On the verge of subjectivity

phenomenologies of death

Christian Sternad

Universität Koblenz-Landau
Univerzita Karlova v Praze

pp. 231-243

in: Iulian Apostolescu (ed), The subject(s) of phenomenology, Berlin, Springer, 2020

Abstract

This article analyzes various phenomenological approaches to death and articulates how these approaches affect their respective conceptions of subjectivity. Since death interrupts the correlation between the subject and the object, it puts into question the fundamental premises of the phenomenological method. If a phenomenon can only appear for a subject, then how can phenomenology deal with a phenomenon that ends subjectivity? By going through classical positions, I seek to demonstrate that one can only gain a full picture of human mortality by a thorough account of intersubjectivity. Since death is not only one isolated experience at the end of our lives, I will argue that it is death that structures the ways in which we engage with others and our lifeworld.