George Heffernan

University education

Degrees Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Cologne, 1981
Dissertation: “Bedeutung und Evidenz bei Husserl”

M.A., Philosophy, Basselin Honors Program, The Catholic University of America, 1976
Thesis: “The Mystical Dimension in Wittgenstein’s Tractatus logico-philosophicus”

B.A., Philosophy, Basselin Honors Program, The Catholic University of America, 1975

Additional qualifications

Academic The Great German Language Diploma (Das Große Deutsche Sprachdiplom: Gesamtnote 1), Goethe Institute / University of Munich, 1984
Professional State-Certified Interpreter and Translator for the German Language (Staatlich anerkannter Dolmetscher und Übersetzer für die deutsche Sprache), Bonn Chamber of Industry and Commerce / Industrie- und Handelskammer Bonn/Rhein-Sieg, 1983

Academic positions

Professor, Philosophy Department, Merrimack College, 1995–present
Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, Merrimack College, 1990–95 (Tenured in 1994)
Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, University of Notre Dame, 1986–90
Research Associate (Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter), Philosophy Department, University of Bonn, 1983–87

Selected publications

Books

Isagoge in die phänomenologische Apophantik: Eine Einführung in die phänomenologische Urteilslogik durch die Auslegung des Textes der “Formalen und transzendentalen Logik” von Edmund Husserl. Dordrecht, Boston, and London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1989.

Am Anfang war die Logik: Hermeneutische Abhandlungen zum Ansatz der “Formalen und transzendentalen Logik” von Edmund Husserl—Mit einer Bibliographie für philosophische Logiker zu den “Logischen Untersuchungen” und der “Formalen und transzendentalen Logik”. Amsterdam: Verlag B. R. Gruener, 1988.

Bedeutung und Evidenz bei Edmund Husserl: Das Verhältnis zwischen der Bedeutungs- und der Evidenztheorie in den “Logischen Untersuchungen” und der “Formalen und transzendentalen Logik”—Ein Vergleich anhand der Identitätsproblematik. Bonn: Bouvier Verlag, 1983.

Editions

René Descartes: Regulae ad directionem ingenii / Rules for the Direction of the Natural Intelligence—A Bilingual Edition of the Cartesian Treatise on Method. Amsterdam: Editions Rodopi, 1998.

René Descartes: Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison et chercher la vérité dans les sciences / Discourse on the Method of Conducting One’s Reason Well and of Seeking the Truth in the Sciences—A Bilingual Edition. Notre Dame / London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1994.

René Descartes: Meditations on First Philosophy—A Monolingual Edition. Notre Dame / London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992.

René Descartes: Meditationes de prima philosophia / Meditations on First Philosophy—A Bilingual Edition. Notre Dame / London: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990.

Co-editions

Dialogue and Universalism: Journal of the International Society for Universal Dialogue, vol. XXV: A Topography of Heresies or the Road to Renewal? The Many Faces of Contemporary Phenomenology. Ed. George Heffernan, Jean Leclercq, Witold Plotka, Andrzej Przylebski, and Nicolas de Warren. Warsaw: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Polish Société Européenne de Culture, 2015.

René Descartes: Discours de la méthode pour bien conduire sa raison, et chercher la vérité dans les sciences / Von der Methode des richtigen Vernunftgebrauchs und der wissenschaftlichen Forschung—Französisch-deutsch. Übersetzt und herausgegeben von Lüder Gäbe. Neu durchgesehen und mit neuem Register und neuer Bibliographie versehen von George Heffernan. Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 1997.

René Descartes: Meditationes de prima philosophia / Meditationen über die Grundlagen der Philosophie—Lateinisch-deutsch. Auf Grund der Ausgaben von Artur Buchenau neu herausgegeben von Lüder Gäbe. Durchgesehen von Hans Günter Zekl. Mit neuem Register und neuer Auswahlbibliographie versehen von George Heffernan. Hamburg: Felix Meiner, 1992.

Bewußtsein und Zeitlichkeit: Ein Problemschnitt durch die Philosophie der Neuzeit—Festschrift für Gerhart Schmidt zur Emeritierung. Ed. Hubertus Busche, George Heffernan, and Dieter Lohmar. Würzburg: Verlag Königshausen und Neumann, 1990.

Translation

Josef Simon: Philosophy of the Sign. English Translation of Philosophie des Zeichens (Walter de Gruyter: Berlin 1989). Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1995.

Translation / edition

Augustine, On the Academics or Against the Academics (Contra Academicos vel De Academicis). Hyde Park, New York: New City Press, 2021 (in The Works of Augustine: A Translation for the 21st Century).

