Outside Phenomenology?

Abstract

Abstract This essay marks the start of a bold reorientation of a philosophical vision of the author: where the texts of the Christian theological tradition once served as point of reference, it is now the experience of trauma that guides the phenomenological investigation – specifically, the trauma of illness, separation, the death of a child, natural disaster, and the pandemic. These experiences, which befall me without rhyme or reason, open up a new field that has hitherto remained unthought by – and indeed unthinkable to – the phenomenological tradition: extra-phenomenality. As extra-phenomenal, a trauma is neither infra-phenomenal (preparing phenomenality) nor supra-phenomenal (overflowing phenomenality), but rather denotes the destruction of all possible categories of synthesis or horizons of phenomenalization: it is properly speaking outside of lived-experience both in that it cannot be lived through by the traumatized subject in conscious experience as well as making all subsequent lived-experiences impossible. Yet, existence nevertheless persists in this crisis: it is thus not a question of attempting to escape it, or pursuing the restauration of a previous state; but rather of a different way of being there. In this way, trauma reminds us of the very essence of our humanity as a continued transformation.