SOURCE: “Mr. Hook's Impression of Phenomenology,” in The Journal of Philosophy, Vol. XXVII, No. 15, July 17, 1930, pp. 393-96.

In the following essay, Cairns challenges Hook's critique of Husserl.

In the course of a recent article called “A Personal Impression of Contemporary German Philosophy” (this Jornal, Vol. XXVII, No. 6, March 13, 1930, pp. 141-160) Mr. Sidney Hook says:

Writers of the phenomenological school keep their eyes on the object, for that in a sense is what the phenomenological method is defined to be. Consequently they are the strongest analytical group in Germany and closest to the English and American school of neo-realism. But latterly Husserl's school has abandoned the standpoint of “pure description” and invaded the field of ontology. For many years, its opponents had maintained that its so-called “presuppositionless analysis” was only a deceptive phrase which concealed many presuppositions about the nature of knowledge, logic, and consciousness with which it was...