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International Studies in Phenomenology and Philosophy

Journal | Volume | Article

142304

What is the question to which Husserl's Fifth Cartesian meditation is the answer?

Tanja Staehler

pp. 99-117

Abstract

Interpreters generally agree that the Fifth Cartesian Meditation fails to achieve its task, but they do not agree on what that task is. In my essay, I attempt to formulate the question to which the Fifth Cartesian Meditation gives the answer. While it is usually assumed that the text poses a rather ambitious question, I suggest that the text asks, "How is the Other given to me on the most basic level?" The answer would be that the Other is given as accessible in the mode of inaccessibility. Husserl's failure to convey this question clearly seems rooted in ambiguities concerning the concepts of solipsism and the sphere of ownness.

Publication details

Published in:

(2008) Husserl Studies 24 (2).

Pages: 99-117

DOI: 10.1007/s10743-008-9036-4

Full citation:

Staehler Tanja (2008) „What is the question to which Husserl's Fifth Cartesian meditation is the answer?“. Husserl Studies 24 (2), 99–117.