Selected papers

“Evidence and Truth”, in Daniele De Santis and Claudio Majolino, eds., The Routledge Handbook of Phenomenology (London and New York: Routledge, 2021), forthcoming

“Transcending Transcendental Phenomenology: Stein’s Critique of Husserl’s Concept of Transcendence”, in Harm Klueting, ed., Edith Stein’s Itinerary: Phenomenology, Christian Philosophy, and Carmelite Spirituality / Edith Steins intellektueller Weg: Phänomenologie, Christliche Philosophie und karmelitische Spiritualität (Münster: Aschendorff, 2020), forthcoming

“Camus and Husserl and the Phenomenologists”, in Peter Francev, Maciej Kaluza, and Matthew Sharpe, eds., Albert Camus: Philosopher Among Philosophers—A Collection of Critical Essays (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 177–198

“Husserl’s Phenomenology of Weltanschauungen and Jaspers’s Psychology of Weltanschauungen: A Plea for a Long Delayed Dialogue”, Studi jaspersiani 7 (2019), 121–146

“From Happiness to Blessedness: Husserl on Eudaimonia, Virtue, and the Best Life” (with Marco Cavallaro), Horizon: Studies in Phenomenology 8 (2019), 353–388

“Virtues and Vices and Parts and Wholes: A Phenomenological Analysis”, in Adriano Fabris and Giovanni Scarafile, eds., Controversies in the Contemporary World 15 (Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 2019), 85–103

“Can the Stranger Handle the Truth? Critical Reflections on Camus’s Claim that Meursault Refuses to Lie”, Journal of Camus Studies 8 (2018), 85–117

“Augustine on Memory and Lethargy: A New Approach to Book X of the Confessions”, in Konstantinos Boudouris et al., eds., Philosophy as Inquiry and Way of Life: Proceedings of the XXIIIrd World Congress of Philosophy (Charlottesville: Philosophy Documentation Center, 2018), vol. 7: Christian Philosophy, 35–42

“Beyond Victims and Executioners: Camus and Daoud on Progressive Violence and Genuine Humanism (Or What Harun Learned from Meursault)”, Journal of Camus Studies 7 (2017), 11–46

“The Concept of Krisis in Husserl’s The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology”, Husserl Studies 33 (2017), 229–257

“The Meaningless Life Is Not Worth Living: Critical Reflections on Marcel’s Critique of Camus”, Marcel Studies 2 (2017), 1–22

“Husserl’s Aesthetic of Essences: Critical Remarks on Phenomenology as an Eidetic and ‘Exact’ Science”, The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy 15 (2017), 70–83

“From False Opinions to ‘False Facts’ and Back Again: A Phenomenological Besinnung on Mindfulness and Mindlessness”, The Humanistic Psychologist 45 (2017), 85–96

“Heidegger’s Critique of Husserl in His Black Notebooks”, Horizon: Studies in Phenomenology 5 (2016), 16–53

“A Tale of Two Schisms: Heidegger’s Critique of Husserl’s Move into Transcendental Idealism”, The European Legacy: Toward New Paradigms 21 (2016), 556–575

“The Paradox of Objectless Presentations in Early Phenomenology: A Brief History of the Intentional Object from Bolzano to Husserl, With Concise Analyses of the Positions of Brentano, Frege, Meinong, and Twardowski”, Studia Phaenomenologica XV (2015), 67–91

“Phenomenology of Evidence: Promises, Problems, and Prospects”, Dialogue and Universalism 3 (2015), 9–24

“Phenomenology Is A Humanism: Husserl’s Hermeneutical-Historical Struggle to Determine the Genuine Meaning of Human Existence in The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology”, Analecta Husserliana 115 (2014), 183–216

“The Phenomenon Happiness: Prolegomena to a Phenomenological Description”, The Humanistic Psychologist 42 (2014), 249–267

“The Sleepwalkers: How European Philosophers Parted Ways in the 1920s—and What It Means for Contemporary Philosophy, Analytical and Continental”, Papers of the 37th International Wittgenstein Symposium (2014), 121–123

“[Augustine and] Colonialism”, in Karla Pollmann and Willemien Otten, eds., The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine, vol. 2: Individuals and Themes A-I (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 813–818

“[Augustine and] Postcolonialism”, in Karla Pollmann and Willemien Otten, eds., The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine, vol. 3: Individuals and Themes J-Z (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), 1583–1589

