Tags
Brentano, correspondence, Harvard, history of philosophy, Houghton Library, Husserl, manuscripts, publication
Earlier this year I discovered an unknown letter from Husserl to Brentano from 29 December 1889 at the Houghton Library in Harvard among Brentano’s correspondence (Franz Clemens Brentano Correspondence, 1867-1917 (MS Ger 202). Houghton Library, Harvard University, number 2074, pp. 1-6). The letter has now been published on-line in Husserl-Studies, together with an english translation and a short introduction.
The letter is of some significance, historically and systematically, for the development of Husserl’s philosophy, painting a vivid picture of his relation and indebtedness to his former teacher. Husserl begins by profusely thanking Brentano and apologizing for not having replied sooner. He then goes on to discuss his work on the philosophy of mathematics that he had already begun while studying with Brentano in Vienna, inspired by his lectures. As in his letter to Stumpf of February 1890, Husserl describes the issues he had encountered during the elaboration of his 1887 habilitation work “On the Concept of Number” into what would become the “Philosophy of Arithmetic”:
“I had great difficulties with the full understanding of the logical character of the system of signs of the arithmetica universalis, with its negative and imaginary, rational and irrational numbers. The matter is not so simple that everything could be completely settled with the concept of amount [Anzahl] and the theory of improper presenting.”
However, Husserl also announces that now he has finally found ‘‘clarity’’ regarding the arithmetica universalis and claims that he expects this newfound understanding to help him in resolving the issues he encountered with the foundations of geometry and the theory of the continuum.
I’d like to thank Robin Rollinger and Thomas Vongehr for their assistance with the translation and edition of the letter and the editors Steven Crowell and Sonja Rinofner-Kreidl for their efficient and helpful handling of the publication process.
Carlo Ierna's Blog 
I don’t get the point of closing the view of the letter to anyone that cannot pay 45 dollars. I know this is Husserl Studies’s policy and that it is also just a sample of the editorial policies and the academia linked to it. I have the same opinion regarding Husserliana and everything Springer does, which is just again another sample of worldwide editorial and academic policies. Knowledge must be open – free.
Best, Jethro
I understand and mostly agree. Actually all of Husserl’s writings are in the public domain, what is restricted is the physical access to the original manuscripts. As far as I know, anyone (even if not affiliated with Harvard), should be able to consult the original paper document, for free at the Houghton library (but you’d have to go there). To view the digital scan, you’d need a Harvard ID or go to Graz (where they also have all the digital facsimiles of Brentano’s Nachlass). However, to access the edited and translated version published with Springer, your library needs to pay a subscription or you need to pay for the individual article. Why? Well, Springer takes care of the digital and physical distribution of the journal and makes sure that the contents have been checkd by the editors and reviewers. I could have just put it online on my blog without all that, but would scholars have found it there, have trusted that version, and quoted my blog to refer to the letter? Now, instead of needing to travel abroad to consult a paper document (in a nearly unreadable handwriting), you can simply download it anywhere and have a searchable PDF (no watermarks, no restrictions on copy/paste AFAIK). So I think it is not wrong that Springer charges something for the role they play, but I agree that 45 dollars seems excessive. I’ll look into my open-access options and see if I can post a version of the text online here. Stay tuned!