Michael BARBER (Saint Louis University): Introduction to Schutzian Research 10 [OPEN ACCESS]
Luigi MUZZETTO: Schutz-Wittgenstein: On the Problem of the Natural Attitude
- Abstract: The first part of this paper aims to highlight the analogies between Schutz’s vision of the natural attitude and Wittgenstein’s vision of a phenomenon that concerns the same problematic field, i.e. certainty, the belief of common sense that is free of all doubt, that the world “out there” is as it appears, absolutely real. These certainties form the basis, the foundation of language games and therefore of knowledge in general and in its entirety. This foundation is unfounded and yet indispensable. The second part of the paper examines an important topic analysed by Wittgenstein, related to the aforementioned problem: the language transposition of pre-predicative, pre-reflective and non-propositional certainties, the cornerstones of which are “hinge propositions”, whose hybrid nature can be identified in the shift from empirical propositions to grammatical rules.
Guillaume GASS-QUINTERO: Towards a Schützian approach to group-membership
- Abstract: The aim of this paper is to show that we are entitled to see in Schütz’s article “Equality and the Social Meaning Structure” the proposal for a formal analysis of group membership understood as a kind of We-experience irreducible to pure We-relationships (Wirbeziehung). First I argue that such an account defines the experience of group membership as a “situation definition process”. Then I show the relevance of this approach for the description of membership experiences and current debates on Collective Intentionality. Finally, I point to its unclarified conceptual presuppositions—such as the attribution of situations to groups—, and propose an interpretative solution by drawing on the notions of “social situation” and community of relevances from The Structures of the Life-World.
Barton BUECHNER, Sergej van MIDDENDORP, Rik SPANN: Moral Injury on the Front Lines of Truth: Encounters with Liminal Experience and the Transformation of Meaning [OPEN ACCESS]
- Abstract: Today’s fast-moving, (new) media lifeworld embodies many of the metaphors of its analog predecessors – including those of warfare and conflict. The metaphor of warfare is used to describe everything from corporate marketing strategies to political campaigns, often with harmful consequences. In one way of exploring the front lines of the resulting war on truth, we describe some lessons learned from the experience of military veterans who have actually endured the liminality of combat, and who emerge with what is increasingly termed moral injuries. We use their experience as an analogy for competing (ante)narratives in cyberspace, where objective standards of truth and facticity are apparent casualties, and where fake news is emerging as victorious. We then apply models of social construction, specifically the practical theory of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM), and the metaphor of jazz improvisation in the context of Schutz’s lifeworld phenomenology as possibly useful, helpful, and hopeful ways of acting into the complexity of truth together.
Daniela Griselda LÓPEZ: The Social Meaning of Prices: Contributions of Phenomenological Sociology
- Abstract: There is no question that nowadays the phenomenon of prices is central to the media and political agenda and is the object of heated debates in the Argentine public arena. However, it is striking that these discussions “forget” to mention the social conditions in which market actors significantly set and shape prices. Debates focus on price increase and the spontaneous movements of the supply and demand curves supported by the neoclassical economic perspective, while the market agents that specifically cause such increase fade into the background and the subjective aspects of the phenomenon of price formation are underestimated as a mere manifestation of states of mind or individual preferences. This article argues that it is possible to criticize the neoclassical paradigm presuppositions based on the work of Alfred Schutz. His phenomenologically oriented sociology takes a critical stand facing the approaches that only consider the movements of the supply and demands curves in price formation, and that put aside the subjective values of the actors in the market. It is held that in line with the sociology of valuation, Schutz perspective resumes the inquiry around the intersubjective structures of meaning showing the importance of his thought to help us think about present-day problems.
Abstract: Dorianne COTTER-LOCKARD: Schutz’s Mutual Tuning-in Relationship: Forming a “We-Presence” in Music Performance
- Abstract: In his essay, “Making Music Together,” Schutz provided insight into the social interactions between all participants in the musical process, including composer, performers, and listeners. The key concept in Schutz’s essay is the “mutual tuning-in relationship,” which encompasses the relationship between I and Thou, to form a We Presence. Schutz examined the structure of the mutual tuning-in relationship, which he said, “originates in the possibility of living together simultaneously in specific dimensions of time” (Schutz 1964: 162). During the mutual tuning-in process, members of an ensemble merge into each other’s stream of consciousness. This paper is based on phenomenologically-influenced research conducted at the Cleveland Institute of Music in collaboration with the Cavani String Quartet. The members of the Cavani Quartet teach several specific rehearsal techniques to their students which enable formation of a We Presence. The paper summarizes Schutz’s structures of the mutual tuning-in process and provides illustrations from the research findings which deepen our understanding of the mutual tuning-in process.
