Abstract

This article addresses the issue of both the task and significance of philosophical reflection on the relation of the finite to the infinite after Kant, with particular reference to Husserl, Heidegger and Schleiermacher. It argues that (1) whilst both Husserl and Heidegger, in their respective phenomenological philosophies of experience, do philosophize in the wake of the Kantian critique of traditional metaphysics, there is, however, (2) a rich source of untapped potential for critically assessing and contesting both Husserl and Heidegger’s respective philosophies of experience and their competing conceptions of ‘first philosophy’ (as infinite reflection on essences in ‘intentional consciousness’ or as the search for a ‘fundamental ontology’ grounded in finitude) in Schleiermacher’s earlier recognition and reflections on the relation of the finite to the infinite in ‘religious self-consciousness’ which, in turn, enables an advancement of philosophical reflection on the relation of the finite to the infinite after Husserl, after Heidegger, and after Kant too.