The Elucidation of the Phenomenology of the Picture Sign from Its Phaneroscopy, and Vice Versa

The aim of this chapter is to suggest that the method which Husserl and Peirce both called phenomenology is, in important respects, the same, and that the differences are found not where they were claimed to be. Certain exponents of both kinds of phenomenologies, on the Peircean side, Joseph Ransdell, and on the side of Husserl, Herbert Spiegelberg, have stated that they are incompatible. This paper argues that, if you abide by the descriptions Husserl and Peirce make of the operations of which the method consists, they seem to be virtually indistinguishable. However, they are some fundamental differences which are discussed here. The second aim of this chapter is the show that, mainly because of other than strictly methodological differences between the two, the Peircean and Husserlean approaches may turn out to be complementary. The last section of this chapter offers, as a demonstration of this feature, a discussion on the phenomenology of the picture sign.