HUSSERL, Edmund.

£3,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Philosophie der Arithmetik. First edition of Husserl's first book, the initial volume of his Philosophie der Arithmetik. Husserl (1859-1938) began his career as a mathematician, and it was in search of complete clarity respecting fundamental mathematical concepts that, with the encouragement of Franz Brentano, to whom this work is dedicated, he turned to the philosophy of mathematics. In the present work, Husserl "attempted a psychological analysis of certain basic logical and mathematical notions. The concept of number, for instance, was to be elucidated by talking about the activity of counting. In his review of this book, the mathematician Gottlob Frege argued that logical and mathematical concepts differ from the psychological acts in which they may occur and that, therefore, the discussion of the latter does not serve to explicate the former. He accused Husserl of confusing psychology and logic" (The Encylopedia of Philosophy IV, 97). Husserl never published a second volume.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.