Books by Marco Cavallaro
Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy, 2025
This volume explores the broad and rich spectrum of contemporary phenomenological engagement with... more This volume explores the broad and rich spectrum of contemporary phenomenological engagement with digital technologies. By focusing on plural forms of the digital, it offers arobust and flexible framework for contemporary phenomenological investigations in the digital age.
It contends that the impact of digital technologies on the lifeworld involves both the emergence of novel fields of lived experience in need of phenomenological analysis and the transformation of the method and attitude of phenomenologically oriented philosophers towards the world. The chapters cover topics including immersion in virtual environments, the impact of digital cognitive devices on our perception of time, the invisibility of digital technologies in the lifeworld, the new extension of reality rendered possible by the employment of digital devices, how new technologies affect our intimacy and sexual body, the new methodological paradigm for phenomenological research prompted by digital technologies, the additive upshot of virtual imaginary, the intersection of the real and the virtual in augmented reality experiences, the structures of perception in the regime of digitally generated environments, how it feels like to empathize with others in a regime of virtual reality, process of en-rolling in the constitution of a virtual subject, the transformation of virtual reality into conspiratorial reality by means of on-line media platforms, and the problem of the extent to which technological environments impact human cognitive and perceptual experience.
Phenomenologies of the Digital Age will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in phenomenology, philosophy of technology, science & technology studies, and media studies.
It contends that the impact of digital technologies on the lifeworld involves both the emergence of novel fields of lived experience in need of phenomenological analysis and the transformation of the method and attitude of phenomenologically oriented philosophers towards the world. The chapters cover topics including immersion in virtual environments, the impact of digital cognitive devices on our perception of time, the invisibility of digital technologies in the lifeworld, the new extension of reality rendered possible by the employment of digital devices, how new technologies affect our intimacy and sexual body, the new methodological paradigm for phenomenological research prompted by digital technologies, the additive upshot of virtual imaginary, the intersection of the real and the virtual in augmented reality experiences, the structures of perception in the regime of digitally generated environments, how it feels like to empathize with others in a regime of virtual reality, process of en-rolling in the constitution of a virtual subject, the transformation of virtual reality into conspiratorial reality by means of on-line media platforms, and the problem of the extent to which technological environments impact human cognitive and perceptual experience.
Phenomenologies of the Digital Age will be of interest to scholars and advanced students working in phenomenology, philosophy of technology, science & technology studies, and media studies.
Schriften zur Phänomenologie und Anthropologie , 2022
The first volume of Das Erkenntnisproblem in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft der neueren Zeit co... more The first volume of Das Erkenntnisproblem in der Philosophie und Wissenschaft der neueren Zeit contains a reference to Galileo Galilei's philosophy (see Cassirer 1922, 377-417). Husserl had Cassirer's book in his library (signature BA 247/1); however, he did not add any annotations to the Galileo presentation (see Smid 1993, xlxix). Likely, he could have also used Paul Natorp's (1882) article Galilei als Philosoph as a source of inspiration. 1995 with the beginning of the publication of the critical edition of Cassirer's works by Oswald Schwemmer, Klaus Christian Köhnke, and John Michael Krois. From the same period originate the pioneering studies of Ernst Wolfgang Orth, Oswald Schwemmer, and Christian Bermes (among others), who all take into account various elements of contact and contrast between Husserl's and Cassirer's philosophies. Since the 2000s, this line of research has been developed further thanks to publications such as Besoli and colleagues 2002, Capeillères 2002, Makkreel and Luft 2009, Plümacher 2004, and Choi 2007, to name just a few. the cultural prestige of intersubjective reason against calls for its replacement by mythical forms of understanding. Dieter Lohmar provides an in-depth analysis of Husserl's project of a foundation of the humanities. His reflections are based on the newly edited manuscripts * Almost all contributions of this volume were presented at the conference "Husserl and Cassirer: Perspectives on the Philosophy of Culture" held in Cologne on October 10-11, 2019. We are particularly grateful for the support in organizing this conference granted by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the a.r.t.e.s. Graduate School for the Humanities Cologne, and the Husserl Archives at the University of Cologne. The publication of this volume has been rendered possible by a financial aid of SFB 806 Our Way to Europe.
