Ego and Arch-Ego in Husserlian Phenomenology

Abstract

I will discuss the development of Husserl’s concept of the ego by concentrating on two central traits. In the first part I will present the different concepts of the ego starting with the Logical Investigations via Ideas I and II up to the first traces of genetic phenomenology. In the second part I will concentrate on the concept of the Ur-Ich (Arch-ego) in late genetic phenomenology. The concept of the Ur-Ich is to be found in the Bernau Manuscripts (1917/18), in the C-Manuscripts (1929-1934) and in the Crisis (1936). The Ur-Ich is still a difficult theme for the interpreters of Husserlian phenomenology because Husserl was not very elaborate in his treatment of this topic. The whole presentation is a kind of “history of the ego in Husserl,” but it is nevertheless quite a complicated story.