Futurity in Phenomenology: Promise and Method in Husserl, Levinas, and Derrida (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy)

From Husserl's account of protention to the recent turn to eschatology in "theological" phenomenology, the future has always been a key aspect of phenomenological theories of time. This book offers the first sustained reflection on the significance of futurity for the phenomenological method itself. In tracing the development of this theme, the author shows that only a proper understanding of the two-fold nature of the future (as constitution and as openness) can clarify the way in which phenomenology brings the subject and the world together. Futurity therefore points us to the centrality of the promise for phenomenology, recasting phenomenology as a promissory discipline. Clearly written and carefully argued, this book provides fresh insight into the phenomenological provenance of the "theological" turn and the phenomenological conclusions of Husserl, Levinas, and Derrida. Closely examining the themes of protention, eschatology, and the messianic, it will be essential reading for anyone interested in phenomenology, philosophy of religion, deconstruction, or philosophical theology. The future figures prominently in much phenomenological work, but the methodological significance of the future for the discipline of phenomenology is rarely (if ever) the subject of direct inquiry. This book seeks to remedy that by showing the key role that futurity (the subject’s relation to the future) plays in two key elements of the phenomenological method: constitution and intentionality. It begins by examining the role that the future plays in Husserl’s phenomenological account of the meaning- and world-constituting function of consciousness. It then shows thatLevinas’ critique of this account of phenomenology is based on a distinct account of futurity: eschatology. This notion of eschatology is essential to Levinas’s attempt to reimagine phenomenology as an essentially intentional and ethical enterprise. Finally, the book explores Derrida’s reconciliation of the phenomenologies of Husserl and Levinas in a “phenomenology of tension” that is characteristic of deconstruction. Central to this project is the role of the future, especially as it manifests itself in the notions of differance and the messianic. By highlighting the role of the future in the phenomenological method, this book reveals the necessary intertwining of intentionality and constitution at the heart of phenomenology: the subject is always constituted and constituting. This two-fold sense of phenomenology is best understood via the notion of the promise, thereby establishing phenomenology as the essentially promissory discipline Contents 8 Abbreviations 10 Preface 16 Acknowledgements 18 Introduction 22 Futurity in the Constitution of Transcendental Subjectivity 32 Protention as More than Inverse Retention 34 Expecting the World 49 Experience and the Essential Possibility of Anticipation 62 Futurity and the ‘Openness’ of the Intentional Subject 76 Phenomenology, Openness, and Ethics as First Philosophy 78 From Eschatology to Awaiting 90 Levinas’s Unique Contribution to Futurity in Phenomenology 107 Futurity and Intentionality— The Promise of Relationship 118 Genesis, Beginnings, and Futurity 120 From Deferring to Waiting (for the Messiah) 136 The Promise of the Future 150 Conclusion 161 Notes 176 Bibliography 214 Index 228 Perspectives in Continental Philosophy 234 From Husserl's account of protention to the recent turn to eschatology in 'theological' phenomenology, the future has always been a key aspect of phenomenological theories of time. This book offers a sustained reflection on the significance of futurity for the phenomenological method itself. In tracing the development of this theme, the author shows that only a proper understanding of the two-fold nature of the future can clarify the way in which phenomenology brings the subject and the world together This book examines the methodological significance of the future in the work of Husserl, Levinas and Derrida. In doing so, it reveals phenomenology to be, in its essence, a promissory discipline. Neal Deroo. Includes Bibliographical References (p. ) And Index. Mode Of Access: World Wide Web.