The Structures of the Life-World is the final focus of twenty-seven years of Alfred Schutz's labor, encompassing the fruits of his work between 1932 and his death in 1959. This book represents Schutz's seminal attempt to achieve a comprehensive grasp of the nature of social reality. Here he integrates his theory of relevance with his analysis of social structures. Thomas Luckmann, a former student of Schutz's, completed the manuscript for publication after Schutz's untimely death.
Der vorliegende Band der "Gesammelten Aufsatze" tragt den Titel "Studien zur Phanomenologischen Philosophie." In ihm sind Alfred Schutz' Interpretationen phanomenologischer Haupt them en enthalten. An dieser Stelle soIl nun nicht die Interpreta tion noch einmal ausgelegt werden. Vielmehr wollen wir fragen, we1che Stellung der Autor in der sogenannten "Phanomenolo gischen Bewegung" einnimmt. Schutz selbst bestimmt in einer personlichen Tonbandaufzeich nung! seinen Standort in der Phanomenologie und seine Herkunft aus den philosophischen Schulen der Studienzeit. "Ich traf den groBen Denker zum erstenmal 1932, als er schon lange keine Vorlesungen mehr hielt, zwolf Jahre nach dem Ende meines Studiums an der Universitat Wien. Mein Weg zur Philo sophie Husserls war, wie er selbst einmal sagte, hochst ungewohn lich. Seit meinen fruhesten Studientagen galt mein Interesse am meisten der philosophischen Grundlegung der Sozialwissenschaf ten, besonders der Soziologie. Zu jener Zeit stand ich noch ganz im Banne Max Webers, insbesondere war ich von seinen methodo logischen Schriften fasziniert. Ich erkannte jedoch bald, daB Max Weber die Werkzeuge, we1che er fur seine konkrete Forschung benotigte, zwar geschmiedet hatte, daB aber sein Hauptproblem - das Verstehen des subjektiven Sinnes einer sozialen Handlung fur den Handelnden selbst - noch der philosophischen Begriin dung bedurfe. Mein Lehrer der Rechtsphilosophie, Hans Kelsen, hatte den Versuch unternommen, eine so1che philosophische 1 Tonbandaufzeichnung.
This volume contains a translation of four early manuscripts by Alfred Schutz, unpublished at the time, written between 1924 and 1928. The publication of these four essays adds much to our knowledge and appreciation of the wide range of Schutz’s phenomenological and sociological interests. Originally published in 1987. The essays consist of: a challenging presentation of a phenomenology of cognition and a treatment of Bergson’s conceptions of images, duration, space time and memory; a discussion of the meanings connected with the grammatical forms of language in general; a consideration of the relation between meaning-contents and literary forms in poetry, literary prose narration and dramatic presentation; and an examination of resemblances and differences in the inner forms and characteristics of the major theatrical art forms.
In this book, his major work, Alfred Schutz attempts to provide a sound philosophical basis for the sociological theories of Max Weber. Using a Husserlian phenomenology, Schutz provides a complete and original analysis of human action and its "intended meaning."
The purpose of the text is threefold: 1] to contribute to the renaissance of Husserl interpretation around a) the continuing publication of Husserl's manuscripts and b) his unpublished manuscripts; 2] to account for the historical origins and influence of the phenomenological project by articulating Husserl's relationship to authors before and after him; 3] to argue for the viability of the phenomenological project as conceived by Husserl in his later years. In regard to the last purpose, Luft's main argument shows that Husserlian phenomenology is not exhausted in the Cartesian (early) perspective, which is indeed its weakest and most vulnerable perspective. Husserlian phenomenology is a robust and philosophically necessary perspective when taken from its hermeneutic (late) perspective. And the ultimate point Luft makes in the text is that Husserl's hermeneutic phenomenology is distinct from other hermeneutic philosophers, namely, Cassirer, Heidegger and Gadamer. Unlike them, Husserl's focus centers on the work the subject must do in order to uncover the prejudices that guide his/her unreflective relationship to the world. In making his argument, Luft also demonstrates that there is a deep consistency within Husserl's own writings-from early to late-around the guiding themes of: 1] the natural attitude; 2] the need and function of the epoché; and 3] the split between egos, where the transcendental self (distinct from the natural self) is seen as the fundamental ability we all have to inquire into the genesis of our tradition-laden attitudes toward the world.
A watershed event in the field of sociology, this text introduced “a major breakthrough in the sociology of knowledge and sociological theory generally” (George Simpson, American Sociological Review). In this seminal book, Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann examine how knowledge forms and how it is preserved and altered within a society. Unlike earlier theorists and philosophers, Berger and Luckmann go beyond intellectual history and focus on commonsense, everyday knowledge—the proverbs, morals, values, and beliefs shared among ordinary people. When first published in 1966, this systematic, theoretical treatise introduced the term social construction,effectively creating a new thought and transforming Western philosophy.
Phenomenology is the philosophy of our times. Through the entire twentieth century this philosophy unfolded and flourished, following stepwise the intrinsic logic and dynamism of its original project as proposed by its founder Edmund Husserl. Now its seminal ideas have been handed over to a new era. The worldwide contributors to this volume make it manifest that phenomenological inspiration knows no cultural barriers. It penetrates and invigorates not only philosophical disciplines but also most of the sectors of knowledge, transforming our way of seeing the world, our actions toward others, and our lives. Phenomenology's universal spread has, however, oftentimes diluted its original sense, even beyond recognition, and led to a weakening of its dynamics. There is at present an urgent need to retrieve the original understanding of phenomenology, to awaken its dormant forces and redirect them. This is the aim of the present book: resourcement and reinvigoration. It is meant to be not only a reference work but also a guide for research and study. To restore the authentic vision of phenomenology, we propose returning to its foundational source in Husserl's project of a `universal science', unpacking all its creative capacities. In the three parts of this work there are traced the stages of this philosophy's progressive uncovering of the grounding levels of reality: ideal structures, constitutive consciousness, the intersubjective lifeworld, and beyond. The key concepts and phases of Husserl's thought are here exfoliated. Then the thought of the movement's classical figures and of representative thinkers in succeeding generations is elucidated. Phenomenology's geographic spread is reviewed. We then proceed to the culminating work of this philosophy, to the phenomenological life engagements so vigorously advocated by Husserl, to the life-significant issues phenomenology addresses and to how it has enriched the human sciences. Lastly the phenomenological project's new horizons on the plane of life are limned, horizons with so powerful a draw that they may be said not to beckon but to summon. Here is the movement's vanguard. This collection has 71 entries. Each entry is followed by a relevant bibliography. There is a helpful Glossary of Terms and an Index of Names.