“From the Essence of Evidence to the Evidence of Essence: A Critical Analysis of the Methodological Reduction of Evidence to Adequate Self-givenness in Husserl’s The Idea of Phenomenology”, Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy / Philosophiegeschichte und logische Analyse 16 (2013), 192–219

“Testimony”, in Robert Fastiggi and Joseph Koterski, eds., The New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012–2013: Ethics and Philosophy (Detroit: Gale/Cengage Learning, 2013), vol. 3, pp. 1515–1519

“‘Erit ergo spiritui subdita caro spiritalis’ (‘The spiritual flesh will therefore be subject to the spirit’): The Heavenly Pleasures of the Disembodied and Reembodied—An Essay on Augustine and the Problem of Embodiment”, Analecta Husserliana 112 (2012), 197–222

“A Life According to Nature: From Ancient Theoretical Ideal to Future Sustainable Practice”, The Environmentalist 32 (2012), 278–288 (published on-line, August 25, 2011 [ISSN 0251–1088/DOI 10.1007/s10669–011–9346–5])

“‘Mais personne ne paraissait comprendre’ (‘But no one seemed to understand’): Atheism, Nihilism, and Hermeneutics in Albert Camus’ L’Étranger/The Stranger”, Analecta Husserliana 109 (2011), 133–152

“The phronimos, the phainomena, and the pragmata: Are We Responsible for the Things that Appear to Us to be Good for Us? An Axiological Exercise in Aristotelian Phenomenology”, The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy 10 (2010), 171–200

“From Violence to Evidence? Husserl and Sen on Human Identity and Diversity: Toward a Postcolonial Phenomenology of Humanity”, in Michael Barber, Lester Embree, and Thomas Nenon, eds., Phenomenology 2010: Nature, Culture, and Existence (Bucharest: Zeta Books, 2010), 95–121

“‘Verwandelt ist Zarathustra’: On the Hermeneutical Significance of the Protagonist’s Existential Transformations (Verwandlungen) in Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra”, International Journal of the Humanities 6 (2009), 61–78

“Does the Phenomenological Method Yield Any Epistemic Infallibility?”, Husserl Studies 25 (2009), 15–43

“An Addendum to the Exchange with Walter Hopp on Phenomenology and Fallibility”, Husserl Studies 25 (2009), 51–55

“Die phänomenologische Protreptik: Husserls Aufruf zur transzendentalen Philosophie, erläutert am rhetorischen Leitfaden der ‘Krisis’-Idee”, Existentia: Studia Philosophorum 16 (2006), 47–80

“Language, Logic, and Logocentrism in Transcendental Phenomenology: Critical Reflections on the ‘Sprachvergessenheit’ of the Later Husserl”, The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy 2 (2002), 205–247

“A Study in the Sedimented Sources of Evidence: Husserl and His Contemporaries Engaged in a Collective Essay in the Phenomenology and Psychology of Epistemic Justification” (Rev. Ed.), Husserl Studies 16 (1999), 83–181

“On Husserl’s Answer to the Question ‘was die Evidenz sei’: A Contribution to the Phenomenology of Evidence on the Occasion of the Publication of Husserliana XXX”, Husserl Studies 15 (1998), 1–75

“An Essay in Epistemic Kuklophobia: Husserl’s Critique of Descartes’ Conception of Evidence”, Husserl Studies 13 (1997), 89–140

Selected presentations

“Universale Besinnung–Selbstbesinnung–Weltbesinnung: Husserl’s Method for the Treatment of Ethical, Existential, and Metaphysical Questions as Grenzprobleme of Phenomenology” (Final Version), 2nd Research Summer School in Genetic Phenomenology: Grenzprobleme der Phänomenologie, International Network for Genetic Phenomenology and the Human Sciences / Graduate School of Social Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, September 2, 2019 (invited keynote lecture)

“Transcending Transcendental Phenomenology: Stein’s Critique of Husserl’s Concept of Transcendence”, International Association for the Study of the Philosophy of Edith Stein, 5th Bi-Annual Conference, University of Cologne, August 15, 2019

“Phenomenology, Psychology, and Ideology: A New Look at the Life and Work of Else Voigtländer”, North American Society for Early Phenomenology, 8th Annual Conference, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland, May 22, 2019

“Ein echtes Leben: Husserl’s Vision of a Social-Ethical Life for Individuals and Communities”, Nordic Society for Phenomenology, 17th Annual Conference, University of Copenhagen, April 27, 2019

“Universal Besinnung or Selbstbesinnung: Husserl’s Method for the Treatment of Ethical, Existential, and Metaphysical Questions as Limit Problems of Phenomenology” (Exploratory Version), Organization of Phenomenological Organizations, 6th World Conference, University of Memphis, January 4, 2019

