Metaphysical Hypostatization

Abstract

In the present chapter we will discuss the roots of Husserl’s criticism of psychologism and psychologistic logic in the Prolegomena to a Pure Logic. To this end, we will reconstruct what Husserl labels the metaphysical hypostatization of the ideal sphere, with which his early idealism and conception of ideal species should never be confused. Based upon a series of remarks made by Husserl and that bear on the traditional notion of the angel as a spiritual being endowed with higher capacities, we will provide the reader with the wider context only within which Husserl’s critical assessment can be fully appreciated and understood.