Phenomenology and culture: critical meaning and limits of Husserl’s notion of Europe

Abstract

The paper discusses the problem of a transcendental phenomenological rationality in relation to cultural diversities. Its main argument is that the notion of Europe or (universal) philosophical culture can be interpreted on the basis of the ethical concept of responsibility, particularly the response to alien cultural worlds. In this view, phenomenology is not an emblem of a “superior cultural world” in relation to the “others”, but a kind of inter-monadical and intercultural rationality.

Key words: phenomenology, culture, transcendental, responsibility, identity, differences.