Edmund Husserl (1859-1938), originator of the phenomenological movement. Pupil of [Franz Brentano]
?. Influenced [Martin Heidegger]
?,
Jean-Paul Sartre, and
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, among others. Husserl stated that the main characteristic of
consciousness is that it is always
intentional, i.e. directed at some kind of content ("Inhalt"): consciousness is always "consciousness
of something."
Further, he asserted that studying the flow of consciousness as directed (the act of
noesis) at the perceived phenomena (the
noemata) yields knowledge of essential structures in reality.
In the last period of his life, Husserl shifted to a more explicitly idealist? position, which is best expressed in his "Cartesian Meditations" (1931). His main work, however, remains "Logische Untersuchungen" (first edition 1900-1901).