Phenomenology: Husserl

(Graduate students register for 234.) Neuroscience, psychology, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and other related fields face fundamental obstacles when they turn to the study of the mind. Can there be a rigorous science of us? German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), founder of phenomenology, devised a method intended to disclose the basic structures of minds. In this class, we will read one of Husserl's major later works, Cartesian Meditations, as well as companion essays from both his time and ours. A guiding question for us will be how phenomenology is applied outside of philosophy, specifically, how has it influenced discussions of the mind in the sciences? Prerequisite: one prior course in philosophy, or permission of instructor.