On the affiliation of phenomenology and ordoliberalism: Links between Edmund Husserl, Rudolf and Walter Eucken

Abstract

This paper explores the various personal and intellectual links between Edmund Husserl, Rudolf and Walter Eucken. Our interdisciplinary approach gives an insight into Husserl's transcendental phenomenology, Walter Eucken's Ordoliberalism as well as in the interdependency between phenomenology and economics for which Rudolf Eucken's philosophy of intellectual life plays an important role. Particular affiliations between phenomenology and economics can be found in the following topics: epistemology, the idea of man, the comprehension of liberty and the importance of legal or social orders, institutional rules and frameworks of regulations.

Keywords:

• Husserl
• Rudolf and Walter Eucken
• phenomenology
• Ordoliberalism
• social market economy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Walter Oswalt, director of the Walter Eucken Archive, and Ullrich Melle, director of the Husserl Archives Leuven, for giving permission to quote unpublished material.

Notes

 1 See the correspondence between Rudolf Eucken and Husserl in E. Husserl (1994b).

 2 Cp. Dathe (1993) and Graf (1996).

 3 Husserl studied and absorbed Rudolf Eucken's writings since the 1880/1890ies (cp. Dathe 2009: 20ff.).

 4 All quoted letters are contained in the Nachlass-files of the Eucken family (cp. Eucken W. 1908–1926/1935–1937): Briefe von Walter Eucken; Jena, Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek: Nachlass Irene und Rudolf Eucken).

 5 Manuscripts indicated with Ms. are unpublished materials of the Husserl Archives Leuven.

 6 The Euckenbund was an ideological movement agitating and fighting against the cultural and intellectual deprivation of Germany while at the same time promoting the ideal of an intellectual life in accordance with Rudolf Eucken's Lebensweltphilosophie. Die Tatwelt was the journal of the Euckenbund, mainly published and organized by members of the Eucken family.

 7 He even called Husserl one of the leading philosophers of contemporary Germany (Eucken R. 1924: 7); see also the correspondence between Husserl and Rudolf Eucken in E. Husserl (1994b).

 8 Fellmann (1983) even speaks of ‘Lebensweltphänomenologie’.

 9 The first philosophical contact between Husserl and Walter Eucken was probably initiated by Rudolf Eucken: Rudolf and Walter had a lot of philosophical discourses and exchanges. Especially in the years when Rudolf Eucken studied Husserl intensively (1911/1924), he had a close (philosophical) relationship with his son as well (cp. Dathe 2009). These periods were from Walter Eucken's point of view shaped by his engagement for the Euckenbund. After Rudolf Eucken's death, while preparing the memorial edition of Die Tatwelt, Walter together with his wife Edith analysed Husserl's philosophy.

10 Cp. Eucken-Erdsiek (1981: 62).

11 Edith as well as Walter Eucken were both well-skilled philosophers. Edith was studying philosophy, literature and economics, and attending Husserl's seminars (as a guest auditor), while Walter was educated in philosophy by his father (cp. Klinckowstroem 2000, 2005). He was also lecturing about Socrates, Spinoza, and Galileo (cp. Klinckowstroem 2000: 77f; Oswalt 2005: 239).

12 Cp. E. Husserl (1994c: 99): In this letter Husserl expresses his gratitude for having Euckens as close friends in such a severe and harsh political period. The chance to become the godfather of Irene was a symbol of Euckens' bona fides.

13 Letter from Husserl to E. Rosenberg from the 9 October 1935 in E. Husserl (1994c: 462). Cp. p. 460ff.; Ms. A V 8/4b (here Husserl gave authority/full powers to Walter Eucken) and the chapter Eucken-Erdsiek (1981: 57ff.) devoted to the personality of Husserl and their relationship.

14 Cp. Vongehr (2009: 10ff).

15 Cp. E. Husserl (1994b: 181).

16 Cp. letter from Malvine to J. and E. Rosenberg (from 10 November 1934; Husserl Archives Leuven); see Vongehr (2009: 8).

17 Cp. Vongehr (2009: 5ff).

18 Cp. for foundation: Klump (2003), Goldschmidt (2002, 2009) and Goldschmidt and Rauchenschwandtner (2007).

19 Here, we are referring only to the explicit or literal quotes; the implicit quotes are mentioned later on in this chapter. Goldschmidt (2002) and Goldschmidt and Rauchenschwandtner (2007) mention seven citations in total, without differentiating between implicit and explicit quotations.

20 According to the files of the Husserl Archives Leuven, this essay was the only Walter Eucken paper that was located in Husserl's library (the book contains a hand-written tribute to Husserl by Eucken, but no comments by Husserl).

