Aristotle and Husserl on the relationship between the necessity of a fact and contingency
Abstract
Aristotle’s philosophy and Husserl’s phenomenology both give immediate access to effective reality. A full ontology presupposes the facticity or givenness of the world. They both state the necessity of factual existence inasmuch as the presence of a being (Aristotle) or of the self-givenness of the Ego and of the world (Husserl) establishes itself in experience as apodictically evident. Both share the view that worldly beings are characterized by their contingency, though they differ as to its necessity. This chapter will argue that facticity paired with the accidental allows for the irruption of an event as Ereignis. It will thus examine the relationship between the absolute and the conditional necessity of a fact, as well as the contingent features involved therein at both authors, insofar as facticity is concerned.