Reason and Its Living Horizons in Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology

Abstract

Husserl rejects the contrast between human life as an irrational factum and reason as an objectifying force that is hostile to life. Hence he moves away from the incompatibility between philosophy as science and philosophy of life. This paper has two purposes. First, it attempts to analyze the sequence of living horizons of reason, i.e., to lay out a progressive bringing-into-play that begins in a primal history linked to instinct, goes through history proper with its manners of practical reason, and reaches its culmination in a second historicity with a teleological development. In his last dated manuscript, Husserl speaks of “the upright, fair reason of the natural, sound human understanding” that plays a role before “the scientific, philosophical reason” (Hua XXIX, 386). Secondly, against this background, phenomenology of reason is considered as a view that is grounded in passive fulfillments, traces theory back to life, and emphasizes the interpenetration of the various manifestations of reason. It is argued that the relationship between intention and fulfillment pervades the movement from latent to manifest reason, renders possible different modes of rational legitimation, and shows distinctive traits in each mode. With regard to the vitality of Husserlian reason, a brief epilogue for the Spanish speaking world deals with some of J. Ortega y Gasset’s views on the issue.