The Weight of Sedimentation: From Husserl to Foucault

Abstract In this article, I will discuss the metaphoric “weight” of sedimentation in phenomenology. I will delineate the Husserlian epistemic and dynamic conceptual frame within which a sediment acquires a weight through its possibility of being reactivated by consciousness. Working from that, I will show how Maurice Merleau-Ponty implements a dialectical, linguistical, and historical institution of sedimentation that essentializes the problem of its weight. Lastly, I will demonstrate how Michel Foucault deepens the phenomenological problematic by endowing the notion with an original pathological, social, and intelligible dimension, which goes well beyond mere temporal repetition.