Phenomenology began as an ontology. It was a question of going beyond psychologistic interpretations which transformed the real into a collection of states of consciousness so as to return to the things themselves and to rediscover the meaning of being in the fullness of its truth. The first effort of Husserlian analysis set its sights precisely on the very notion of truth which had been obscured by the reigning empiricism. It aimed at restoring the concept of being in all its dignity, and the enthusiasm that welcomed the first volume of the Logische Untersuchungen demonstrated that the authenticity of human existence itself was also at stake.