Gerda Walther

Abstract

If community is determined primarily in consciousness as a mental state of oneness, can community exist when there is no accompany‐ ing mental state or collective intentionality that makes us realise that we are one community? Walther would respond af irmatively, arguing that there is a deep psychological structure of habit that al‐ lows us to continue to experience ourselves as a community. The hab‐ it of community works on all levels of our person, including our bod‐ ies, psyches and spirits (Geist). It allows us to continue to be in com‐ munity even though we are not always conscious of it. Husserl would describe this as part of the passive synthesis of Vergemeinschaftung. Walther’s analysis of the passive structure of habit opens up im‐ portant possibilities for the inner consciousness of time. Drawing from Husserl’s and Walther’s analyses, I argue for the possibility of a communal inner time consciousness, or an inner awareness of time consciousness of the community, which gives rise to three constitutive moments: communal retention or communal memory, a sense of the communal present or a communal “now,” and communal protentions or anticipations. Ultimately, I will show how Walther’s treatment of habit demonstrates that time conditions the lived experience of community. One can, therefore, speak of a time of the community— its past, present and future—even though Walther herself does not explicitly develop this possibility.