Contributions to Phenomenology, 2022
This book examines Husserl’s approach to the question concerning meaning in life and demonstrates... more This book examines Husserl’s approach to the question concerning meaning in life and demonstrates that his philosophy includes a phenomenology of existence. Given his critique of the fashionable “philosophy of existence” of the late 1920s and early 1930s, one might think that Husserl posited an opposition between transcendental phenomenology and existential philosophy, as well as that in this respect he differed from existential phenomenologists after him. But texts composed between 1908 and 1937 and recently published in Husserliana XLII, Grenzprobleme der Phänomenologie (2014), show that the existential Husserl was not opposed but open to the phenomenological investigation of several basic topics of a philosophy of existence. A collection of contributions from a team of internationally recognized scholars drawing on these and other sources, the present volume offers insights into the relationship between phenomenology and philosophy of existence. It does so by (1) delineating the basic outlines of Husserl’s phenomenology of existence, (2) reinterpreting the tension between Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology and Jaspers’s and Heidegger’s philosophy of existence as well as Kierkegaard’s and Sartre’s existentialism, and (3) investigating the existential aspects of Husserl’s phenomenological ethics. Thus focusing on neglected aspects of Husserl’s thought, the volume shows that there is a consensus between classical phenomenology and existential phenomenology on the urgency of addressing the existential questions that in The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology (1936) Husserl calls “the questions concerning the meaning or meaninglessness of this entire human existence”. The Existential Husserl represents a major contribution to the clarification of the historical and philosophical developments from transcendental phenomenology to existential phenomenology. The book should appeal to a wide audience of many readers at all levels looking for phenomenological answers to existential questions.
Schriften zur Phänomenologie und Anthropologie 1, 2022
This book confronts a topic largely neglected in research on phantasy: the relationship between f... more This book confronts a topic largely neglected in research on phantasy: the relationship between fictional events and the emotions of the subject having a phantasy experience. What is the nature of an emotional response to fiction? Are emotions indifferent to the existence of what causes them? How do fictional emotions relate to their real counterparts? The volume gathers ten innovative essays tackling these questions from a phenomenological perspective.
Papers by Marco Cavallaro
Das Ich als Erlebniskomplexion: Husserls Bündeltheorie in den ,Logischen Untersuchungen‘ im Vergleich mit Hume
Erfahrungslogiken: Festschrift für Dieter Lohmar, 2025
This paper examines the concept of the seif in the first edition of Edmund Husserl's
Logical lnve... more This paper examines the concept of the seif in the first edition of Edmund Husserl's
Logical lnvestigations, arguing that his early theory shows surprising affinities with David
Hume's bundle theory. Both philosophers reject the idea of a substantial ego and develop an
account of the seif as a bundle of experiences constituted through inner relations and laws
of association. Methodologically, the comparison reveals a shared commitment to grounding philosophical concepts in experience, whether through Hume's principle of impressions or Husserl's reduction to the »real content« of consciousness. The paper demonstrates that Husserl's early phenomenology exhibits empiricist tendencies that align him more closely with Hume than is generally recognised. lt also shows how Husserl's notion of the seif as an Erlebniskomplexion provides a phenomenological counterpart to Hume's non-substantialist conception of personal identity.
Logical lnvestigations, arguing that his early theory shows surprising affinities with David
Hume's bundle theory. Both philosophers reject the idea of a substantial ego and develop an
account of the seif as a bundle of experiences constituted through inner relations and laws
of association. Methodologically, the comparison reveals a shared commitment to grounding philosophical concepts in experience, whether through Hume's principle of impressions or Husserl's reduction to the »real content« of consciousness. The paper demonstrates that Husserl's early phenomenology exhibits empiricist tendencies that align him more closely with Hume than is generally recognised. lt also shows how Husserl's notion of the seif as an Erlebniskomplexion provides a phenomenological counterpart to Hume's non-substantialist conception of personal identity.
