The ideality of logic: Reassessing Husserl’s anti-psychologism in the Logical Investigations

Husserl’s philosophy of logic in his Logical Investigations is based on two central claims. The first one is epistemological: Husserl advocates an uncompromising logical anti-empiricism, of which his logical anti-psychologism is only a special kind. The second thesis is ontological and corresponds to what Husserl terms “idealism.” Husserl, in the Prolegomena, presents several arguments in favor of these two claims. The aim of the present chapter is to discuss and evaluate three of them. It is argued that these three arguments are not by themselves sufficient to prove Husserl’s two claims about logic.