The Paradox of Subjectivity: The Self in the Transcendental Tradition

by David Carr

Overview

Much effort in recent philosophy has been devoted to attacking the metaphysics of the subject. Identified largely with French post-structuralist thought, yet stemming primarily from the influential work of the later Heidegger, this attack has taken the form of a sweeping denunciation of the whole tradition of modern philosophy from Descartes through Nietzsche, Husserl, and Existentialism. In this timely study, David Carr contends that this discussion has overlooked and eventually lost sight of the distinction between modern metaphysics and the tradition of transcendental philosophy inaugurated by Kant and continued by Husserl into the twentieth century. Carr maintains that the transcendental tradition, often misinterpreted as a mere alternative version of the metaphysics of the subject, is in fact itself directed against such a metaphysics.
Challenging prevailing views of the development of modern philosophy, Carr proposes a reinterpretation of the transcendental tradition and counters Heidegger's influential readings of Kant and Husserl. He defends their subtle and complex transcendental investigations of the self and the life of subjectivity. In Carr's interpretation, far from joining the project of metaphysical foundationalism, transcendental philosophy offers epistemological critique and phenomenological description. Its aim is not metaphysical conclusions but rather an appreciation for the rich and sometimes contradictory character of experience. The transcendental approach to the self is skillfully summed up by Husserl as "the paradox of human subjectivity: being a subject for the world and at the same time being an object in the world."

Proposing striking new readings of Kant and Husserl and reviving a sound awareness of the transcendental tradition, Carr's distinctive historical and systematic position will interest a wide range of readers and provoke discussion among philosophers of metaphysics, epistemology, and the history of philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195126907
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/03/1999
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)
Lexile:	1330L (what's this?)

About the Author

Emory University

Table of Contents

	Key to Abbreviations	xi
	Introduction: Reviving the Question of Subjectivity	3
1	Heidegger on Modern Philosophy and the Transcendental Subject	11
2	Kant: Subjectivity and Apperception	33
3	Husserl: Subjectivity and Intentionality	67
4	The Self in the Transcendental Tradition	99
	Conclusion: The Paradox of Subjectivity	133
	Notes	141
	Index	147

Editorial Reviews

David Carr's Paradox of Subjectivity is a brilliant and challenging defense of the legitimacy and distinctiveness of the transcendental tradition in modern philosophy. This is a splendid book, to be enjoyed by anyone interested in Kant, or in the philosophical problems that gripped him. The Philosophical Review David Carr's Paradox of Subjectivity is a brilliant and challenging defense of the legitimacy and distinctiveness of the transcendental tradition in modern philosophy. This is a splendid book, to be enjoyed by anyone interested in Kant, or in the philosophical problems that gripped him. The Philosophical Review "...a timely and refreshing defense of the tradition of transcendental philosophy in Kant and Husserl against Heidegger's influential attack....The erudition and clarity of this fine study make it accessible to both undergraduate and graduate audiences. This is a welcome addition to all collections supporting a major in philosophy."—Choice

"A brilliant and challenging defense of the legitimacy and distinctiveness of the transcendental tradition in modern philosophy takes the world as given and explores it factually...this is a splendid book, to be enjoyed by anyone interested in Kant, or in the philosophical problems that gripped him."—The Philosophical Review

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