Seeing Beyond the Image: Husserlian Reflections on the Empathetic Experience of Photographs
Husserl on Depiction, 2025
Husserl's phenomenology of image-consciousness has been subject to criticism for its exclusive fo... more Husserl's phenomenology of image-consciousness has been subject to criticism for its exclusive focus on the experience of the visible side of the image, thereby overlooking the external, unseen aspects that are also part of its reality. This chapter demonstrates that it is possible to account for the invisible side of the image by employing the tools provided by Husserl's analyses of the perception of artifacts. The discussion concentrates on one particular kind of image, namely photographs. First, the prevailing view will be presented according to which photography is a medium that does not rely on the activity of a human subject and, accordingly, does not deserve to be considered an artifact in the strict sense of the term, as a human-made object. Second, it will be argued for Husserl's general account of images as artifacts. Third, Husserl's description of our empathetic experience of artifacts will be presented. Fourth, the argument will be set forth for which photographs can be considered empathetic artifacts from a Husserlian standpoint. Finally, fifth, an application of Husserl's theory of the experience of artifacts on a particular photograph will be proposed to illustrate the value of the considerations made in this chapter.
The Vanishing Point: Digital Technologies and the Quest for a Phenomenology of Technological Invisibility
Phenomenologies of the Digital Age: the Virtual, the Fictional, the Magical, 2025
This chapter highlights the many dimensions of invisibility assumed by digital technology. In wha... more This chapter highlights the many dimensions of invisibility assumed by digital technology. In what sense can technology in general, and digital technology in particular, be said to be invisible to us? Before addressing this question, the first section engages in a methodological discussion of the purpose and goals of a phenomenology of (digital) technology in general. I argue for considering the technological phenomenon as the proper subject of a phenomenological approach to technology, and problematize the very notion of the digital, distinguishing it from the virtual. The second section offers a typology of technological invisibility that distinguishes between perceptual, use, purpose, and environmental invisibility. The third and final section concludes the chapter by applying these distinctions to the case of the digital, sketching a phenomenological analysis of the ways in which digital technology hides itself in our contemporary world.
Habits in Exile: A Genetic Phenomenology of Exile Displacement
Phenomenology of Broken Habits: Philosophical and Psychological Perspectives on Habitual Action, 2024
The chapter aims to examine the role that habits play in exile, understood as the experience of b... more The chapter aims to examine the role that habits play in exile, understood as the experience of being in one place while belonging to another. Most authors agree on the view that exile results in a loss of the habits of home, and that precisely this lack is what makes exile an unbearable experience. The chapter provides a series of observations and arguments against this view. In the first section, four types of habit change are identified as possible outcomes of lived displacement. The second section elaborates on the peculiarity of exile displacement and differentiates it from placelessness. The third section addresses the intertwining between habits and place from a phenomenological standpoint. It argues for a distinction between two senses of inhabiting and introduces the notion of “genetic density” to characterize the constitutional privilege of the homeplace over all other places. The fourth section employs the notion of habitual body memory to describe the way in which home is still ‘present’ in the exile experience.
The Existential Husserl , 2022
This chapter investigates the concept of heroic willing in Husserl's late ethical thought. The rs... more This chapter investigates the concept of heroic willing in Husserl's late ethical thought. The rst section outlines the basics of the phenomenology of willing that Husserl works out in the lectures and research manuscripts that he wrote during his years in Göttingen (1901-1916). The second section considers the problem of the irrationality of life and world, which becomes a central issue in Husserl's re ections on ethics from the Freiburg period (1916-1938). And the third part sketches how Husserl responds to this problem with the concept of heroic willing. The chapter ultimately argues that heroism is Husserl's own solution to the problem of practical irrationality.
Perspektivität und Horizontalität: Situation, Feld, Welt
Handbuch Phänomenologie, 2023
Rezeptionen der Phänomenologie
Handbuch Phänomenologie, 2023
Hanne Jacobs (ed.), The Husserlian Mind. London: Routledge, 2021
The idea of theory of science (Wissenschaftslehre) forms the backbone of Edmund Husserl's philoso... more The idea of theory of science (Wissenschaftslehre) forms the backbone of Edmund Husserl's philosophical agenda. This paper provides a cartography of Husserl's theory of science, delineating its scope, tasks, and disciplines with their respective fields. The first section discusses Husserl's system of a theory of science. The second reconstructs the architectonic of Husserl's formal logic, intended both as formal apophantics and formal ontology. The third considers the evolution of the scope of Husserl's theory of science as including a plurality of material logics. The fourth discusses Husserl's notion of noetics as subjective logic. The fifth and last section specifies the function of phenomenology in Husserl's program of Wissenschaftslehre.
