Riviste / Discipline Filosofiche / A partire da Husserl / La “lutte pour la vie et la mort” : les fondements affectifs de la conflictualité chez Husserl

The scope of this paper is to shed light on the conception of conflict that arises within Husserl’s theory of instincts. In his description of the primary instinct of self-preservation (Selbsterhaltung), Husserl comes to the unforeseen conclusion that struggle belongs to the very essence of subjectivity. As every subject has to maintain himself by maintaining common things and spaces under its reach and will, an inner possibility of conflict lays in the foundation of the intersubjective world. The alter ego is therefore not only a partner but also one who threatens the constitutive freedom and omnipotence of the self. Those considerations let us consider anew the affective dynamics that guides the constitution of human experience and that is not free of conflictuality, contrary to the usual belief we have of Husserl’s thought.