On the 14th of April, Professor Wu Zengding from Peking University presented a lecture on “The Problem of Origin in Husserlian Phenomenology”. Professor Wu started from theories of origin since the ancient Greek, and proceeded to Husserl’s thought about the idea of origin. He then analyzed criticisms towards and defences of Husserl by different philosophers, and asserted his own defence. Husserl believed that the idea of origin that past philosophers pursued was metaphysical, while the one pursued by phenomenologists was a different idea, one which could get rid of all presumptions and let origin itself appear. Some scholars argued that Husserlian phenomenology was neutral metaphysically, and origin and phenomena were the same thing in phenomenology. It was the meaning that Husserl pursued. Professor Wu argued that the Husseralian phenomenology intentionally separated itself from traditional metaphysics from the very beginning, and the idea of origin in Husserl meant that we were living an abstract world of meaning. The task of phenomenology was to return to the intuitive apparent world, not some metaphysical entities. In the end of the lecture, Professor Wu pointed out that although Husserl’s idea of origin was not the origin in the metaphysical sense, it nevertheless had some connections with traditional metaphysics. After the lecture, Professor Wu communicated with the participant on relevant issues.
