Philosophers at the Front: Phenomenology and the First World War

An exceptional collection of letters, postcards,
original writings, and photographs

The First World War witnessed an unprecedented mobilization of philosophers and their families: as soldiers at the front; as public figures on the home front; as nurses in field hospitals; as mothers and wives; as sons and fathers. In Germany, the war irrupted in
the midst of the rapid growth of Edmund Husserl's phenomenological movement –
widely considered one of the most significant philosophical movements in
twentieth century thought. Philosophers
at the Front offers a documentary history of phenomenology in the First
World War. Through an exceptional collection of primary source materials
(letters, postcards, original writings, photographs) from the Husserl Archives
in Leuven, the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, and the Archives of the University
of Göttingen, the complex narratives of how the war affected the lives and thought
of central figures in the phenomenological movement are charted. Key figures
such as Edmund Husserl, his sons Wolfgang and Gerhart, Max Scheler, Edith
Stein, Adolf Reinach, Martin Heidegger, and others are included in this
collection of materials.

The volume includes reproductions of original
material, as well as German transcription of all texts and their English
translation.