Abstract

The present article has for main purpose to reassess the meaning and validity of Husserl’s distinction between living (erleben) and perceiving (wahrnehmen), in response especially to Claude Romano’s critique of the adumbration (Abschattung) theory of perception and of phenomenological idealism. To do so, we examine firstly the way in which Husserl develops this distinction in the Logical Investigations, and attempt to identify certain early motifs behind the transcendental turn. A comparison of the Husserlian conception of experience with William James’ descriptive psychology is in this regard instructive. Finally, we argue that it is the thesis that perception is grounded in lived experience, or that identical being is grounded in fluent being, that ultimately allows Husserl to overcome certain difficulties related to the Cartesian way towards the phenomenological reduction.