On the Notion of a Phenomenological Constitution of Objectivity

Objectivity is often thought as the very opposite of subjectivity in the sense that both concepts have nothing to do with each other. At the same time the notion of objectivity is discussed in terms of the possibility of its 'pure' existence. Both interpretations of objectivity have to do with a conception of objectivity as if objectivity has fallen from the sky. In this presentation we first want to demonstrate the linkage between objectivity and subjectivity. Second we will present the constitution of objectivity as an intentional human practice.

It was the founding father of phenomenology, Husserl, who analyzed the way in which objectivity is constructed and thus is characterized as a human practice. In this sense, it was Husserl who gave a humanized interpretation of the growth of objectivity and its construction founded in the really subjectivity. From now on, objectivity and subjectivity can not longer be seen as discrete opposite concepts. Both concepts, objectivity and subjectivity, are indissolubly connected with each other along a continuous line of more or less objective or subjective in-betweens.

In his Origin of Geometry (1936), Husserl analyzes the process in witch a really subjective impression becomes the founding ground of the growth of objectivity, not only in relation to ideal objects but also connected to the so called material or real objects. In his analysis Husserl takes geometrical objects which are ideal mathematical objects as the examples par excellence. However the topic of the constitution of objectivity is also applicable to real objects insofar objective sciences studying those real objects -like physics and later on human sciences- found there objectivity through the application of mathematics.

In this presentation we want to 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 his Origin of Geometry (1936) is the way in which an internal, personal, psychological process of consciousness can evolve into the objectivity of objects, both material and ideal objects. In line with the analysis of Husserl, we want to demonstrate the constitution of objectivity as a human practice with five layers which can be identified as: 1) the stage of the first evidence, "the self-evidence", 2) the condition of "retention", 3) the possibility of remembrance, of "reawakeness", 4) the inter-subjective stage of communication, and 5) the a final stage of sedimentation.
Throughout those five stages, we evolve from an intra-subjective through a inter-subjective into a final objective stage of an object, be it a material 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 with each other along a continuous line.