21 Eucken literally borrows the term crisis-proof from Husserl (cp. Eucken W. 1950/1965: 233).

22 This disinterested and open-minded line of action recalls Husserl's epoché indicating an absolute impartiality and abstention, a desisting of rash conclusions and pre-assumptions, a bracketing of all our prior knowledge, and a behaving like a neutral and disinterested spectator. In combination with Husserl's transcendental-phenomenological and eidetic reduction, it leads to a change of consciousness, to a pure and self-reflected consciousness, and to a scientific research of the essence and a priori cognition.

23 Eucken aims at the exact recognition and the capture of the interdependencies of economic reality.

24 For the importance of the morphological analysis of reality and the vision of everyday life as the starting point of Eucken's approach, see Eucken W. (1938a).

25 Cp. Foucault (2006: 172ff).

26  The Eucken-term ‘invariant general form’ is derived from Husserl's phenomenology; the same holds true for the expressions ‘to the things’, and ‘pointedly distinguishing abstraction’.

27 For further information about the eidetic order of freedom and the market, see Kaufmann (1956), and for more information about the relationship of phenomenology and economics, and the phenomenological-based economists Gottl-Ottlilienfeld and Back, see Goldschmidt (2002: 71ff) and Rauchenschwandtner (2005).

28 Cp. for indirect-implicit references to Husserl's concepts of epoché and transcendental-phenomenological reduction, Böhm et al. (1936: 35), Eucken W. (1938a, 1940, 1952/2004: 1/370; and 2001: 71ff).

29 In analogy to Kant we can say that theoretical scientific knowledge starts with experience and empiricism; it derives from simply looking at the facts of everyday life. In accordance with Kant, Eucken claims that evident-objective knowledge and universal truths exist; however, they cannot rest upon experience alone. So Eucken has to untie his methodological approach from the empirical level, from the level of everyday economic life, and enter the theoretical and morphological level. After accomplishing this path of abstraction and ideal type he turns later on again towards the starting level – looking at it, however, from a different angle, from a different perspective and with a divergent insight.

Although Eucken demands the absence of value judgements in a Weberian and Husserlian sense on the epistemological level, it is more than obvious that his socio-political and ethical theory is highly characterized by normative judgements – departing from Husserl's ‘positivism’ and marking the difference between phenomenology and Ordoliberalism.

30 Cp. E. Husserl (1992a: Hua III/1), Rudolf Eucken's Prolegomena to Studies on the Unity of Intellectual Life (Eucken R. 1885), and Eucken W. (1934: 20); it is remarkable that Walter Eucken does not distinguish between abstraction and reduction (cp. Goldschmidt 2002: 54ff.). That sets him apart from Husserl.

31 In Vom Hauptproblem der Kapitaltheorie (Eucken W. 1937) and Nationalökonomie wozu? Eucken mentions Thünen, a German economist, and his model of the isolated state (cp. Thünen 1850/1910). Thünen's method of isolating abstraction is quite similar to Eucken's own approach (not only in terminological aspects), and Eucken himself sings the praises of Thünen's methodology (he even called him ‘Master of Economics’ (p. 39; cp. Eucken 1950/1965: 269). By referring to Thünen and others, Eucken confirms our supposition that the pointedly distinguishing or isolating abstraction technique not only has Husserlian roots – relativizing once again Husserl's influence and pointing at Eucken's eclecticism.

32 A term used by Rudolf Eucken (undated: 94) as well.

33 Goldschmidt (2007: 12) refers to another similarity: Walter Eucken's distinction between actuality and truth equals Husserl's distinction between law and fact.

34 Everyday Economic Life is Eucken's – and Weber's (cp. Eucken W. 1950/1965: 245) – methodological point of departure respective to his epistemological aim. However, he takes an indirect route or a circuit via his (rationalistic) method of abstraction and reduction, and by deducing ideal types, applying them to economic reality (and thus combining theoretical and historical, rationalistic and empiric elements). This – in short – is Eucken's solution to the economic Great Antinomy.

36 Eucken quotes Husserl's Philosophy as a Rigorous Science. This is one of the few occasions when Eucken literally borrows from other sources besides the LI.

35 The term realm of truth (as well as the process of reduction and the postulate of a perspective from within) is often used by Rudolf Eucken (cp. his Prolegomena), which is a further indication for the thesis that Walter Eucken favours an eclectic approach combining different elements from different scientists (cp. Eucken W. 1950/1965: 230f).

39 Cp. W. Eucken (1950/1992: 228f): ‘To apply the different ideal types of economic systems with their numerous variants it is necessary after defining and working out a morphology to return to the real economic world. But this time we approach it differently. Formerly we examined the individual phenomena […], studied them from every standpoint, and in the course of our analysis extracted one by one the forms realised in each case […]. Now we survey the whole economy […]. Previously we worked by abstracting the significant characteristics from the particular phenomenon, now by “generalising” abstraction’.