“Can the Stranger Handle the Truth? Critical Reflections on Camus’s Claim that Meursault Refuses to Lie”, Albert Camus Societies U.K./U.S., 12th Annual Joint Meeting, Swedenborg Society, London, November 16, 2018

“Universale Selbstbesinnung: Husserls Methode für die Behandlung existenzieller und ethischer Fragen als Grenzprobleme der Phänomenologie”, Husserl-Arbeitstage 2018, Husserl Archives / Philosophy Department, University of Cologne, October 20, 2018 (invited keynote lecture)

“The Blind Ophthalmologist: Critical Reflections on the Life of the ‘Happy Immoralist’ in Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors”, XXIV World Congress of Philosophy, International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP) / Philosophy Department, Peking University, August 15, 2018

“‘The Naked Fact of Finitude’? Stein’s Critique of Heidegger on Time, Eternity, and Transcendence”, North American Society for Early Phenomenology, 7th Annual Conference, Duquesne University, June 13, 2018

“Transcending Transcendental Phenomenology? Reflections on Stein’s Critique of Husserl’s Weltanschauung”, Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists, 10th Annual Conference, University of Quebec at Montreal, June 1, 2018

“Universal Besinnung: Husserl’s Phenomenology of Existence (or) The Existential Husserl: The Evidence”, International Workshop: “Husserl und das Denken der Existenz”, Husserl Archives / Philosophy Department, University of Cologne, April 17, 2018 (invited lecture)

“Between Husserl’s Phenomenology of Existence and Heidegger’s Philosophy of Existence: Edith Stein’s Phenomenology of the Human Person”, Paderborner Kolloquium zur Philosophie / Conference on Women in the History of Phenomenology and Phenomenological Psychology, Philosophy Department / Center for the History of Women Philosophers and Scientists, University of Paderborn, November 23, 2017 (invited lecture)

“Beyond Victims and Executioners: Camus and Daoud on Progressive Violence and Genuine Humanism”, International Philosophy Conference: “The Critiques of Violence”, University of Leuven, May 12, 2017

“The Concept of Krisis in Husserl’s The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology”, International Workshop: “Phenomenology and History”, University of Crete, Rethymno, July 19, 2016

“The Fallibility of First-Person Happiness Statements: An Aristotelian Analysis”, World Philosophy Congress on the Philosophy of Aristotle, School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, July 14, 2016

“A Meaningful Life as a Limit Problem of Phenomenology: Husserl’s Phenomenology of Existence in Husserliana XLII”, Nordic Society for Phenomenology, 14th Annual Conference, University of Reykjavik, April 23, 2016

“The Meaningless Life Is Not Worth Living: Critical Reflections on Marcel’s Critique of Camus”, International Conference: “From the Absurd to Revolt in Camus’s Thought”, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, February 26, 2016

“Phenomenology and Philosophy of Existence: A New Look at an Old Relationship”, Polish Phenomenological Association / Polish Academy of Sciences / Institute of Philosophy, Warsaw, February 23, 2016

“Heidegger’s Critique of Husserl in His Black Notebooks”, International Conference: “The Phenomenological Movement in Central and Eastern Europe”, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, June 19, 2015

“The Great Phenomenological Schism and the Phenomenological-Existential Schism”, North American Society for Early Phenomenology, 4th Annual Conference, U. N. A. de México, Mexico City, June 3, 2015

“Can We (Not) Be Mistaken About Our Own Happiness?”, Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists, 7th Annual Conference, Brock University, Ontario, May 24, 2015

“The Phenomenological Space of Knowing: Evidence as an Epistemological Crossroads”, École Normale Supérieure / Collège International de Philosophie, Paris, May 21, 2015

“Husserl’s Phenomenology of Existence and the Problem of Meaning in Human Life”, Organization of Phenomenological Organizations, 5th World Conference, Murdoch University, Perth, December 9, 2014

“Camus’s Philosophy of the Absurd, Existentialism, and Philosophy of Existence”, Albert Camus Societies U.K./U.S., 8th Annual Joint Meeting, Swedenborg Society, London, November 13, 2014

“The Sleepwalkers: How European Philosophers Parted Ways in the 1920s—and What It Means for Contemporary Philosophy”, 37th Annual Ludwig Wittgenstein Symposium, Kirchberg am Wechsel, August 12, 2014

“Phenomenology of Evidence: Promises, Problems, and Prospects”, International Conference: “The Many Faces of Contemporary Phenomenology”, University of Gdansk, June 26, 2014

