The Origins of Sedimentation in Husserl 's Phenomenology

Bibliographic Data

ID14949522
AuthorsSaulius Geniuša (0000-0002-6086-8309, Department of Philosophy The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin New Territories Hong Kong SAR, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume33
Issue3
Pages1021-1037
Publication date2025-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0966-8373 • E-ISSN: 1468-0378
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/ejop.12931
OpenAlexW4391351941
LanguageEN
Citations received13
References cited24

Husserl is the philosopher who transformed the geological metaphor of sedimentation into a philosophical concept. While tracing the development of Husserl's reflections on sedimentation, I argue that the distinctive feature of Husserl's approach lies in his preoccupation with the question concerning the origins of sedimentations. The paper demonstrates that in different frameworks of analysis, Husserl understood these origins in significantly different ways. In the works concerned with the phenomenology of time consciousness, Husserl searched for the origins of sedimentation in the field of subjective experience, and more precisely, in impressional consciousness. By contrast, in the later works concerned with history, he maintained that the origins of sedimentations lie in the field of historical past that stretches beyond the reach of individual experience. Building on the basis of these resources, I argue that the Husserlian concept of sedimentation has three distinct components of senses: static, genetic, and generative. In the static sense, sedimentations are modifications of retentions and necessary conditions of recollection. In the genetic sense, sedimentations are necessary for the formation of types, habits and moods, and as such, they shape present experiences. In the generative sense, sedimentations refer to what consciousness inherits from the historical tradition

Epistemology · Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy · Philosophy · Philosophy and Historical Thought · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Psychology

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