Weltanschauung e Wissenschaft in Edmund Husserl e Sigmund Freud

Weltanschauung and Wissenschaft between Edmund Husserl and Sigmund Freud - Comparing Edmund Husserl’s and Sigmund Freud’s approach to the conflict between the philosophy of “Weltanschauung” and the scientific method is not only possible but also useful for epistemological reasons. Two main texts will be considered in this paper: Husserl’s Philosophie als strenge Wissenschaft (1911) and Freud’s last lessons on Einleitung in die Psychoanalyse (1932). Both Husserl and Freud have a radically negative approach to “Weltanschauung" Freud objecting primarily to religious ideology and Husserl to any kind of relativism, skepticism or historicism. But a very deep difference is also apparent in their common critical approach. While Husserl points to the philosophical science of phenomenology with its eidetic intuition, Freud’s idea of science is based on the intellectual elaboration of those facts which are made objects of observation. This also means that Husserl’s science aims for a supra-temporal level, while Freud’s proposes a pattern of ongoing research continuously extending into the future.