Ego Splitting and Intuitive Presentifications

This paper is concerned with such themes as the status of the ego in phenomenology, the splitting of the ego, and wakeful and absorbed presentifications. While corroborating the common view in phenomenology that all experiences are my experiences, here I maintain that mineness can be spoken of in many ways. The paper is primarily focused on the sense of mineness that characterizes those experiences, which in phenomenology are identified as intuitive presentifications (anschauliche Vergegenwärtigungen). Within such a framework, I defend three claims. First, the splitting of the ego constitutes a necessary feature of all presentifications. Second, presentifications are essentially of two kinds, wakeful and absorbed. Third, the difference between wakefulness and absorption is one of degree, not kind. Experience constitutes a spectrum with wakeful experiences veering toward one end and absorbed experiences veering towards the other end. Following James Mensch, I maintain that phenomenology of absorption provides us with a standpoint that is both inside and outside presence. On this basis, I conclude that phenomenology of absorption provides us with the resources needed to resist one of the most common critiques of phenomenology, which identifies phenomenology as metaphysics of presence.