Iulian Apostolescu (ed.), "The Subject(s) of Phenomenology. Rereading Husserl", 2020
In this paper, I contend that there are at least two essential traits that commonly define being ... more In this paper, I contend that there are at least two essential traits that commonly define being an I: self-identity and self-consciousness. I argue that they bear quite an odd relation to each other in the sense that self-consciousness seems to jeopardize self-identity. My main concern is to elucidate this issue within the range of the transcendental philosophies of Immanuel Kant and Edmund Husserl. In the first section, I shall briefly consider Kant’s own rendition of the problem of the Egosplitting. My reading of the Kantian texts reveals that Kant himself was aware of this phenomenon but eventually deems it an unexplainable fact. The second part of the paper tackles the same problematic from the standpoint of Husserlian phenomenology. What Husserl’s extensive analyses on this topic bring to light is that the phenomenon of the Ego-splitting constitutes the bedrock not only of his thought but also of every philosophy that works within the framework of transcendental thinking.
Fausto Fraisopi (ed.), Mathesis, Grund, Vernunft Die philosophische Identität Europas zwischen Deutschem Idealismus und Phänomenologie, 2019
Horizon. Studies in Phenomenology, 2019
This paper treats of Husserl's phenomenology of happiness or eudaimonia in five parts. In the fi ... more This paper treats of Husserl's phenomenology of happiness or eudaimonia in five parts. In the fi rst part, we argue that phenomenology of happiness is an important albeit relatively neglected area of research, and we show that Husserl engages in it. In the second part, we examine the relationship between phenomenological ethics and virtue ethics. In the third part, we identify and clarify essential aspects of Husserl's phenomenology of happiness, namely, the nature of the question concerning happiness and the possibility of a phenomenological answer, the power of the will, the role of vocation, the place of obligation, the signifi cance of habituation, the necessity of self-refl ection and self-criticism, the importance of sociability and solidarity, the impact of chance and destiny, and the specter of regret. In the fourth part, we establish the inextricable linkage between Husserl's metaethics and his metaphysics. In the fi ft h part, we provide a provisional exploration of his conception of the connection between happiness and blessedness. We acknowledge that there is an extensive literature on Husserl's phenomenological ethics, and our study has benefi tted greatly from it, but we also suggest that our holistic approach critically clarifi es his description of happiness, virtue, and blessedness by fully recognizing that his phenomenological metaethics is embedded in his phenomenological metaphysics.
Phainomenon. Journal of Phenomenological Philosophy, 2019
What are fictional emotions and what has phenomenology to say about them? This paper argues that ... more What are fictional emotions and what has phenomenology to say about them? This paper argues that the experience of fictional emotions entails a splitting of the subject between a real and a phantasy ego. The real ego is the ego that imagines something; the phantasy ego is the ego that is necessarily co-posited by any experience of imagining something. Fictional emotions are phantasy emotions of the phantasy ego. The intentional structure of fictional emotions, the nature of their fictional object, as well as the process of constituting the phantasy ego in representificational acts of consciousness are further elaborated to provide the groundwork for a phenomenological analysis of fictional emotions.
Phänomenologische Forschungen, 2018
In Husserlian scholarship it is common to characterize Husserl’s early analyses in the Philosophy... more In Husserlian scholarship it is common to characterize Husserl’s early analyses in the Philosophy of Arithmetic as an epistemology without a subject. The article questions this reading. First, I introduce the method used by Husserl in his analyses of the concept of number in the Philosophy of Arithmetic. Second, I outline Husserl’s critique of Kant’s conception of synthesis and contrast it with its phenomenological alternative, namely relation theory. Finally, I focus on the product of synthesis, that is, the number, and argue that even if Husserl’s early analyses of the concept of number contains a reference to the subject of synthesis, his theory cannot be regarded as psychologistic.
Husserl’s phenomenology of imagination embraces a cluster of different theories and approaches re... more Husserl’s phenomenology of imagination embraces a cluster of different theories and approaches regarding the multi-faced phenomenon of imaginative experience. In this paper I consider one aspect that seems to be crucial to the understanding of a particular form of imagination that Husserl names pure phantasy. I argue that the phenomenon of Ego-splitting discloses the best way to elucidate the peculiarity of pure phantasy with respect to other forms of representative acts (such as remembering) and to any simple form of act modification (such as neutrality modification). First, I unravel the phenomenological distinctions which, respectively, oppose phantasy to perception, on the one hand, and phantasy to other forms of the so-called “intuitive re-presentations”. Second, I introduce the difference between presentative and representative acts, arguing that this cannot help us to single out the defining feature of phantasy experiences. The third section draws again an important distinction between pure phantasy and neutrality modification, which allows me to finally determine an internal trait of phantasy experiences, which Husserl refers to as the “Ego-splitting” (Ichspaltung). In this way, I hope to contribute to a refined characterization of Husserl’s phenomenology of imagination.
