Abstract

The uniqueness of Foucault's work bears not least on a rare combination of meticulous historical research and philosophical abstraction. However, this combination—exemplified by the notion of the 'historical a priori'—also induces a fundamental tension that seems impossible to resolve. By tracing Foucault's 'historical a priori' back to Husserl, the paper shows that the concept remained unwillingly bound to this phenomenological legacy. In a comparison with American Pragmatism, drawing on its major similitudes with and differences to Foucault's thought, the author finally hints at a possible remedy for these methodological contradictions.

Keywords: apriori, archaeology, phenomenology, pragmatism, transcendentalism, Foucault, Husserl

How to Cite: Erb, Maurice. "Husserl versus Foucault: 'Apriori' revisited." Le foucaldien 1, no. 1 (2015): 1–7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.16995/lefou.3 [Note: In 2022, Le foucaldien relaunched as Genealogy+Critique.]