Michel Henry i jego fenomenologia życia

Abstract

The article is an introduction into the ideas of a French philosopher, Michel Henry, not widely known in Poland. The author narrows the subject of the article to the analysis of those aspects of Henry’s philosophy that are associated with Christianity. Chronologically, that period corresponds to the last years of his creative life, which resulted in writing the trilogy: lam the Truth, Incarnation, and Words of Christ. Traditional phenomenology, stemming from the Greek understanding of a phenomenon, concerned the visible world. Henry’s phenomenology of life touches the invisible. Life is given in experiencing oneself and thus becomes perceivable itself; it is perceived directly, in the internal feeling of oneself. Life cannot be seen, as it is invisible. Life is felt, therefore it is invisible: it is the closest, the most intimate, the mysterious. For Henry, the ultimate source of life is God, who in the Gospel says “I am life”.