Natorp, Husserl and Gurwitsch: The Problem of the “Pure Ego” in Phenomenology

Abstract There is an ongoing debate concerning the concept of the “pure ego” that begins with Paul Natorp and Edmund Husserl, rooted in the methodological differences stemming from the intellectual legacy of their predecessors. This article aims to demonstrate how the development of this initial debate provides the foundation for a second controversy, internal to the phenomenological tradition itself, in which Aron Gurwitsch – drawing on Natorp’s influence on Husserl – questions the “pure ego” as an element present within the sphere of pure consciousness in Husserl’s transcendental turn.