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E. HUSSERL’S LATE PHENOMENOLOGY AND PSYCHICAL RESEARCH IN THE CONTEXT OF A MYSTOCENTRIC APPROACH

Abstract
The article aims to make a comparison of methodological positions and principles presented in the works of the late E. Husserl and methodological theses of works related to the psychical research movement (A. N. Aksakov, N. P. Vagner, V. S. Soloviev, L. Hellenbach). It takes under scrutiny the program of psychical research in the perspective of the history of esoterism as “rejected knowledge,” whose representatives tried to conceive a unified worldview resolving the conflict between science and religion. It reveals the reasons why “mystocentric” researchers of esotericism considered phenomenology relevant to their research tasks: the search for a unified ontological foundation overcoming the Cartesian dualism of matter and spirit; the concept of the “lifeworld” as a special place of meaning and cosmos, opposing the “disenchanted” world of modern science; the criticism of “positivist” science and the “natural attitude”; the priority of intuition and analogy as methods of cognition; the scientific millenarism characteristic of innovative scientific projects. The research of “psychical phenomena” should be considered as research of “extra-philosophical phenomenology” important for understanding the historical and cultural context of the formation of the phenomenological movement in the first half of the XX century. The article emphasizes the philosophical aspect of psychical research which aimed at revealing the transcendental nature of man. The late Husserl’s program and the program of psychical research are defined as different reactions to the crisis of European science in its transition from the classical to the non-classical period. The phenomenological movement and the movement of psychical research should be viewed as manifestations of the monistic tendency in European philosophy, aimed at overcoming Cartesian dualism and going back to the ideas of the Cambridge Platonists.

Keywords
phenomenology, E. Husserl, esotericism, psychical research, mystocentrism.

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