Edith Stein's Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities

Valentina Gaudiano is Associate Professor of Philosophical Anthropology at Sophia University Institute by Florence.

• About the ContributorsIntroduction, Valentina GaudianoSection I: Contextual Essays1. Context, Structure and Method, Valentina Gaudiano2. Person and Act Intention: A Contextual Analysis, Anna Jani3. Influence, James McGuirkSection II: Synopsis of Edith Stein’s Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities4. Synopsis, Mette Lebecha. Prefaceb. First Treatise: Sentient Causalityc. Second Treatise: Individual and CommunityQuestions and Answersa. Concerning the Methodologyb. Concerning the ContentFurther ReadingIndex

Edith Stein’s Philosophy of Psychology and the Humanities is one of her best books. In it, we discover the role played by the philosophical-phenomenological analysis in two directions: the description of the human being and the relationship between phenomenology, psychology, and the human sciences. All this emerges in the book edited by Valentina Gaudiano, as she pinpoints in her introduction. We find in Section I the important contributions of Anna Jani and James McGuirk describing the context in which Edith Stein wrote her book. For its comprehension, essential is Mette Lebech’s description of the content in Section II and her suggestion of the philosophical questions which arise by reading it. The message underlined in this companion is that philosophical-phenomenological anthropology is necessary for the foundation of psychology and of the human sciences. We notice that it is the innovative position of the “classical” phenomenology, as it is proposed by Edmund Husserl and Edith Stein, and it is the pivotal point which we find in the book, very convincing from a theoretical point of view.