The Battlefield of Reason and Feeling. Husserl on the History of Philosophy in Search of a Phenomenological Ethics

Husserl's search for a phenomenological ethics, initially conceived of as a practical science analogous to an a priori theoretical science, was shaped by several historical sources. The article shows which sources influenced Husserl in what way. A first part discusses Brentano's and Jodl's influence on how Husserl approaches ethics. Part two to five follow Husserl's interpretations and critique of the history of ethics from Socrates to Fichte. A final part discusses the history of ethics viewed from the standpoint of Husserl's late ethics. The article culminates in the question as to whether Husserl's conception of ethics stood in a certain tension to what he actually discovered in his phenomenological analyses of ethical phenomena.