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The chapter addresses the question of origins in the framework of Husserl's phenomenology. I argue that both the sense and the methodological justification of the phenomenological question of origins derive from the problematic of the horizon. I show that Husserl's notion of the horizon entails two dimensions of sense: the horizon is a horizon of reference and of validity. As a system of reference, the horizon embraces all the implications that each appearance draws to other appearances. The qualification of the horizon as a system of validity entails a further realization that an actual appearance entails references not only to other actual appearances, but also to other potential modes of appearances. I interpret the phenomenological question of origins as the question that traces the concealed sense-accomplishments, which qualify the sense of any appearing objectivity. On the basis of what is stated above, I argue that (1) the horizon as a system of validity clarifies the sense of the question of origins, and that (2) the possibility of the question of origins is secured by the horizon as a system of reference.

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-4644-2_8

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