Abstract

TADDEI, Paulo Mendes. Solipsism and thematic epoché in Husserl’s Fifth Cartesian Meditation. Conjectura: filos. e Educ. [online]. 2023, vol.28, e023029. ISSN 2178-4612.  https://doi.org/10.18226/21784612.v28.e023028.

In the Fifth Cartesian Meditation, Husserl notoriously attempts to dispel the illusion of “transcendental solipsism”. Among the many difficulties this text presents, I intend to reconstruct two of them: the vagueness concerning the notion of solipsism, and the ambiguity relating to the thematic epoché and its phenomenological dimension. In analyzing both issues, I strive to offer clarifications which are necessary for any assessment of Husserl’s success in the Fifth Meditation. Following a line of interpretation extant in the secondary literature which I call the Double-Task Interpretation, I maintain there are two different methods going by the name “thematic epoché”, as well as to two different tasks being pursued by Husserl: a static and a genetic one. I proceed as follows: I first (Sect. I) contextualize Husserl’s goal in the Fifth Meditation vis-à-vis some classical positions in the secondary literature; I then (Sect. 2) reconstruct the vagueness affecting the notion of solipsism, both within and beyond Husserl; after that (Sect. 3), I present how the thematic epoché, as offered in the Fifth Meditation, is ambiguous, an ambiguity which also relates to the vagueness of the notion of solipsism; analyzing a short textual passage from Intersubjektivität III, I then (Sect. 4) outline the Double-Task Interpretation of the Fifth Meditation, showing its general advantages and challenges; I finally (Sect. 5) conclude by considering the advantages of the Double-Task Interpretation for the assessment of Husserl’s success in the Fifth Meditation.

Keywords : Husserl; Thematic Epoché; Alterity; Solipsism; Cartesian Meditations.

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