ABSTRACT
I have treated Phenomenology as a theory of knowledge, as a theory which (1) emphasizes a distinction between perception and reflection, (2) holds that perceptual objects can be known only through aspects, and (3) exalts consciousness. But others often see it, not as a new view about old problems, but as a method of inquiry. Some philosophers seem to be drawn to Phenomenology with the expectation of learning how to solve philosophical problems, any problems. Treated with the phenomenological method, they believe, philosophical problems simply have to dissolve. Husserl is to be blamed in part for this unrealistic expectation. For he often talks, in his later writings, as if he had discovered a new science, the science of phenomenology, with its own method and characteristic subject matter.