37 The enhancement of particular aspects of the reality, and at the same time the neglecting of irrelevant aspects, reminds of Weber's ideal-type approach (cp. Weber 1968: 176/187/190ff; Goldschmidt 2002: 43ff; 2007: 6; Schäfer 1951).

38 Cp. W. Eucken (1950/1992: 332): ‘In the abstraction of significant characteristics […] the single aspects of any actual conditions are emphasized. In this way pure forms worked out […]. “Generalising” abstraction, on the other hand, proceeds by surveying many facts and summarising the common characteristics of these facts in concepts’.

40 The same holds true for Philosophy as Rigorous Science published in 1911.

41 One of the catchphrases of Husserl is: ‘Consciousness is always consciousness of something’.

42 The term life-world is a product of Rudolf Eucken's book Mensch und Welt (1918b)): cp. Fellmann (2009: 37).

43 Cp. E. Husserl (1989: Hua XXVII 20): ‘Renewal of humans, of the individual human as well as the communalized humanity, is the chief theme of all ethics’ (translated); for an identical claim, see Rudolf Eucken (1922: V (‘necessity of an intellectual renewal’; translated), 58 and 82).

44 One essential feature, and the quasi-basis of reforming the cultural and scientific system – and thus solving the current crisis – is phenomenology as a scientific ethic, and the radical and ultimate foundation and justification of philosophy.

45 Cp. Rudolf Eucken (1918a: 122ff; 1922); see Braun's (1918) introduction in Rudolf Eucken (1918a: 3ff); cp. Dathe (1996) and Fellmann (2009).

46 Rudolf Eucken is highly critical of utilitarianism – a further parallel to Husserl (cp. Ms. B I 21 II, E III 2; and E. Husserl (1989: Hua XXVII, 116ff), where Husserl condemns self-love, egoism, greed, striving for power, and (extensive) utilitarian thinking).

47 Cp. Rudolf Eucken (undated: 53ff and 87ff).

48 Cp. Rudolf Eucken (1922: 70ff; undated: 59f); for more information about parallels of the noological and the phenomenological method, see Goldschmidt (2002: 83ff) and Fellmann (1983, 2009).

49 Cp. Rudolf Eucken (1918a; undated: 66ff); see Fellmann (2009: 32ff).

50 Cp. Walter Eucken's letter dating from 7 March 1936.

51 Cp. letter from Walter Eucken to his mother dating from 17 September 1936; see Walter Eucken's preface in Rudolf Eucken's book Die Lebensanschauungen der Großen Denker (Eucken W. 1950: Vff); noteworthy is the fact that Rudolf Eucken was also well educated in economic matters – especially in subjects related to Adam Smith, socialism, laissez faire, and the industrial revolution (i.e. social question and pauperism): cp. Rudolf Eucken (1950: 286/347ff; 1920). All this might be a major contribution or might have had a major impact on Walter Eucken's own economic approach (cp. Eucken 1952/2004: 27).

52 Walter Eucken (under the pseudonym Dr Kurt Heinrich) as early as 1926 – that is, before(!) personally knowing Husserl – talks of a necessary intellectual and cultural reformation. In this essay it becomes clear that Walter Eucken regards himself as a disciple of his father.

53 Cp. Goldschmidt (2002: 85) and Goldschmidt and Rauchenschwandtner (2007: 21); Rudolf Eucken's Geisteslebensphilosophie is in some respect even the forerunner and predecessor of Husserl's phenomenology.

54 Yet several scattered anecdotes and comments on politics relating subjects can be found in the oeuvre of Husserl. Interestingly, many of Husserl's disciples were applying phenomenology to sociology, jurisprudence, and economics: for example, Kaufmann (1956; cp. Husserl E. 1994a: 181), Reinach, and Schütz (cp. Madison 1997; Prendergast 1986 for information about Schütz' affiliation with the Austrian School of Economics); see, for a brief overview of Husserl's followers and members of the phenomenological movement, Gerlach and Sepp (1994: 423ff). Some of Husserl's disciples were later on political activists or politicians themselves: for example, Anders, one of the initiators of the anti-atom-movement, or Patočka, one of the authors of the Charta 77.

55 Cp. Gerhart Husserl (1940, 1969).

56 Cp. E. Husserl (1994a: 197f/220/236) and Fink and Patočka (1999: 44f).

57 Cp. Schuhmann (1988).

58 Breda (1973) sees radical (inalienable) freedom and autonomy of man as the fundamental hypothesis of Husserl (cp. Husserl's signing of Romain Rolland's and the League for the Promotion of Humanity's appeal for independency and autonomy, reprinted in Sepp 1988: 308f); according to Husserl, the potential (socio-political) menace to freedom can be overcome via transcendental-phenomenological reduction.

