Schutz's Account of the Life World - In Search for a Political Sphere -

Abstract

In this Paper, I intend to pursue Alfred Schutz's account of the life-world. Schutz's central concern is methodology of social science. He sees in the notion of the life-world a new foundation for social science. He restates the methodology of social science in terms of Husserl's life-world. We can condense Schutz's ideal of social science as follows: methodology of "social science" is to be anchored in the "motivational understanding" of the "social world." In this statement, we find three critical terms, i.e., "social science," "motivational understanding" and "social world." In order to understand Schutz's ideal of social science, we need to explicate each of these terms carefully. In the following discussion, however, I will concentrate on Schutz's notion of the social world. In particular, I will explicate Schutz's ontological standpoint in contradistinction to the constitutional genesis of the social world. At the end of the discussion, I will give a brief account of my own search for the constitution of a political or public sphere within the life world.