Contemporary Problems of Epistemology in the Light of Phenomenology

This book comprises a collection of 12 research articlespertaining to the infl uence of phenomenological analysison current issues of epistemology, this one meantas a philosophy of science. Ten of these articles havealready appeared in various research journals of thefi eld at large and have been to a considerable extentre-edited, updated and in certain respects reworked. Theremaining two are published originally for this book and naturallycomplement and invigorate the argumentation and the scope ofthe published articles. Overall, the content of the book can bedescribed as an original attempt to demonstrate the relevanceof Husserlian phenomenology with regard to theoreticalquestions arising from the contemporary evolution of suchdiverse scientifi c fi elds as the foundations of mathematics andthe interpretation of quantum mechanics.'Stathis Livadas has pushed the investigation of the foundationsof mathematics and of present day physical theories out of astrictly analytic point of view, by considering a phenomenologicalapproach on these matters. According to him mathematicsand science present various ambiguous notions which cannotbe, in principle, resolved by analytical means only. Therefore, amore general approach is pursued. This book contains severalof his already published articles, and now they are put togetherfor a more general audience in the form of a book. I think thatthis line of investigation, facing current epistemological issuesunder a phenomenological point of view, is fruitful and relevant,and ought to be considered by a wide range of philosophers.'Décio Krause. Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil.'Stathis Livadas’ book embodies a masterly analysis of someimportant questions in the philosophy of mathematics andin Husserl’s phenomenology. According to Livadas, non-Cantorian theories and intuitionistic ones are 'trapped' in theimpredicativity of the continuum when they shift the boundariesbeyond naturally intuited countability in our witnesseduniverse. In this perspective, from a theoretical point of view,mathematical intuition is not eliminable. Hence the challengeto point out to the intuition of continuum in accordancewith a phenomenological point of view, i.e., making essentialreference to the existence of a categorial intuition based onthe intentionality of primary experience which is geneticallyconstituted in the unity of the fl ux of consciousness.'Arturo Carsetti. University of Rome 'Tor Vergata'