Manuel PETRIK: Social Media in a Schutzian Perspective: Conflict and controversies in Brazilian readers’ comments
- Abstract: The article is a reflection about the controversies on social media. It analyzes a week of Folha de São Paulo’s posts, the largest Brazilian newspaper, on its Facebook page. The methodological basis adopted is the Grounded Theory (Glaser & Strauss, 2006). From the results, in a week of data collection, it seeks to theorize over coercive factors for the emergence of discursive struggles, with the aim of outlining a phenomenology of commentaries, based on Alfred Schutz, Thomas Luckmann and Peter Berger. Finally, it contrasts this situation of online conflicts with the Brazilian identity and the historical moment of the country.
Michael HANKE: Truth as Objectified Knowledge in In-Groups: Approaching Fake News within the Schutzian Framework
- Abstract: This article reflects on the contemporary phenomenon of ‘fake news’ from a Schutzian perspective. Discerning the truth or falsity of an utterance – whether it is true, and therefore deemed ‘real’, or not and thus ‘fake’ –, calls for a framework for determining truth value. Thus, after a brief introduction, situating fake news within the history of strategic disinformation and propaganda, we analyze Schutz’s perspective on truth and rationality. Schutz’s concept of truth and rationality are centered around the paradigm of social constructivism, which situates the production of objects of thought in its sociocultural context and considers these objects socially derived or mediated. Reality, from this angle, is tied to group consensus, and, thus, can be considered objectified knowledge within the in-groups to which the members belong. This view of reality seems to follow, essentially, the logic of internet phenomena, such as filter bubbles and echo-chambers.
Riccardo VENTURINI: Language, Verstehen, and the Life-World in Social Science Methodology: An Attempt at Dialogue Between Phenomenological Sociology and Analytical Philosophy
- Abstract: The aim of the paper is to deal with the links between Schutz and Wittgenstein on the centrality of language and intersubjectivity in the structure of meanings. I believe there are similarities between Schutz’s proto-trust in the natural attitude and Wittgenstein’s animal faith in the basic life form of language games. To this end, Cicourel’s analysis of the relationship between language, Verstehen and empirical research methods will be used. Cicourel renders Schutz and Wittgenstein contiguous, by interpreting the different techniques of empirical research as languages that structure the understanding of meanings on the basis of the order of different realities and different language games.
Benjamin STUCK: Appresentational and Knowledge-Based Constitution of Everyday Life-Proof
- Abstract: Alfred Schutz elaborated Edmund Husserl’s term of appresentation to a particular theory of appresentational relations comprising “marks”, “signs”, “symbols” and “indications”. Even though Schutz implied the existence of other such relations, it was Husserl who drew a line between appresentation and proof. Following this differentiation, this paper aims to constitutionally analyse the everyday life phenomenon of proof and to describe its structure by consulting William James’ term of “knowledge about” as well as by discussing Schutz’ theory of relevance. With reference to Husserl’s Logical Investigation and by contrasting proof with indication it is shown that proof is appresentationally constituted through reflectively bringing the polythetical elements of clear, distinctive and consistent knowledge about, functioning as interpretational relevance, into the centre of topical awareness.
Valerie Malhotra Bentz, David Rehorick, James Marlatt, Ayumi Nishii, Carol Estrada: Transformative Phenomenology as an Antidote to Technological Deathworlds
- Abstract: The concept of lifeworld as posited by Husserl and developed by Schutz reveals key aspects of human social life. What happens when organized forces of human control tear lifeworlds apart? Gebser warned that without a transformation of consciousness humans would destroy their world. Habermas pointed out that humans were destroying lifeworlds with little awareness of the consequences due to the predominance of rational/legal thinking, thus creating “Deathworlds”. Transformative Phenomenology has become a community-of-practice that is an antidote to Deathworld-Making. Transformative phenomenology includes hermeneutics, somatics and leregogic practices and phenomenologists trained in this way exhibit ten qualities of being. We offer the Rising Sun project, a phenomenologically based social innovation, as a case example. The call to maintain and restore lifeworlds is the call to oneness and peace. In the era of growing Deathworlds, we, phenomenologists, are urged to respond and contribute to this call.
Jerry WILLIAMS: The Meaning Contexts of Poetry: A Schutzian Analysis
- Abstract: In this essay, the meaning contexts of poetry are considered. It is argued that poetry represents a pairing of semantic meaning with that of music. The analysis first proceeds by exploring Alfred Schutz’s ideas about the constitution of meaning and the experience of music. Next, using these insights the essay turns to an analysis of my poem “Perspective” in order to investigate how poetry is composed and how it is experienced by a reader / listener.
ISSN: 2067-0621 (paperback)
ISSN: 2248-1907 (electronic)
ISBN: 978-606-697-086-0 (paperback)
ISBN: 978-606-697-087-7 (electornic)
