Meaning of the Question of Mood in Phenomenology

This paper is dedicated to the exploration of the question of the mood as one of the important problems, that are specified and clarified in phenomenology and have consitutive meaning for the (self-)understanding of philosophy. The question of mood (as the question of the essence, or ousia of the mood) has its meaning precisely in philosophical questioning, while other disciplines (particularly psychology and theory of arts) apply «mood» as strictly operational term and do not problematize its meaning. This research provides a theoretical reconstruction of the history of this question referring to the works of E. Husserl, M. Heidegger, J.-P. Sartre, M. Merleau-Ponty, E. Levinas and P. Ricoeur. It is proposed not only to take into consideration the interpretation of the term of the mood (Stimmung, Grundstimmung, tonalité, atmosphère), but also to clarify the mood of the philosophizing of the mentioned authors. In addition, this work also includes several phenomenological sketches (essays) as the meditations on the essence of the mood and on the opportunity to explicate a certain philosophical mood, that disposes man to thinking and to the world. Key words: questioning, mood, disposition, reflexivity, atmosphere, colour, tone, phenomenology, Stimmung, tonalité, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Levinas, Ricoeur