Chapter 2, Phenomenology, Hermeneutics, Reception Theory Summary and Analysis

Following World War I, hard science and philosophy were in a very poor state. Science had become nothing more than the organization and classifying of facts and philosophy, torn between a radical empiricism which focused exclusively on the objective and factual, and subjectivism, which focused entirely on fleeting personal experience. In response, a German philosopher named Husserl created a new school of philosophy known as phenomenology. The goal of phenomenology was to regenerate European society by providing a new, stable basis on which all other philosophies and sciences could securely stand.

Phenomenology begins by rejecting the assumption that the objects one perceives are real. It does not necessarily deny this assumption, but it does not assume that it is true. Rather, phenomenology begins with the individual perception of an object. While an object...