Genetische Phänomenologie der Internalisierung: Eine interdisziplinäre Anwendung von Husserls Spätwerk

Description of the Project

The concept of internalization denotes how the socially shaped environment is relevant for the emergence and development of patterns of thinking and action. While in a traditional account, it is typically understood passively, e.g. as social structures imposing certain patterns of thinking and action on the individual, in the contemporary social sciences more weight is put on the active participation of the individual in question. Internalization plays a crucial, if implicit role in different social sciences to the extent that it explains why ways of acting and thinking can diverge strongly between different times and places.

This project attempts to develop a phenomenological concept of internalization, mobilizing mainly resources from Edmund Husserl’s genetic phenomenology. The added value of introducing genetic phenomenology into the discussion on internalization lies in its double aim of, on one hand, resisting any naturalistic attempts to understand internalization as an interaction of passive or unconscious forces while, on the other hand, taking up the challenge of conceptualizing the subject as embedded in a social context. Concretely, a genetic phenomenology of internalization would describe the transcendental laws of motivation that govern the institution (“Stiftung”) of certain ways of apprehension (“Auffassung”), depending on the corresponding experiential history – a personal history that is always shared with others. In other words, because Husserl’s analyses of experience and particularly of perception show that the perceptual object is co-constituted by sedimented horizons, our experience is necessarily mediated by the past – but this does not mean that reality or our access to it turns into an illusion. Rather, a reflection on how our own horizons, types, and habitualities have been shaped in our interactions with others – “have been learned” – is possible and can open up new ways of thinking and action.

It is the ambition of this project to relate such a genetic-phenomenological concept of internalization back to the approach of the social sciences, not only to criticize naturalistic tendencies but more broadly to show the fruitfulness of a dialogue between the social sciences and phenomenology. For instance, Husserl’s phenomenology is well-suited to emphasize the deep-seated relevance of social experiences for even basic conceptions of the world – for instance in order to explain how the European gaze on indigenous people, such as the Selk’nam (see picture of a group of Selk’nam in a “human zoo”) has changed during the last century. Last but not least, the evidence collected in the social sciences is at the same time an important test of the phenomenological conceptualizations and their ability to seize concrete experiences in their variety.

 

Short biography

Julian Lünser obtained a B.A. in Liberal Arts and Humanities at Charles University, Prague, an M.A. in Philosophy at KU Leuven, and an M.A. in German and French Philosophy of the Master ErasmusMundus program, during which he studied at Charles University, Prague and Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès. His work is focused on Husserl’s phenomenology, particularly on the notions of horizon, passivity, intersubjectivity, and genetic analysis. Since 2021, he has been one of the two editors-in-chief of the academic journal AUC Interpretationes.

julian.luensergmail.com

 

Publications

Horizont und Alterität: Eine Auslegung von Husserls Phänomenologie (Monographie), 2023, AD FONTES Studien zur frühen Phänomenologie Bd. 17, Traugott Bautz (https://www.bautz.de/product-page/julian-l%C3%BCnser-horizont-und-alterit%C3%A4t ).

Aurélien Djian: Husserl et l’horizon comme problème (Buchrezension), 2023, Phenomenological Reviews (https://reviews.ophen.org/2023/09/30/aurelien-djian-husserl-et-lhorizon-comme-probleme/?lang=de).

 

Organization of Conferences

Stage d'Été (summer school) of the Erasmus MasterMundus Europhilosophie program, September 2022 at Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès.

 

Talks

2024

Posibilidad y Necesidad de una Fenomenología Genética de la Internalización at the Colloquium "Orientaciones actuales de la fenomenología", Universidad de Chile, Santiago de Chile.

2023

Understanding the Historicity of Transcendental Structures through the Genetic Notions of Horizon, Type and Habituality at the 8th yearly conference of the Central and East European Society for Phenomenology "Phenomenology and History", University of Novi Sad.

2022

Sedimentation, Habit and Horizon at the conference “The Phenomenological Concept of Sedimentation”, Lithuanian Culture Research Institute (LKTI), Vilnius.

Die Nation und ihr Rahmen at the Stage d'Été (summer school) of the Erasmus MasterMundus Europhilosophie program, Université Toulouse II Jean-Jaurès.

2020

Explikation como Movimiento, at the 5th National Student’s Colloquium for Phenomenology, Chilean Association for Phenomenology (AChFen).

2019

Welcher Weg führt im Sokratischen Gruppengespräch zu allgemeingültigen Aussagen? at the 8th international conference of the Gesellschaft für Sokratisches Philosophieren (GSP) „Grenzen / Limits-Borders-Boundaries“, Springe.

2018

Der Ursprung der Zeit: Konstitution der Zeitlichkeit und Kinästhesen at the 1st International Research-Summer School in Genetic Phenomenology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw.