What Moves Us, and What We Move Towards: Tracing Tendency in Husserl’s Volitional Genesis

Taking the concept of tendency in Husserl’s phenomenology as an entry point, this paper attempts to reveal the generative structure of tendency, willing, and drive, which are nested in Husserl’s phenomenology of will. Building on Husserl’s view of tendency as a “form of action”, it analyses its multiple modes and its capacity to function in states of “without self-participation”. The discussion further explores the interplay between tendency, drive, and willing, identifying tendency as a directional generative tension, exemplified in anticipatory conditioning of perception, and drive as an original vital impulse, such as breathing. On this basis, the paper develops a phenomenological generative model: Drive → Tendency → Fiat → Willing, outlining the transformation from anonymous, pre-reflective genesis to fully self-governed volitional action, thereby revealing the foundational role of passive intentional structures in Husserl’s phenomenology of will.