While Plato claimed that there was a legitimate ontological and epistemological distinction between appearances and the mind-independent world, Husserl 's phenomenology conflates appearances and reality.43 Although their views of what constitutes reality differ, Phenomenology seems committed to the direct realist, anti-representationalist view that reality appears to us.44 This is made most notable by Husserl 's anti-Kantian view that things themselves are not representative of a mind-independent reality but are rather given to us.45 The object appears but only appears to a particular consciousness.46 Knowledge for the phenomenologist than consists in bracketing this natural attitude found in Plato and to be presented with the things themselves. By making this epistemic shift, phenomenology creates an entirely new moment in philosophical …show more content…
Intentionality involves simply a study of meaning in given intentional acts and intentional objects. The crux of this belief is that consciousness is conscious of something. To Husserl, the question of the existence of these acts of consciousness has been bracketed. This consciousness can be directed towards mathematical structures, ordinary objects and even fantastical creatures and hallucinations. This does not mean that hallucinations and fantastical creatures actually exist, it merely means that they are intended objects like any other.47 By studying what is given and the relation between intentional acts and intentional structures, Husserl believes that we can receive a solid foundation for