Metaphysical Conversations and Phenomenological Essays

This is the first translation into English of early phenomenologist Hedwig Conrad-Martius’ Metaphysical Conversations, originally published in 1921. Conrad-Martius was one of Husserl’s first students, an important part of the Goettingen Phenomenology Circle and mentor to Edith Stein, Jean Hering, and other early phenomenologists. The present volume provides the full German and English texts of the conversations, a phenomenological discussion of the nature of the human, examining the nature of body, soul, and spirit, and drawing distinctions between plants, animals, humans, and various other beings. The volume also includes two important essays on phenomenology, in which Conrad-Martius distinguishes between the phenomenological approaches of Husserl, Heidegger, and the more ontological approach of the Goettingen school of phenomenology. She is critical of Husserl’s transcendental and Heidegger’s existential approach. The conversations illustrate her use of the phenomenological method for fundamental investigations into the nature (or Wesen) of things.