Over the course of writing this book, I have incurred many debts. Indeed, many of these debts extend well back before work began on this project. I must acknowledge Hubert Dreyfus, with whom I first studied Heidegger's Being and Time (and phenomenology more generally) and from whom I continue to learn and draw inspiration. Randall Havas has been a mentor and friend for roughly twenty years. Randall's influence on my thinking has been immeasurable and his support has been unwavering; he is also to be thanked for taking the time to provide detailed comments on previous drafts of this work. Another friend, Wayne Martin, also provided incredibly detailed, sometimes daunting, comments that I have tried to accommodate in the course of making revisions. Ed Minar also deserves special mention for reading the manuscript in its entirety and offering both criticism and encouragement. I should also like to thank the many people with whom I have discussed phenomenology over the years and from whose work I have learned more than I could ever have discovered on my own: Steven Affeldt, William Blattner, Taylor Carman, Steven Crowell, Charles Guignon, John Haugeland, Sean Kelly, Rebecca Kukla, Cristina Lafont, Jeff Malpas, Mark Okrent, Joseph Rouse, Ted Schatzki, Joseph Schear, Hans Sluga and Mark Wrathall, (And although it is very likely that the word "phenomenology" has never passed between us, I must acknowledge the tremendous influence of Barry Stroud on my thinking.) Some parts of the book were presented at an annual meeting of the International Society for Phenomenological Studies, and I am grateful to my fellow members for their insightful comments and criticisms. Thanks go as well to the people at Acumen connected with this project: Steven Gerrard and Tristan Palmer, and the series editor, Jack Reynolds, as well as two anonymous referees, who provided detailed, extremely helpful comments and criticisms. Thanks as well to Kate Williams for her easygoing expertise in preparing the manuscript for publication. I should also like to acknowledge Humanity Books, for allowing me to use bits and pieces of my paper, "Phenomenology: Straight and Hetero" in my discussion of Dennett and Husserl in Chapter 5.
A great deal of what is now this book began as lecture notes for courses I have taught over the past several years, and I am grateful to the many students who have allowed themselves to be subjected to my various fumbling attempts to understand and explain phenomenology. I have learned from them far more than they probably realize. The philosophy department at West Virginia University (WVU) has provided me with a happy and supportive environment in which to teach and continue my research, and I am grateful to my colleagues, especially to Richard Montgomery and Sharon Ryan, who have each served as department chair during the writing of this book. I am also grateful to WVU for granting me sabbatical leave in order to complete this project.
On a more personal level, I should like to thank my parents, Anne and Ralph, for their many years of love and support. My wife Lena and my two boys, Henry and Lowell, deserve the greatest thanks; without their love, understanding and inspiration, writing this book, like so much else, would not have been possible.
David R. Cerbone