The Problem Of Retention In Time Consciousness Within Husserl

The discussion of Husserl's transition from the early static phenomenology to the genetic phenomenology has always been the focus of the academmic circles.This paper tries to respond to Derrida's deconstruction of Husserl's theory of inner time consciousness by combining with the changes of the concept of "retention" in Husserl's theroy of time consciousness,so as to grasp the clues of Husserl's transition from the early static phenomenology to the genetic phenomenology.This paper is divided into four parts,of which the first part "the theoretical significance of the study of time consciousness and retention",directly explains the main idea of this paper.Firstly,it shows the difference between Husserl's theroy of inner time consciousness and other two traditional views of time,and explains the three periods of Husserl's study of time to better grasp its theoretical background.Secondly,i will analyz the characteristics of the time consciousness field.They are purity primitivity and adequation,so as to grasp the original status of the time consciousness as the final construction.Finally,the correlation between the change of the position of the retention in the study of time consciousness and its research background is analyzed,which indicates Husserl's transition from the early static phenomenology to the genetic phenomenology.The second part "related explanation of the concept of retention".Firstly,i will explain the relationship between Husserl's "retention" and Brentano's "original association";Secondly,according to the chart,i will clarify the structure of time consciousness,which is composed by "retention"?"originary impression" and"protention".Thirdly,i will make a distinction between "retention" and "recall";Finally,according to Derrida's deconstruction about Husserl's inner time consciousness theory,and the confusing between "retention" and "recall",i will show Derrida's theoretical operation of deconstructing the original status of "originary impression" through"retention",so as to pave the way for the following.The third part "absolute river and dual intentionality of retention" mainly shows that in grasping the "absolute river",Husserl's analysis and investigation by "retention"will eventually lead to the dilemma of "infinite retreat".Firstly,i will show that there are three different construction stages of Husserl's theory of inner time consciousness.They are "objective time","inner time" and "the absolute river as the final construction",among them the first two stages are rooted in "absolute river".So,how do we grasp this absolute river?Next,Husserl made a tentative study by the dual intentionality of"retention".His investigation eventually lead to the dilemma of infinite retreat,because he was still using the static analysis schema of "matter—form".Therefore,Husserl began to try a new analysis method to investigate the absolute river in "Bernau manuscript".Finally,through the analysis of absolute river,we can see Husserl's "pure ego".And the acceptance of the pure ego is also the necessary premise for Husserl's investigation about the "original process" in the "Bernau manuscript".The fourth part,"discussion of the original process in the "Bernau manuscript",examines Husserl's new attempt to master the absolute river in the "Bernau manuscript".Firstly,Husserl replaced the original concept of "originary impression" by "originary process",and made a more dynamic analysis about the structure of inner time consciousness,which shows the interactive influence between "retention" and"protention".Secondly,on the basis of the analysis of the original process,Husserl distinguished the temporality of the ego from that of the elements.When the elements have not entered the temporality structure of the ego,they still contained by the time intention of the ego,which indicates that the original flow of ego is not necessarily accompaied by constitut activity.It also proves the externality and one—sidedness of Derrida's deconstruction about Hussrl's inner time consciousness phenomenology.Finally,through the analysis above,this paper attempts to summarize the clues of Husserl's transition from static phenomenology to genetic phenomenoloy.