Overview

Pragmatic Perspectives in Phenomenology offers a complex analysis of the pragmatic theses that are present in the works of leading phenomenological authors, including not only Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, as it is often the case within Hubert Dreyfus’ tradition, but also Husserl, Levinas, Scheler, and Patocka. Starting from a critical reassessment of existing pragmatic readings which draw especially on Heidegger’s account of Being-in-the-world, the volume’s chapters explore the following themes as possible justifications for speaking about the pragmatic turn in phenomenology: the primacy of the practical over theoretical understanding, criticism of the representationalist account of perception and consciousness, and the analysis of language and truth within the context of social and cultural practices. Having thus analyzed the pragmatic readings of key phenomenological concepts, the book situates these readings in a larger historical and thematic context and introduces themes that until now have been overlooked in debates, including freedom, alterity, transcendence, normativity, distance, and self-knowledge. This volume seeks to refresh the debate about the phenomenological legacy and its relevance for contemporary thought by enlarging the thematic scope of pragmatic motives in phenomenology in new and revealing ways. It will be of interest to advanced students and scholars of phenomenology who are interested in moving beyond the analytic-continental divide to explore the relationship between practice and theory.

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9781138210974

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There are some excellent papers here that not only articulate the pragmatic turn in the history of phenomenology, but offer much-needed insight into the problems associated with long-standing pragmatic interpretations of the works of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Husserl. - Phenomenological Reviews The debate over the pragmatic turn in phenomenology is of the utmost significance since it will determine the future of the movement, and in this volume prominent philosophers examine the key positions and arguments that have been developing over at least a decade. - Michael D. Barber, St. Louis University, USA

The debate over the pragmatic turn in phenomenology is of the utmost significance since it will determine the future of the movement, and in this volume prominent philosophers examine the key positions and arguments that have been developing over at least a decade. - Michael D. Barber, St. Louis University, USA

Author Information

Ondřej Švec is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. His publications include a book about phenomenology of emotions and various articles on lifeworld, historical conditions of objectivity, overcoming subjectivism in phenomenology and French historical epistemology. Jakub Čapek is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic. His areas of specialization cover twentieth-century German and French philosophy, especially phenomenology and hermeneutics, philosophy of action, philosophy of perception and questions of personal identity.

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