ABSTRACT
Edmund Husserl's conception of the transcendental ego and his notion of the epoche as developed in his philosophical works prior to Crisis have been popular targets for criticism. Max Deutscher has attempted a defence of phenomenology from within Husserl's own framework, specifically by reference to Husserl's later work, Crisis. Incidentally, it is the themes of this later work – themes like the Lebenswelt, bodily intentionality and intersubjectivity – which are exploited by Husserl's own successors, at the expense of the themes of his earlier works, such as the noema, the transcendental ego and the epoche. Deutscher's interpretation of Husserl, discerns a tension within both Husserl's notion of transcendental subjectivity and his notion of the epoche. Max Deutscher argues that intersubjectivity is threatened by Husserl's transcendental subjectivity if the epoche is misconstrued or misused, if it is seen as a 'method of doubt', or intended to be total or complete.
