Roman Ingarden's Ontology and Aesthetics

CHAPTER THREE: CONTROVERSY OVER THE EXISTENCE OF THE WORLD

CHAPTER THREE CONTROVERSY OVER THE EXISTENCE OF THE WORLD A. INTRODUCTION: THE GENESIS, TASK, AND STRUCTURE OF CONTROVERSY While Danuta Gierulanka correctly remarks that Ingarden's Controversy "came about in a spirit of opposition to Husserl's idealism ," and that Ingarden began the preparatory work for Controversy in 1925,1 he had, in a sense, begun this work as early as July 1918,when he wrote the 'idealism letter' to Husserl (discussed in Chapter 2). Indeed, he writes in that letter that "the problem of Idealism," which Controversy is devoted to treating, had "tormented [him] already several years."2 Ingarden's relationship to Husserl, like his entire philosophical career, seems to have revolved around that problem:3 Aside from myremarks toMeditations Cartesiennes . .. [the 1918 Letter] is finally the proof of the fact that I never hid my critical stance towards idealism from Husserl, but I have frankly discussed the topic with him. And that took place both in many of my letters from the years 1918 to 1938, as well as in oral discussions , carried on during myvisits with Husserl inFreiburg in the years 1927, 1928, 1934, 1936. After all, it was for Husserl that I began to write the Controversy about the Existence of the World, and it was to him that I dedicated in the second jubilee book of 1929, the first systematic outline of the problematics concerning the issue of idealism, which later was actualized albeit partly in the Controversy.4 79 Roman Ingarden's Ontology and Aesthetics As explained in Chapter 2, the idealism/realism controversy was a central philosophical topic in the early decades of this century . With the subsequent reshaping of phenomenology along existentialist lines, primarily as a result of the work of Heidegger and Sartre, and with the increasing popularity of the 'analytic' concern with problems of logic, epistemology, and language, the interest in the ontological dimension of the idealism/realism controversy had greatly subsided before Ingarden finally published the first volumes of Controversy.5 Throughout his life, however, Ingarden remained committed to working out the ontological problems he had addressed so early in his career, sincerelybelieving that the idealism/realism debate concerning the existence of the world was of primary philosophical importance. The detailed analyses he presents in Controversy support his belief, and they do so in two respects. First, while his innumerable treatments of major historical figures, from Plato to Husserl, are generally offered for the purpose of either dispelling already existing confusion or clarifying his own use of terms—for example, he devotes the first section of the opening chapter of volume I simply to a detailed description of the manner and sense in which the term "idealism" has been variously employed over the centuries—these treatments at the same time indicate the central position the idealism/realism controversy has occupied throughout the history of Western philosophy, and thereby argue for the necessity of understanding this controversy and appreciating its centrality. But secondly, and more importantly, the excruciating rigour and thoroughness that he brings to his analyses render them compelling : the reader is indeed forced to grant Ingarden his claim that the problems he is dealing with do indeed warrant further investigation , and that our philosophical integrity demands of us that we pursue them further.6 While Ingarden shaped the statement of his realist position as an explicit rejoinder to Husserl, Husserl's idealist position alone was not Ingarden's ultimate target. He was concerned, rather, with the idealism/realism problem-complex as a whole. He chose Husserl's statement of the idealist position as his starting point because it was the most profound position on this controversy offered by any contemporary philosopher.7 I shall be discussing this matter in more detail, but I should at the outset briefly state Ingarden's conception of both Husserl's formulation of the problem and the crux of his thought. This will serve further to clarify both Ingarden's central task in Controversy and his reasons for structuring the work as he did. 80 Controversy Over the Existence of the World According to Ingarden, Husserl's formulation of the problem was determined by the demand that phenomenological analysis restrict itself exclusively to that which is immanent to consciousness . In Chapter 2 my discussion of this methodological restriction focussed on its corollary denial of the autonomous, 'in-itself, existence of the real world and its objects. I shall now expand on...