“Camus’s Critique of Husserl’s Phenomenology in The Myth of Sisyphus”, Albert Camus Societies U.K./U.S., 7th Annual Joint Meeting, Swedenborg Society, London, November 7, 2013

“Phenomenology Is A Humanism”, Organization of Phenomenological Organizations, 4th World Conference, Instituto de Empresa Universidad, Segovia, September 20, 2011

“Are We Responsible for the Things that Appear to Us to be Good for Us?”, Husserl Circle, 40th Annual Meeting, University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, June 23, 2009

“From Violence to Evidence: Husserl and Sen on Human Identity and Diversity”, Husserl Circle, 38th Annual Meeting, Charles University / Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, April 24, 2007

Awards, grants, scholarships, distinctions

Research Ambassador for North America, German Academic Exchange Service (D.A.A.D.), 2009–

Re-invitation Grant, German Academic Exchange Service, 2017 (Free University of Berlin)

Re-invitation Grant, German Academic Exchange Service, 2010 (Free University of Berlin)

Summer Seminar Award, National Endowment for the Humanities, 2010 (Maghrib Center of Tunis)

Thirty Faculty Development Grants, Merrimack College, 1991–2020

Vice-Provost Innovation Fund Award for Partnership Merrimack College & Catholic University of Berlin, 2014

Teaching and Travel Awards, Merrimack College Summer Session, San Gimignano, Italy, 2012

Workshop and Travel Grant, Cologne University of Applied Sciences, 2012

Tunisia Research Grant, Order of Saint Augustine (O.S.A.), 2010

Faculty Fellowship, School of Liberal Arts, Merrimack College, 2006–07

Three Thagaste Symposium Awards, Center for Augustinian Study, Merrimack College, 2000, 2004, 2007

Re-invitation Grant, German Academic Exchange Service, 1998 (University of Cologne / University of Leuven)

Faculty Research and Publication Grant, University of Notre Dame, 1988

Faculty Research Grant, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame, 1987

Three Full Year Scholarships, German Academic Exchange Service, 1978–81

Grant for German Language Study at the Goethe Institute, German Academic Exchange Service, 1978

Board of Trustees Graduate Fellowship, The Catholic University of America, 1977–78

Theodore Basselin Fellowship, The Catholic University of America, 1973–76

Academic, administrative, and professional service

Ethical Compliance Officer, North American Society for Early Phenomenology, 2018–

Chair, Program Committee, Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists, 2016–18

Coordinator, Husserliana Panel, Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists, 2015–

Member, Executive Committee (Secretary), Organization of Phenomenological Organizations, 2014–

Member, Editorial Board, The New Yearbook for Phenomenology and Phenomenological Philosophy, 2014–

Reviewer of book manuscripts for Springer, Cambridge University Press, and other publishers

Reviewer of journal manuscripts for Acta Mexicana de Fenomenologia, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Analecta Husserliana, Augustinian Studies, Clio, Contributions to Phenomenology, Discipline Filosofiche, Ethical Education, Études phénoménologiques / Phenomenological Studies, HOPOS: History of Philosophy of Science, Horizon: Studies in Phenomenology, Husserl Studies, International Journal of the Humanities, Journal of Camus Studies, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Journal of Humanistic Psychology, Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy, Miscellanea anthropologica et sociologica, Phaenomenologica, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Schutzian Research, Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Studia phaenomenologica, Teoria: Rivista di Filosofia, The European Legacy, The Humanistic Psychologist

Organizer, Promoter, Moderator, Presenter: Cassiciacum Dialogues I–XV, Merrimack College, 2002–16

Professional memberships (past and present)

Albert Camus Society U.S./U.K.; Allgemeine Gesellschaft für Philosophie in Deutschland; American Association of University Professors; American Catholic Philosophical Association; American Philosophical Association; Austrian Ludwig Wittgenstein Society; Deutsche Gesellschaft für Phänomenologische Forschung; German Academic Exchange Service Alumni Association; Husserl Circle; Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists; International Association for the Study of the Philosophy of Edith Stein; International Humanities Conference; Museum of Fine Arts; Nordic Society for Phenomenology; North American Society for Early Phenomenology; Society for Hermeneutics and Translation Studies; Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy; Society for Phenomenology and the Human Sciences; United States Chess Federation; Deutscher Schachbund; World Phenomenology Institute; World Wildlife Fund

Contact information

Address Philosophy Department, Merrimack College, N. Andover, MA 01845

Telephone 978–837–3473

E-mail heffernang@merrimack.edu