NDLI: Sinnboden der Geschichte: Foucault and Husserl on the structural a priori of history

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Moran, Dermot
Copyright Year	2016
Abstract	In this paper I explore Husserl’s and Foucault’s approaches to the historical a priori and defend Husserl’s richer notion. Foucault borrows the expression ‘historical a priori’ from Husserl and there are continuities, but also significant and ultimately irreconcilable differences, between their conceptions. Both are looking for ‘conditions of possibility,’ forms of ‘institution’ or instauration, and patterns of transformation (breakthroughs, disruptions), for scientific knowledge. Husserl identifies the ‘a priori of history’ with the ‘historical a priori’ and believes that the ‘invariant essential structures of the historical world’ (Crisis of European Sciences) can be identified. Foucault, on the other hand, is less interested in the Kantian inquiry into the limits or legitimization of knowledge than in the relation between knowledge and power. Foucault rejects the idea of universal and necessary a priori structures and denies that the structure of the conceptual framework (‘episteme’) governing an era can be fully determined. Both Foucault and Husserl contrast ‘inner’ history with external history, but, I argue, Foucault misconstrues Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology as a form of ‘absolute subjectivity’ against which his ‘archaeological’ method reacts. In fact, Foucault’s own conception of the historical a priori is ambiguous and fails to have explanatory value precisely because it misunderstands the need for the a priori to be both universal and necessary, and offers no account of the ‘a priori of historicity’ which, for Husserl, is essential to human cultural life.
Starting Page	13
Ending Page	27
Page Count	15
File Format	PDF
ISSN	13872842
Journal	Continental Philosophy Review
Volume Number	49
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	15731103
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2016-03-14
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Husserl Foucault A priori History Historicity Archaeology Phenomenology Philosophy of Man Political Philosophy
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Philosophy

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

Similar Documents

Husserl and Foucault on the historical apriori: teleological and anti-teleological views of history

History, critique, and freedom: the historical a priori in Husserl and Foucault

Deep history: reflections on the archive and the lifeworld

Foucault on experiences and the historical a priori: with Husserl in the rearview mirror of history

Foucault, Husserl and the philosophical roots of German neoliberalism

Strange eros: Foucault, ethics, and the historical a priori

Foucault, normativity and critique as a practice of the self

From the historical a priori to the dispositif: Foucault, the phenomenological legacy, and the problem of transcendental genesis

The other side of the canvas: Lacan flips Foucault over Velázquez

Sinnboden der Geschichte: Foucault and Husserl on the structural a priori of history