Crisis – of Phenomenology
Miguel de Beistegui
Research in Phenomenology May 12, 2026 DOI: 10.1163/15691640-12341593 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Philosophy of mind |
| Key points | Argues that Husserlian phenomenology cannot think history without renouncing its fundamental principles. The author contends that Merleau-Ponty's diagnosis of a double crisis of Western rationality points to a crisis within phenomenology itself, which Fanon, Patočka, and Derrida each emphasize: returning to the lifeworld or "Nature-for-us" only reveals further historical sedimentation, so archaeology and genealogy, not phenomenology or "transcendental geology," are what enable historical critique. |
Abstract
This article locates an irreducible point of crisis in phenomenology’s attempt to think historically and critically. Using the notion of crisis as my guiding thread, I show how Husserlian phenomenology cannot think history, or historically, without renouncing its fundamental principles. I focus on Merleau-Ponty’s diagnosis of a double crisis of western rationality – the collapse of its “civilizing” mission at a time of decolonial struggles and the collapse of our relation to Nature through science and technology – in his later writings, and show how they point to a moment of crisis within phenomenology, one that Fanon, Patočka, and Derrida, each in their own way, emphasize and invite us to draw to their logical conclusion: every attempt to overcome such crises by returning to the firm, common foundation of the lifeworld, or “Nature-for-us,” reveals another layer of historical sedimentation. Not phenomenology, or “transcendental geology,” but archaeology and genealogy enable us to reach the standpoint of historical critique.
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