Egology, generativity, and the biological complementarity of Husserl’s transcendental phenomenology.

Abstract

In this paper, we point out that Husserl’s determination of the living includes genetic and generative moments, which operate in parallel and cannot be ignored. Through the analysis of Steinbock’s and Walton’s proposals regarding the tension between the generative and genetic methods, we show that the determination of the human world contains biological elements that are indispensable to consider, and therefore, generativity must include it. In this regard, we argue that human beings belong to a double biogenerative context that puts them in relation to other beings they identify as living. Finally, considering Husserl’s late reflections, we conclude by pointing out that the lifeworld cannot be purely human, as living beings are also constitutively included in it.