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“knowledge about the world.” In ancient times, the philosopher was, or rather, he wassupposed to take on the role of, a priest, a wise man [magus], a seer, who, while distancedfrom the crowd as an erudite man, is at the same time an intellectual and political leaderfor the crowd. Nevertheless, he always asked “different questions” concerning the world.He did not regard external facts as the only reality. He also destroyed existing ways ofexplaining reality. In our own day, the preponderance of a liberated imagination allowsphilosophers to create works that are independent of existing thought-patterns: the greatertheir apparent irrationality, the greater the publicity for post-modern trends, and the higherthe recognition given to what preceded those trends. Philosophy has cut itself off from thephilosophical tradition, aesthetics has lost the classical sense of beauty, and consequentlyart has abandoned moral principles and truth. Yet God did appear in philosophical reflection,though not always in an open way, as He is, more often than not, hidden in theinterior workings of a system or becomes, as in Kant’s thought, the threshold beforewhich the human mind remains silent and does not inquire beyond.Some representatives of the school of philosophy established by Edmund Husserl, thatis, phenomenology, were interested in more than philosophy; they were also interested inissues concerning religion. They perceived that the methodology used in phenomenologyis equally conducive to the study of religious experience. This is evident, for example, inMircea Eliade, whose search focused on archaic and archetypal traces of religiosity in thehistory of religion. 4 Perhaps one should therefore ask, whether Husserl regarded himselfas a religious man, or rather, as a “man on the way,” who did not exclude the problem of Godfrom phenomenological research as such. However, does the version of phenomenologysuggested by him present us with any theoretical foundation for speaking of God at all?The Specific Character of Phenomenology as PhilosophyAccording to the etymology of the word phenomenology (phainómenon), phenomenologistsattempt to describe all essences that present themselves in the act of human cognition,both directly and clearly, sometimes even giving them the status of belonging to thethreshold of the cognitive sphere tout court. Phenomenology is therefore the science ofphenomena, the so-called primary philosophy, which wants to remain autonomous and freeof all assumptions, thereby providing a theoretical basis for scientific cognition or, for thatmatter, the whole of culture. Thus there is no reason for accusing philosophy of striving --even if only hopelessly -- for being first, without which it would die (as such). 5Phenomenologists also examine the sense, the essence of phenomena. By using aspecial procedure, i.e., ideation (built upon the notion of what is individual), we immediatelyand spontaneously grasp what is fundamental. As a result of assuming an eideticattitude (i.e., by focusing on the essence), the object of cognition is changed. It is nolonger the concrete, the individual (i.e., something existing in reality -- for instance, as abody -- or, purely intentionally, as a piece of art), but some ideal quality or set (assembly)of ideal qualities constituting the content of individual ideas. The act in which we obtaindirect knowledge of the content of ideas (for instance, ideas of a body or a human being),is called the eidetic examination (Wesensschau). This examination is a source of necessaryknowledge, which is concerned with the objectively existing ideal sphere. It is not createdby human consciousness; it exists, but not in reality (it is out of time and space, and does4See Andrzej Bronk, Zrozumieć świat współczesny (Lublin: Towarzystwo Naukowe KatolickiegoUniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 1998), 257-282.5See Jean-Luc Marion, Fenomenologia donacji a filozofia pierwsza, trans. Włodzimierz Starzyński(manuscript, 2).260