Husserl'S Concept Of The Vorwelt And The Possible Annihilation Of The World

Keywords

Edmund Husserl; genetic phenomenology; intentionality; phenomenology; pre-world

Abstract

In this paper I explore a curious phenomenon discussed in Husserl's later manuscripts under the name "pre-world." This notion arises in the context of his ongoing development of a genetic phenomenology, i.e., a phenomenology that is concerned with the dynamics of conscious life, concerning both the generation of new meaning for consciousness and new dimensions of conscious life. The pre-world is one such dimension. I explore it here in two stages. First, I consider the initial unsavoriness of the very idea of a pre-world, whose metaphysical implications are suspect, on the surface. Nevertheless, I show that the pre-world puts the subject in contact with reality in a very special sense that should remedy this worry. Second, I show how the notion of the pre-world re-opens Husserl's thought of the possible annihilation of the world from Ideas i. In fact, it explains the possibility, by revealing its experiential ground.

Publication Date

4-8-2015

Publication Title

Research in Phenomenology

Volume

45

Issue

1

Number of Pages

108-126

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1163/15691640-12341304

Socpus ID

84930894323 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84930894323

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