KMT 2017 nr 4 Download PDF

Anna Karoń-Ostrowska

Edmund Husserl and dith Stein: The Metaphysical Horizon

Cite: Anna Karoń-Ostrowska, Edyta Stein i Edmund Husserl w horyzoncie metafizyki, "Kultura - Media - Teologia", 2017( 31) nr 4, s. 199-215.

DOI: 10.21697/kmt.31.11

The study concerns the core of the relation between Edith Stein and her teacher/master, Edmund Husserl. E. Stein has devoted herself to studying phenomenology in Gettinge under Husserl’s wing, advancing very quickly in her academic career. She became one of the most talented students of her beloved teacher. In 1915 after defending her doctorate entitled ‘Zum Problem der Einfuhlung’ she becomes Husserl’s assistant. In the attempt to gather his scattered notes, she struggles to prepare the second volume of his ‘Ideas’. Instead of treating her like an academic partner, Husserl uses her as his private secretary. Stein resigns from collaborating with her teacher, continuing her independent work on phenomenological concepts she herself pursues. Husserl in no way supports her efforts in getting her PhD. Edith Stein experiences her conversion in 1921 after which she re-evaluates her philosophical choices. She attempts to connect modern philosophy with Aquinas’ scholastics, turning her interests to metaphysics and discovering God as the Truth. At that point of her development, her former teacher becomes her spiritual ward. In 1942 she dies in the Auschwitz gas chamber.

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Anna Karoń-Ostrowska

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