Studies in Phenomenology



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FROM HAPPINESS TO BLESSEDNESS: HUSSERL ON EUDAIMONIA, VIRTUE, AND THE BEST LIFE

Title in the language of publication: FROM HAPPINESS TO BLESSEDNESS: HUSSERL ON EUDAIMONIA, VIRTUE, AND THE BEST LIFE
Author: MARCO CAVALLARO, GEORGE HEFFERNAN
Issue: HORIZON. Studies in Phenomenology.
Vol. 8, №2 (2019), 353-388
Language: English
Document type: Research Article
DOI : 10.21638/2226-5260-2019-8-2-353-388 PDF (Downloads: 6077)

Abstract
This paper treats of Husserl’s phenomenology of happiness or eudaimonia in five parts. In the first part, we argue that phenomenology of happiness is an important albeit relatively neglected area of research, and we show that Husserl engages in it. In the second part, we examine the relationship between phenomenological ethics and virtue ethics. In the third part, we identify and clarify essential aspects of Husserl’s phenomenology of happiness, namely, the nature of the question concerning happiness and the possibility of a phenomenological answer, the power of the will, the role of vocation, the place of obligation, the significance of habituation, the necessity of self-reflection and self-criticism, the importance of sociability and solidarity, the impact of chance and destiny, and the specter of regret. In the fourth part, we establish the inextricable linkage between Husserl’s metaethics and his metaphysics. In the fifth part, we provide a provisional exploration of his conception of the connection between happiness and blessedness. We acknowledge that there is an extensive literature on Husserl’s phenomenological ethics, and our study has benefitted greatly from it, but we also suggest that our holistic approach critically clarifies his description of happiness, virtue, and blessedness by fully recognizing that his phenomenological metaethics is embedded in his phenomenological metaphysics.

Key words
Husserl, phenomenology, limit problems, eudaimonia, happiness, blessedness, virtue.

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  • ADDENDA: UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS OF HUSSERL

  • A V 5: Anthropologie, Psychologie mit Beilagen zu den Amsterdamer Vorlesungen. Menschliche Umwelt (“Lebenswelt”)—Welt der Personen. Erfahrung und Praxis. Praktische Tradition, das “Gewohnheitsmäßige”—Aufbau der Normalitäten (1927–1933).
  • F I 24: Formale Ethik und Probleme der ethischen Vernunft (1909–1923).
  • F I 28: Freiburger Vorlesungen zur Einleitung in die Ethik (1920–1924).
  • F I 40: Wintersemester 1919/20. Vorlesungen über Einleitung in die Philosophie, systematisch [Der erste Stuck stammt aus den Vorlesungen über Einleitung 1916 u. 1918] (1916–1920).