Page 294 - Contribution To Phenomenology

THE STUDY OF RELIGION IN HUSSERL 287

of validation. The dilemma is that, on the one hand, the most radical
need of life today is strict science which does not yield to the urgency
of life's pressures and takes the time to pursue the timeless values of
science, whereas on the other hand, life's pressures are such that we
cannot wait on theories to legitimate our position-takings. While a good
part of the essay is a sharp criticism of world-view philosophy because
it confuses theoretical philosophy with world-views and neglects the strict
scientific side of philosophy, Husserl must acknowledge the practical
importance of world-view presentations. Further, as Boehm pointed out,
philosophy as a strict science and, indeed, its fuller version of transcen-
dental phenomenology are preceded by the awakening of ideas through
world-views and ideals of such a philosophy; without these going in
advance not even transcendental phenomenology would be possible.^^
If this is true one might well wonder whether Husserl is not forced to
reappraise tradition and to recognize the value of a **wise" tradition or
one which embodies a ^'world-view" which points in the direction of logos,
justice, and peace and fends off the deluge of violence and irrationality.
He seemed to think this was the merit of the world-view of German
Idealism. Of interest is that many aborigine societies, although without a
passion for logos, have communitarian traditions which would seem to be
much wiser than ours. In any case, the ideal of a "philosophic culture"
is the ideal of a certain kind of disposition, therefore an ideal of a
potentiahty for authenticity. As such it is not active. Are active positive
beUefs and practices which promote the ideals of reason, justice,
community, and non-violence not needed? Husserl himself, at the end of
his life, was forced to acknowledge that "the dream was over" for most
of his culture regarding philosophy. Indeed, even in the early 1920's, i.e.,
prior to the madness of the Third Reich, he saw Europe at the mercy
of Realpolitiker, capitalists, technocrats, and cynical academics for whom
the abandonment of reason was the most obvious course (see, e.g., Hua
XXVII, 117-118).
The belief in ideals, the adopting of a grand metaphor or world-view,
belief in a religious revelation, etc., are all irrational at least in the sense

^^ Rudolf Boehm, "Husserl und der Klassische Idealismus," Vom Gesichtspunkt
der Phaenomenohgie: Husserl-Studien (the Hague: Nljhoff, 1968), 18 ff. In a later
text (A V 21, 76a) Husserl is more explicit. People have to survive and act and
cannot postpone decisions in the face of unresolved scientific queries. It is typical
of everyday practical life that the individual must act in a context of what is
scientifically unknown and unpredictable.