Abstract

This study investigates the foundational epistemological question of whether the subject can generate objectivity—a question that lies at the heart of contemporary debates in knowledge acquisition. It explores the critical relationship between the subject and the world, focusing on how knowledge is formed and the role the subject plays in this process. Specifically, the study undertakes a comparative analysis of René Descartes’ and Edmund Husserl’s conceptions of the Cogito, examining their limitations of their approaches in linking the subjective world and objectivity. It further highlights on how Lonergan’s approach offers a mediating synthesis in overcoming those limitations.

While Descartes begins with radical doubt to secure the indubitable ego cogito, Husserl focuses on the structure of consciousness and intersubjectivity. Bernard Lonergan offers a dynamic and developmental view of the subject as experiencing, understanding, and judging.Lonergan’s coginitional structure act as a mediating solution emphasizing on Consciousness, intentionality, horizon, and conversion as foundational concepts that bridge subjectivity and objectivity. Using a qualitative methodology—combining textual analysis with argumentation reconstruction—this study critically analyzes how Lonergan’s epistemological framework transcends Descartes’ and Husserl’s limitations in linking the subjective world and objectivity.