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Knowledge and the Lifeworld: Phenomenological-Transcendental Investigations

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Part of the Analecta Husserliana book series (ANHU, volume 119)

Abstract

Edmund Husserl’s discovery of the lifeworld was a decisive step toward a radicalization of the project of transcendental phenomenology. At first glance, transcendental philosophy attempts to define objective structures of a timeless ego and by doing so, justify ultimate knowledge. According to Husserl, however, to understand the constitutive force of subjectivity one needs to introduce a more rudimentary milieu – the lifeworld – which conditions one’s understanding of intentional activity. To be precise, the lifeworld is the source of meaning, and – mutatis mutandis – of knowledge. The lifeworld, then, is a strictly subjective phenomenon, and transcendental phenomenology has to be a strict subjective science of this phenomenon. But are the subjective science and knowledge about the lifeworld possible at all? How can we know something about the non-objective? I argue that, by posing these questions, one connects the theory of horizons and Normalität, both of which describe doxa as a common knowledge. Phenomenological theory highlights human essential connections with the lifeworld, and it expresses the subjective roots of all knowledge.

Keywords

Common knowledge Constitution of knowledge Fallibility Horizon Husserl 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

The project is financed by the National Science Centre (no. DEC-2011/01/D/HS1/00594). I am especially grateful to Michael Gubser for revising the language of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Institute of Philosophy, Sociology and JournalismUniversity of GdańskGdańskPoland

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