Edmund Husserl was born in Proste ̄jov (Prossnitz), Moravia, in what is now the
Czech Republic; at that time, it was part of the Austrian Empire. After attending
elementary school in Proste ̄jov, Husserl went to gymnasia(high schools) in
Vienna and Olmütz before enrolling at the University of Leipzig in 1876. For two
years, he studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy, attending philosophy
lectures only in his spare time. In 1878, he transferred to the Friedrich-Wilhelm
University of Berlin, where he continued his study of mathematics (under the
renowned Karl Weierstrass) as well as his hobby of philosophy. After three years,
he moved to the University of Vienna, where he received a Ph.D. in mathematics
in 1883.
Husserl was offered a teaching position in mathematics at Berlin, but he
decided to remain in Vienna so that he could continue studying philosophy. He
worked with the philosophical psychologist Franz Brentano (1838–1917) during
the next two years. Following Brentano’s advice, Husserl then moved to the
University of Halle, where he published his first book,Philosophy of Arithmetic
(1891). In 1901, he moved to the University of Göttingen, where he spent the next
sixteen years and published a number of important works, including Ideas:
General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology(1913). His last post was at the
University of Freiburg, where he taught until his retirement in 1928. Among his
Freiburg associates was Martin Heidegger. Following retirement, Husserl wrote
voluminously—though little was published during his lifetime. Toward the end of
his life, the Nazis barred him from formal academic activities because of his
Jewish ancestry.
After his death in 1938, the Husserl Archive was established in Louvain,
Belgium. The Archive has preserved, transcribed, and, over the decades, publishedEDMUND HUSSERL
1859–1938
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