The purpose of the article is to determine the circumstances and patterns that determined the spreading of German phenomenology into the English-speaking world and, first of all, to the United States. A number of the earliest dated documents covering this topic were examined. The results of the work could be summed up as follows. 1) The program of "translating" phenomenological issues into the language of English-language philosophy is clearly divided into diplomatic efforts with respect to both British and North American philosophy; even before the beginning of the 30s (the beginning of the forced emigration of scientists from Europe) philosophers associated with phenomenology were rather interested in the United States and the American type of organization of science. 2) Phenomenology’s foreign contacts are to be viewed as a logical continuation of the struggle for recognition that German phenomenologist were engaged in the German scientific community. 3) In his popularization of phenomenology Husserl relies greatly on "idealism". 4) He tries to get all the help possible from his foreign students and strives to build upon the philosophers that have already received recognition in their homeland (J. Royce). 5) This strategy turns out to be ineffective due to the powerful opposition to idealism characteristic of American philosophy under the influence of pragmatism; this opposition has existed since the beginning of the 20th century, this opposition gradually increases in 1914, 1933 and 1939. 6) Apart from this important omission, Husserl does not seem to be sufficiently familiar with the problems on which his American and British colleagues are working. 7) The penetration of phenomenology into the American world should be viewed as the result of the interaction of two "strategies": Husserl's and British-American; The internal contradictions initially present in this complex affected the subsequent understanding of phenomenology in the US.
The purpose of the article is to determine the circumstances and patterns that determined the spreading of German phenomenology into the English-speaking world and, first of all, to the United States. A number of the earliest dated documents covering this topic were examined. The results of the work could be summed up as follows. 1) The program of "translating" phenomenological issues into the language of English-language philosophy is clearly divided into diplomatic efforts with respect to both British and North American philosophy; even before the beginning of the 30s (the beginning of the forced emigration of scientists from Europe) philosophers associated with phenomenology were rather interested in the United States and the American type of organization of science. 2) Phenomenology’s foreign contacts are to be viewed as a logical continuation of the struggle for recognition that German phenomenologist were engaged in the German scientific community. 3) In his popularization of phenomenology Husserl relies greatly on "idealism". 4) He tries to get all the help possible from his foreign students and strives to build upon the philosophers that have already received recognition in their homeland (J. Royce). 5) This strategy turns out to be ineffective due to the powerful opposition to idealism characteristic of American philosophy under the influence of pragmatism; this opposition has existed since the beginning of the 20th century, this opposition gradually increases in 1914, 1933 and 1939. 6) Apart from this important omission, Husserl does not seem to be sufficiently familiar with the problems on which his American and British colleagues are working. 7) The penetration of phenomenology into the American world should be viewed as the result of the interaction of two "strategies": Husserl's and British-American; The internal contradictions initially present in this complex affected the subsequent understanding of phenomenology in the US.