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<p>This paper develops a phenomenology of we as home, integrating Edmund Husserl’s concept of the homeworld (Heimwelt) with a new account of presubjective relationality. It argues that selfhood is not founded in an isolated ego but in an originary we-condition—a relational field that precedes and grounds individual subjectivity. Drawing on Husserl’s threefold distinction of static, genetic, and generative phenomenology, the study adopts a generative orientation to show how meaning, embodiment, and belonging arise within a historical and communal horizon. The presubjective self designates the level of lived relatedness prior to reflective self-awareness, where the “I” and the “we” co-emerge in mutual dependence rather than opposition. Through close reading of Husserl’s later manuscripts—especially Umwelt, Heimwelt and the C-Manuscripts—the paper reconstructs the idea that the “lowest stratum” of subjectivity is not the ego, but the home to which the ego belongs. The homeworld is thus understood as the generative soil of selfhood: a network of intersubjective, cultural, and historical relations through which personal identity and normality take shape. Extending this insight, the article elaborates the notion of we as home to describe the ontological, embodied, and ethical dimensions of belonging. Embodiment is treated as the medium in which this relational structure becomes lived and tangible: the body of the individual is always part of a larger communal body. Memory, likewise, functions as the temporal mode in which the we endures, transmitting shared meaning across generations. Finally, the ethical horizon of we as home lies in its openness—the recognition that genuine dwelling is achieved only when the boundaries of home expand to include the stranger. By uniting phenomenological, ontological, and ethical analyses, the paper proposes that we as home offers a generative paradigm for understanding selfhood, community, and universality. It shows that to be human is to dwell together in a shared world—to be, from the beginning, each other’s home.</p>

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We as home: phenomenological reflections on embodiment, presubjectivity, and the Husserlian homeworld

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月5日

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  • Hye Young Kim

摘要

This paper develops a phenomenology of we as home, integrating Edmund Husserl’s concept of the homeworld (Heimwelt) with a new account of presubjective relationality. It argues that selfhood is not founded in an isolated ego but in an originary we-condition—a relational field that precedes and grounds individual subjectivity. Drawing on Husserl’s threefold distinction of static, genetic, and generative phenomenology, the study adopts a generative orientation to show how meaning, embodiment, and belonging arise within a historical and communal horizon. The presubjective self designates the level of lived relatedness prior to reflective self-awareness, where the “I” and the “we” co-emerge in mutual dependence rather than opposition. Through close reading of Husserl’s later manuscripts—especially Umwelt, Heimwelt and the C-Manuscripts—the paper reconstructs the idea that the “lowest stratum” of subjectivity is not the ego, but the home to which the ego belongs. The homeworld is thus understood as the generative soil of selfhood: a network of intersubjective, cultural, and historical relations through which personal identity and normality take shape. Extending this insight, the article elaborates the notion of we as home to describe the ontological, embodied, and ethical dimensions of belonging. Embodiment is treated as the medium in which this relational structure becomes lived and tangible: the body of the individual is always part of a larger communal body. Memory, likewise, functions as the temporal mode in which the we endures, transmitting shared meaning across generations. Finally, the ethical horizon of we as home lies in its openness—the recognition that genuine dwelling is achieved only when the boundaries of home expand to include the stranger. By uniting phenomenological, ontological, and ethical analyses, the paper proposes that we as home offers a generative paradigm for understanding selfhood, community, and universality. It shows that to be human is to dwell together in a shared world—to be, from the beginning, each other’s home.