Husserl Studies, 2016
Der vorliegende Aufsatz behandelt zwei Bereiche, deren Zusammenhang in der aktuellen Husserlforsc... more Der vorliegende Aufsatz behandelt zwei Bereiche, deren Zusammenhang in der aktuellen Husserlforschung zu Unrecht in Vergessenheit geraten zu sein scheint: Zum einen konturiere ich den Habitusbegriff und das damit verbundene Problem der Habituskonstitution im Spätwerk E. Husserls. Zum anderen dient das Ergebnis dieser ersten Untersuchung dann als Grundlage für die Frage nach dem Wesen des Ich in der genetischen Phänomenologie. Die Untersuchung besteht (nach einer kurzen Einleitung) aus drei Teilen: Zuerst stelle ich, um die Bedeutung des Begriffs „Habitus“ zu klären, Ingardens Interpretationsalternativen der Habituskonstitution vor. Im Anschluss daran werde ich mich mit dem sogenannten „transzendentalen Okkasionalismus“ befassen, der eine der zuvor vorgestellten Alternativen Ingardens aufgreift und weiterführt. Der „transzendentale Okkasionalismus“ vertritt die These, dass die habituellen Eigenschaften des Ich durch den einfachen Vollzug der Akte entstünden. Weil diese These als Interpretation des Habitusbegriffs bei Husserl weit verbreitet ist, muss sie als Lösungsansatz in Erwägung gezogen werden. Jedoch zeigt eine genaue Lektüre der Forschungsmanuskripte Husserls, dass dieser scheinbare Lösungsansatz einen dort wichtigen Begriff außer Acht lässt: die „Geschichte des Ich“. Diese wird im dritten und letzten Teil dieses Aufsatzes näher betrachtet und erläutert. Husserl selbst hob nämlich einen wesenhaften Zusammenhang zwischen den mannigfaltigen Erfahrungen des Ich hervor, durch den die Bezeichnung der Habituskonstitution als „Okkasionalismus“ nicht zutreffend sein kann. Aus diesem Grund geht dieser Beitrag über die reine Wiedergabe der Habitusproblematik in Husserls Phänomenologie hinaus und beschreibt eine Auffassung der transzendentalen Subjektivität, die aus dem Spätwerk Husserls stammt.
Investigaciones Fenomenológicas, 2015
In this paper I investigate the relationship between the philosophies of Edmund Husserl and Richa... more In this paper I investigate the relationship between the philosophies of Edmund Husserl and Richard Avenarius. Despite this topic has been almost disregarded by Husserlian scholars, it is of uttermost importance if one aims at illuminating the origins of Husserl's phenomenological thinking. My thesis is that Husserl's concept of natural attitude and
its correlate, the natural world (Umwelt) —as they emerge in various lectures during the 1910s and especially in Ideen I with respect to the phenomenological reduction— stem from an early confrontation with Avenarius’ “empiriocriticist” standpoint as laid out in his book Der menschliche Weltbegriff. In order to uphold this claim, I will discuss in my paper Husserl's gradual approach to the theories of the Swiss-German philosopher as well as his late critique of the same. Although Husserl in fact conceived of Avenarius’ standpoint as a valuable beginning, he was decisively prompted in his late reflections to call into question some of the premises of the “empirio-criticist” philosophy.
its correlate, the natural world (Umwelt) —as they emerge in various lectures during the 1910s and especially in Ideen I with respect to the phenomenological reduction— stem from an early confrontation with Avenarius’ “empiriocriticist” standpoint as laid out in his book Der menschliche Weltbegriff. In order to uphold this claim, I will discuss in my paper Husserl's gradual approach to the theories of the Swiss-German philosopher as well as his late critique of the same. Although Husserl in fact conceived of Avenarius’ standpoint as a valuable beginning, he was decisively prompted in his late reflections to call into question some of the premises of the “empirio-criticist” philosophy.