The phenomenology of Edmund Husserl is in conformity with, and an outgrowth of, that traditional orientation of Western philosophy that we call the metaphysics of presence. This becomes manifest in the development of Husserl's epistemological teaching. We have also maintained, however, that in certain of Husserl's greatest phenomenological themes and descriptions he has contradicted, despite his intentions, this guiding notion of the primacy of the notion of presence; he has revealed instead the necessity for comprehending the co-primordiality of presence and absence.