Understanding of Intersubjectivity and Life in Theodors Celms Philosophical Works :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Understanding of Intersubjectivity and Life in Theodors Celm's Philosophical Works ABSTRACT: Theodors Celms (1893-1989), a prominent Latvian philosopher, was one of Husserl's best students. Intersubjectivity was an important theme in the "psychological" reading of phenomenology when Celm turned to the problem of the transcendental "I" and to a living-rather than logically defined-subject. Celms concluded that Husserl's phenomenology could not address the question of intersubjectivity because in the course of its development it merely substituted pluralistic solipsism for monistic solipsism. What is most essential in phenomenology-the process of sense (or meaning) formation-remains hardly noticed in Celms' work. Contemporary phenomenology has developed as a philosophy of new thinking-a phenomenology of life that can be applied in different ways toward solving various problems of intersubjectivity. Professor Theodors Celms (1893-1989) was the most prominent Latvian philosopher. He has published significant philosophical works in Latvian and German. His philosophical heritage is: "Der phà ¢nomenologische Idealismus Husserls", Riga, 1928; "Vom Wesen der Philosophie", Regensburg, 1930; "Lebensumgebung und Lebensprojektion", Leipzig, 1933; "Subjekt und Subjektivierung. Studien à ¼ber das subjektive Sein", Riga, 1943. All these works are republished now in Germany, under the title "Der phà ¤nomenologische Idealismus Husserls and andere Schriften", Verlag Peter Lang, 1993. In 1922-1925 Celms went to Germany and took up courses in philosophy conducted by Rickert and Husserl. Husserl recognized him as one of the best pupils in phenomenology. At the University of Freiburg he obtained the doctoral degree in philosophy. Later he became a research assistant in the "Deutsche Literaturzeitung fà ¼r Kritik der internationalen Wissenschaft". His main philosophical book on Husserl was translated in Spain, Madrid, 1931. This work has not lost significance up to this day. "Garland" in New Your in 1979 recognized it as important but no longer available book. Celms became famous as one of the deepest critics of Husserl's transcendental phenomenology, who tried to find a way out of the phenomenological discrepancies. In the thirties Celms wrote reviews in German on M. Heidegger's and M.Scheler's philosophies and published volumes in Latvian: "Tagadnes problà ¨mas" (The Problems of Today), Riga, 1934, and "Patiesà ¬ba un à ¸Ãƒ ¦itums" (Truth and Appearance), Riga, 1939 as well as separate articles in papers, magazines and encyclopaedias. The themes of Man, subject, life, consciousness, culture, society occupy a most prominent place in T.Celms philosophical articles and lectures in the University of Latvia. At the end of the Second World War Celms emigrated to Germany, then moved to the USA (1949).