Internal and External Experience: From Husserl to Kant

Abstract

If Kant and Husserl both elaborate a form of transcendental idealism, they undoubtedly assign a quite different function and consistency to internal experience in relationship to external experience. The paper analyzes the consequences of this remarkable discrepancy and shows that bringing together the two forms of idealism could imply a significant risk of confusion. Kant and Husserl’s relationship to Descartes is invoked and examined as an illustration of this claim. While stating that the nature and conditions of internal experience decide of the meaning of transcendental idealism, the paper also discusses the positions of the two German philosophers towards psychology.

Keywords: Husserl, Kant, internal experience, external experience, idealism, psychology