The Phenomenology of Essences

This volume explores the phenomenological notion of essence and related concepts. It discusses the role of essences in epistemology, philosophy of language, sociology, philosophical anthropology, transcendental phenomenology, phenomenological realism and idealism, imagination, metaphysics, and mathematics. Due to widespread nominalist tendencies in philosophical approaches to language, anthropology and sociology, contemporary philosophy has developed a growing aversion against the thinking of essences. Phenomenology, on the other hand, stresses the importance of essences from a methodological and thematic perspective. This volume identifies the centrality of essences in Husserls transcendental phenomenology and traces their influence from the early phenomenological movement to contemporary debates. It also reflects on the problematic relationship of essences to philosophical anthropology, philosophy of culture, and metaphysics. The Phenomenology of Essences will appeal to researchers and advanced students working in phenomenology and history of philosophy.