The History Between Koyré and Husserl

Abstract

Alexandre Koyre (1892–1964) was a prominent member of the Gottinger Philosophische Gesellschaft, otherwise known as the Gottingen Circle. This group, who came together to study the work of Edmund Husserl, was responsible for the establishment and spread of the phenomenological movement. However, Koyre’s place within this group and how his early training in phenomenology impacted his later works has not been fully explored. He left no autobiography. The accounts we do have tend to emphasize the impact of Adolf Reinach and realist phenomenology on Koyre’s intellectual development and downplay the influence of Husserl and his transcendental phenomenology. After working with Husserl for roughly 3 years, Koyre submitted a draft–dissertation on the paradoxes of set theory. Husserl rejected the dissertation, and Koyre subsequently moved to Paris. Despite this change in location, Koyre kept in contact with his former Gottingen colleagues and, as I will show, never abandoned his phenomenological roots. Moreover, there is reason to believe that the historical–epistemological works that Koyre has become known for are a continuation of and a response to Husserlian phenomenology.