The Idealism-Realism Debate Among Edmund Husserl's Early Followers and Critics

This volume aims to contextualize the development and reception of Husserl's idealism by placing him in dialogue with his most important interlocutors - his mentors, peers, and students. The response to Husserl's idealism is perhaps one of the best ways to explain the trajectory of the phenomenological movement. The move to idealism caused a schism between the early phenomenologists, although the division between the realist and the transcendental phenomenologists may not be as sharp or dogmatic as some believe. Reconsidering the idealism-realism debate also helps us to understand the relationship and differences between phenomenology and Neo-Kantianism. The contributions to this volume deal with Husserl's supposed turn from realism to idealism and the reactions to this turn. In detailing the nuances of these early interpretations and critiques of Husserl, this volume seeks to develop the backdrop against which his mature writings ought to be read, and to better understand and assess the merits of the philosophical positions and contributions of the members of the early phenomenological movement.