The phenomenological concept of definiteness: Husserl v. his interpreters, and tertium non datur

In this paper, I analyze Husserl’s concept of definiteness and its most common interpretations, starting with the one provided by Oskar Becker in his habilitation thesis written under Husserl’s supervision. The notion of definiteness characterizes a consistent and complete formal system and has long been a subject of heated debate. Contrary to the widespread reading of the concept of definiteness as a certain standard (either a realistic or an idealistic one) devised for the exact sciences, I propose to view this concept as a descriptive term in the transcendental sense of the word. I argue that such an interpretation is grounded in Husserl’s “principle of all principles” and helps get a much better grasp of his phenomenological approach to mathematics and logic.