Abstract
In the proposed paper I would like to address the topic of the sensible in its role at the historical beginning of the phenomenological theme of the 'natural world', pointing at the relation between the positivistic thought of Ernst Mach and Richard Avenarius, and the phenomenological topic of the life-world. This topic originated from Husserl's critical reception of Empiriocriticism and was influenced by Avenarius also in Husserl's later meditation.
Avenarius played in fact an important role for the development of Husserl's concept of the life-world, since this can be recognized as an evolution of his earlier concept of the 'natural world' or 'world of the natural attitude', which was developed under the direct influence of Avenarius' 'natural world concept' around 1910; a further influence of Avenarius - in particular on the later Husserlian concept of an 'epoché in respect to the objective sciences' that appears in the Crisis - can be proven on the basis of Husserl's writings and manuscripts from the 1920s.
I will first sketch the theme of the 'natural world concept' in Avenarius (and Mach) focusing on its connection with the topic of the sensible. I will then point out Husserl's positive remarks on these authors, which he recognized as precursors Phenomenology and of its method - especially on their descriptive approach to the 'natural world' and their critique of materialism and of its devaluation of sense data (for example of perceived colors, sounds, heat etc.). Furthermore, I will address the phases of Husserl's reception of these authors which influenced the concept of the life-world and its genesis. I will finally sketch Husserl's main points of critique of this first, positivistic characterization of the 'natural world', which can be recognized especially in its naturalistic presuppositions and in its rootedness in modern Empiricism.