Husserl’s Axiology: A New Perspective on his Theory of Feelings

Thomas Byrne (KU Leuven )

The paper has two goals. First, I propose a novel interpretation of Edmund Husserl’s theory of feelings and emotions. I draw from Husserl’s published works and his unpublished manuscripts to rethink how he distinguished feelings from emotions. In contrast to currently accepted interpretations, I show that Husserl concluded that feelings are structurally analogous to perceptions and that emotions are akin to existential beliefs. Second, I employ and work beyond Husserl’s observations to critically engage with the contemporary continental literature on feelings and emotions. I demonstrate why Husserl’s division between those two experiences is preferable to current theories, because it can be used to more accurately account for the motivation of emotions and the ontological status of values. 

Thomas Byrne (PhD, KU Leuven) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Macau. His current research interests include the phenomenology of knowledge and the philosophy of feelings and emotions. He has recently published in Husserl Studies, the Journal of the British Society for Phenomenology, and Studia Phaenomenologica. In 2019, he has given invited talks at the University of Cardiff, the University of Budapest, and METU University in Ankara, among others.

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