Changyuan Chen, The figures of the cogito: Foucault, Derrida and the possibility of transcendental phenomenology. The Southern Journal of Philosophy, First published: 05 June 2026
https://doi.org/10.1111/sjp.70049
Abstract
This article examines the early Foucault as a reader of Husserl, a frequently overlooked dimension of his thought that nonetheless paved the way for the Foucault we recognize today. Drawing on his recently published manuscripts on phenomenology, it reconstructs the distinctive interpretation of phenomenology that the young Foucault was developing. Influenced by Heidegger and Fink, he sought to understand the transcendental cogito along a non-Cartesian path, thereby opening up phenomenology to ontological possibilities. Viewed through a Hegelian lens, he refused to confine phenomenology to mere descriptive analysis; instead, by tracing the interplay between the transcendental and the historical, he articulated a speculative orientation that characterized phenomenology as a “rationalism of being”. The article concludes by revisiting the cogito debate between Derrida and Foucault, revealing an unexpected proximity between the two philosophers.
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