Phenomenological epoché requires that I ‘lose’ the world as naïvely taken for granted in order to ‘regain’ it through universal self‑examination; in this way the Delphic ‘Know thyself’ and Augustine’s ‘Do not go outside’ gain a new signification, as positive science is revealed to be a science ‘lost in the world’ that must be grounded in transcendental self‑knowledge.

By Edmund Husserl, from Cartesian Meditations

Key Arguments

  • Husserl remarks that ‘The Delphic motto, “Know thyself!” has gained a new signification. Positive science is a science lost in the world.’
  • He then formulates the necessity of epoché for regaining the world: ‘I must lose the world by epoché, in order to regain it by a universal self-examination.’
  • He reinforces this with Augustine’s injunction: ‘“Noli foras ire,” says Augustine, “in te redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas.”’, presenting it as a classical expression of the same demand for inward turn.
  • By linking these mottos to his method, he suggests that traditional calls to self‑knowledge are fulfilled in the transcendental‑phenomenological turn, which alone can ground ‘positive science’, otherwise ‘lost in the world’.

Source Quotes

We can say also that a radical and universal continuation of Cartesian meditations, or (equivalently) a / universal self-cognition, is philosophy itself and encompasses all self-accountable science. The Delphic motto, “Know thyself!” has gained a new signification. Positive science is a science lost in the world. I must lose the world by epoché, in order to regain it by a universal self-examination.
Positive science is a science lost in the world. I must lose the world by epoché, in order to regain it by a universal self-examination. “Noli foras ire,” says Augustine, “in te redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas.”
I must lose the world by epoché, in order to regain it by a universal self-examination. “Noli foras ire,” says Augustine, “in te redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas.” 1 1 Supplied in accordance with Typescript C and the French translation.

Key Concepts

  • The Delphic motto, “Know thyself!” has gained a new signification. Positive science is a science lost in the world.
  • I must lose the world by epoché, in order to regain it by a universal self-examination.
  • “Noli foras ire,” says Augustine, “in te redi, in interiore homine habitat veritas.”

Context

Final sentences of §64, where Husserl summarizes the existential and methodological upshot of the epoché and links phenomenological self‑knowledge to classical ethical–religious maxims.