59 Another categorical imperative of Brentano as well as Husserl is: ‘Do what is best, and do it with rational evidence’ (translated) (Hua XXVIII 142).

61 As cited in the English edition of the Crisis work (Husserl E. 1970).

60 Walter Eucken regards individual freedom as the central precondition for social security and justice; therefore, freedom (in addition with an adequate ordering) is a part of solving the social question; (Kantian) freedom and autonomy are for both Husserl and Eucken right at the heart of their theories. For parallels between Walter Eucken and Kant, see Klump and Wörsdörfer (2010) and Wörsdörfer (2010).

62 Husserl's preference for an (ordoliberal), constitutional state (which is primarily oriented by the ideal of reasonableness and rationality) is a further parallel to Eucken.

63 Eucken is constantly referring to a functioning and humane ordering; for detailed information about phenomenology and ordering, see Wetz (1995: 110ff).

64 See for more information about the phenomenon law and the role of sanctions, Hua (XIII 105ff, XV 421ff and 510) (the latter passage is in our context remarkable because Husserl is discussing the phenomenon of power and authority (see also XIV 215).

65 Phenomenology is mainly responsible for overcoming mental immaturity, and reaching autonomy and self-confidence. Transcendental philosophy incorporates a claim to phenomenological leadership similar to that of Platonism (i.e. philosopher kings). Phenomenologically trained persons are the teachers of the people, they are the bearers of rationality, and they teach and educate their milieu until a phenomenological movement and finally an overall phenomenological society has been established (Ms. K III 9/64a and K VI 334); cp. for a similar elitist understanding of science, Eucken W. (1952/2004: 338ff).

66 Cp. for Husserl's support for democracy, Trincia (2007: 185).

67 Cp. E. Husserl (1994a: 224).

68 The relationship between self-interest and public welfare is a topic discussed intensely by Walter Eucken (cp., for example, Eucken W. 1952/2004: 355ff).

69 See for a similar judgement on power Husserl (Ms. A V 5 and B I 21 II).

70 The English translations of Eucken's key terms are taken from Vanberg (2004); further keywords of Eucken in this context are thinking in orders and the interdependency of orders.

71 For the Neokantian and Neoidealistic influence on Eucken, see Nawroth (1961/1962).

72 Eucken belonged to the core group of the Freiburg Circles, a resistance movement opposing National Socialism. He was one of the university-intern opponents to Heidegger's attempt to establish the Führerprinzip and the Gleichschaltung at the university, and he risked his life in fighting Nazi ideology, propagating ordoliberal ideals for a new socio-political and economic ordering for the post-war-period (cp. Dietze et al. 1941/1942), and of course due to his remaining contact with persons who fell in disgrace under the Third Reich dictatorship. Walter Eucken received death threats after his lectures Kampf der Wissenschaft, the second edition of his book Nationalökonomie wozu? was prohibited, and he was arrested and interrogated after the failed July 20 plot. This is all the more astonishing remembering the fact that Eucken's mother in law was due to the NS-racial laws a Jew, his wife Edith was a half-Jew, and Walter Eucken himself was classified as non-Arian (interrelated) (cp. Oswalt 2005; Goldschmidt 1997, 2005).

73 As cited in Lenel (1991: 12).

74 For more information on the meta-economical Vermassungs- (i.e. massification and stereotyping process), Gesellschaftskrisis- and Kulturkritik-topic, cp. Heinrich 1926; Eucken W. 1932b; see also Renker (2009).

75 Cp. Dathe and Goldschmidt (2003).

76 Malvine Husserl: Skizze eines Lebensbildes von E. Husserl; as cited in Gerlach and Sepp (1994: 30); see Ms. A V 21/15b/20a/24b/25a.

77 Cairns (1976: 52).

78 In his essay Die Überwindung des Historismus Eucken refers explicitly to Husserl's Logical Investigations and his Crisis work, claiming that Husserl as well as Rudolf Eucken are among the few contemporary philosophers criticizing historism for its alleged relativism, fatalism, determinism and irrationalism (i.e. seventh explicit quote).

79 Cp. W. Eucken (1952/2004: 340), Husserl's concept of epoché and Rudolf Eucken (undated: 86).

80 Cp. Grossekettler (2003: 31) and Goldschmidt (2007: 14): ‘… the fact that Eucken uses abstraction does not make him a phenomenologist. […] It would thus be fairer to argue that Eucken's method of abstraction links him to Husserl only on the basis of its intention, i.e. the search for truth – while the method itself was developed through the analysis of the ideal type discussion relating to Weber and reverting to Thünen’. This statement holds true not only on the epistemological level.

81 Of course the epistemologist Eucken runs to a certain degree a phenomenology of the economic life-world, but the slogan touches on the crucial point: he combines (among others) Husserl's phenomenology with Rudolf Eucken's concept of the life-world.