Husserl and the Greeks

ABSTRACT I document Husserl’s growing interest in the foundational character of Greek philosophy for Western culture and show what is unique about Husserl’s appropriation of certain Greek thinkers and concepts. Specifically, I explain Husserl’s idiosyncratic appropriation of key Greek terms as original building blocks to articulate his own intuitive insights and review critically Husserl’s original appropriation of the history of Greek philosophy as a way of situating his transcendental phenomenology within the Western (“European”) intellectual tradition. Husserl adopted a consistent view of Greek philosophy throughout his life but deepened his engagement in later years. Initially little interested in the history of philosophy as such, he came to see the “breakthrough” into the theoretical attitude as decisive for the development of Western culture. The Skeptics’ epoché is revitalized by Husserl as a permanent way of challenging the dogmatic naivete of life in the natural attitude, motivating the transformation to theoria.