On the Notion of a Phenomenological Constitution of Objectivity

In this paper we elaborate on the way in which Husserl analyzed the constitution of objectivity both of the ideal and of the material objects. A central question in The Origin of Geometry (1936) is how an internal, personal, psychological process of consciousness can evolve into the objectivity of objects. In line with the analysis of Husserl, we demonstrate the constitution of objectivity as a human practice with five layers which can be identified as: 1) the stage of "the self-evidence", 2) the condition of "retention", 3) the possibility of remembrance, 4) the inter-subjective stage of communication, and 5) the final stage of sedimentation. Throughout those five stages, we evolve from an intra-subjective through an inter-subjective into a final objective stage of an object, be it a real or an ideal object. With this phenomenological meaning of the concept of objectivity, both objectivity and subjectivity are not longer seen as the very opposite of each other. Instead, both concepts are indissolubly connected along a continuous line. Furthermore Husserl created a phenomenological foundation for both phenomena: mathematical objects and objects from the empirical sciences. Ever since, both objects are grounded in the original self-evidence which takes part at the Life-World.