Prehistoric Historization

Prehistoric Historization is the name given to the original, ongoing temporalization through which a person exists not only for themselves but also for others. It is “prehistoric” not because it happened in a period before history, but because this relation belongs to the temporal structure that makes history possible in the first place.

Definition and Scope

The concept follows an account of the Look: the Look reveals the Other’s existence and the self’s existence for that Other, but does not by itself explain the being of this relation. Prehistoric Historization identifies the relation as a fact of human existence rather than a necessary structure from which either being-for-itself or being-for-others can be deduced. The two are found together in human reality, but neither is presented as the principle that generates the other.

An Original Temporal Event

The upsurge of consciousness into being-for-others is an absolute event: in becoming present to others, a person is temporalized in relation to them. This event is also an historization, since it places existence within a relation that can be lived as history. Its “prehistoric” character therefore refers to an original temporal condition, not to an earlier historical episode or a dateable beginning.

A Perpetual Fact That Makes History Possible

The text treats being-for-others as a primary and perpetual fact, not as an essential necessity. Prehistoric Historization names the temporalization of simultaneity through which people exist in relation to others, a condition of history rather than a chapter within it. The concept thus marks a limit on explanation: the relation is established as an indisputable feature of human existence, while its status as fact is distinguished from any claim that it must follow logically from the structure of the self.