Munich Phenomenology, refers to the group of philosophers

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

, psychologists

Psychology

Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...

 and phenomenologists that studied and worked in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

 at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Edmund Husserl

Edmund Husserl

Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl was a philosopher and mathematician and the founder of the 20th century philosophical school of phenomenology. He broke with the positivist orientation of the science and philosophy of his day, yet he elaborated critiques of historicism and of psychologism in logic...

 published his masterwork, the Logical Investigations and began the phenomenological movement. Their views are grouped under the name "Phenomenology of essences

Phenomenology of essences

In disagreement with Theodor Lipps's psychologism, some of his students in Munich joined with some of Husserl's from Göttingen to form a new branch called Phenomenology of essences, or Munich phenomenology. Taking new directions from Logische Untersuchungen and supported by Edmund Husserl, they...

".

At that time some of the students of Theodor Lipps

Theodor Lipps

Theodor Lipps was a German philosopher. Lipps was one of the most influential German university professors of his time, attracting many students from other countries. Lipps was very concerned with conceptions of art and the aesthetic, focusing much of his philosophy around such issues...

, who were organised in the Psychologische Verein ("Psychological Association"), notably Adolf Reinach

Adolf Reinach

Adolf Bernhard Philipp Reinach , German philosopher, phenomenologist and law theorist.-Life and Works:...

, Johannes Daubert and Alexander Pfänder

Alexander Pfänder

Alexander Pfänder was a German philosopher and phenomenologist. He was born in Iserlohn and spent his entire academic career in Munich, where he was a student of Theodor Lipps and one of the founding members of the Munich circle of phenomenologists...

, were inspired by Husserl's work and took it as a guideline for doing philosophy. Around 1905 many students of Lipps (captained by Daubert) decided to abandon Munich and to head for Göttingen

Göttingen

Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...

, to study with Husserl (this is also referred to as the Munich invasion of Göttingen).

Notably, in 1912 the Munich phenomenologists Reinach, Pfänder, Max Scheler

Max Scheler

Max Scheler was a German philosopher known for his work in phenomenology, ethics, and philosophical anthropology...

 and Moritz Geiger

Moritz Geiger

Moritz Geiger was a German philosopher and a disciple of Edmund Husserl. Beside phenomenology, he dedicated himself to psychology, epistemology and aesthetics.- Life :...

 founded the famous Jahrbuch für Philosophie und phänomenologische Forschung, with Husserl as main editor.

After Husserl's publication of the Ideen (Ideas) in 1913, many phenomenologists took a critical stance towards his new theories. Many members of the Munich group distanced itself from his transcendental phenomenology and preferred the earlier realist phenomenology of the first edition of the Logical Investigations.

The Munich Phenomenologists

• Adolf Reinach
  Adolf Reinach
  Adolf Bernhard Philipp Reinach , German philosopher, phenomenologist and law theorist.-Life and Works:...
  
  
• Johannes Daubert
• Alexander Pfänder
  Alexander Pfänder
  Alexander Pfänder was a German philosopher and phenomenologist. He was born in Iserlohn and spent his entire academic career in Munich, where he was a student of Theodor Lipps and one of the founding members of the Munich circle of phenomenologists...
  
  
• Moritz Geiger
  Moritz Geiger
  Moritz Geiger was a German philosopher and a disciple of Edmund Husserl. Beside phenomenology, he dedicated himself to psychology, epistemology and aesthetics.- Life :...
  
  

Other members of the Munich Circle

• August Gallinger
• Aloys Fisher
• Theodor Conrad (husband of Hedwig Conrad-Martius
  Hedwig Conrad-Martius
  Hedwig Conrad-Martius was a German phenomenologist who became a Christian mystic.- Life and works :...
  
  )
• Dietrich von Hildebrand
  Dietrich von Hildebrand
  Dietrich von Hildebrand was a German Catholic philosopher and theologian who was called by Pope Pius XII "the 20th Century Doctor of the Church."...
  
  
• Wilhelm Schapp

Sources

• Herbert Spiegelberg
  Herbert Spiegelberg
  Herbert Spiegelberg was an American philosopher who played a prominent role in the advancement of the phenomenogical movement in the United States.-Life:...
  
  , The Phenomenological Movement (The Hague/Boston/London 1982)
• H. Kuhn, E. Avé-Lallemant, R. Gladiator (Eds.), Die Münchener Phänomenologie Phaenomenologica 65, 1976

External links

• Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology