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WELTON, Donn, ed. The Essential Husserl: Basic Writings in Transcendental Phenomenology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. xvii + 386 pp. Paper, $35.00-Donn Welton's collection of selections from Husserl's published and manuscript work is a fine balance of extensiveness and purpose and is a welcome and needed addition to the contemporary philosophical scene. This collection is an excellent introduction to Husserl and the extensiveness of the selections makes it equally valuable to more experienced readers. The selections are divided into two parts. Part One, "Contours of a Transcendental Phenomenology," traces the movement of Husserl's thought from his early work on mathematics and logic through his conceptualization of phenomenology as the foundational science. Part Two, "Transcendental Phenomenology and the Problem of the Life-World," proceeds from Husserl's problematization of his own concept of transcendental subjectivity, a criticism largely informed by the problem of time and temporality, through Husserl's attempts to provide a genetic account of his new science.
Part One is concerned with Husserl's construction of a structural, synchronic phenomenology which is marked by a concern for producing a sure ground for knowledge. The first selection deals with the critical distinction that Husserl makes between the project of phenomenology and any sort of psychologism or historicism. This is followed by a substantial selection from the Logical Investigations in which, beginning from an investigation of the expressive function of...