time) •
It shows that, the original time is not just a parameter or coordinate, but a substance of existence, of leading a life. From pressing timing of existence, (-living) in presence of two great phenomenologically explained differences of future and past, is created original human time.
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Only in fellowship, in need of synchronizing with others, there could be general public time emerged.
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The original time is a time of presence. If I don’t have time for something, it just does not t in my life.
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Like this, architecture with its timelessness relates to existence, which usually meets its de nitiveness, its limits. If architecture dares to look at the wholeness of life, it will see it as timeless being, when life is basically being to death.
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Because of that, a human avoids this view and logically seeks for something more comfortable, easier - most lived but not authentic way of living.
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Most frequent is an escape to experiences (pleasures), and looking for it, also into super cial (small)talk - it is a nonarchitectural escape from ourselves - also in spiritual elds into a super cial fellowship, when one does not need to be himself, and can hide.
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Through architectural understanding of the world we can see an uneasy, almost unpleasant possibility of authentic being, which Heidegger’s philosophy calls - possibility of being whole - meaning to intentionally accept presence as a timeless being (although we live in time) and act like it. fi
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COMPARISON •
Heidegger wrote that Being and Time was made possible by his study of Edmund Husserl's Logical Investigations (1900–1901), and it is dedicated to Husserl "in friendship and admiration".
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Heidegger does not base his philosophy on consciousness as Husserl did.
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For him the phenomenological or theoretical attitude of consciousness, which Husserl makes the core of his doctrine, is only one possible mode of that which is more fundamental, namely, Dasein's being.
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Although he agrees with Husserl that the transcendental constitution of the world cannot be unveiled by naturalistic or physical explanations, in his view it is not a descriptive analysis of consciousness that leads to this end, but the analysis of Dasein - BEING.
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Phenomenology for him is not a descriptive, detached analysis of consciousness. It is a method of access to being. 21
SUMMARY •
Being and time is not easily understandable, but essential philosophy for architecture, philosophy that is now one of classical works and phenomenology and spatial relationship towards the presence of human.
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Although Heidegger left Husserls effort to building philosophically scienti c basis for theory of knowledge, on which we could base the empirical science about architecture, but he approached the questions of architecture of human existence.
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This approach was followed by existencialism, in architecture then by structuralism.
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SOURCES
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Prof. Hrůša's Lectures - translated to English
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Heidegger's Thinking on Architecture, Christian Norberg-Schulz
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Martin Heidegger - Being and Time, The Origin of the Work of Art
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https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenomenologie
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