Why did Edmund Husserl criticize historicism?

Edmund Husserl criticized historicism primarily because he believed it inevitably leads to relativism and skepticism.1

In his work "Philosophy as Rigorous Science," Husserl argued that historicism, which emphasizes that all thinkers are immersed in a specific historical context, fails to achieve the objective rigor required for genuine science. While he acknowledged the contributions of thinkers like Wilhelm Dilthey in categorizing worldviews, Husserl rejected the notion that truth is merely relative to a historical period.1

Husserl maintained that history is concerned with contingent facts, whereas phenomenology seeks the knowledge of essential structures—the "essences" of consciousness and the objects constituted within it. By grounding philosophy in these essential, apodictic foundations rather than historical facts, Husserl aimed to establish philosophy as a rigorous science that transcends the relative validity of empirical or historical perspectives.1