Leib und Situation. Zum Theorie- und Forschungsprogramm der Neophänomenologischen Soziologie

Abstract

Phenomenologically oriented sociology stands predominantly in the tradition of the transcendental phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and the mundane phenomenology of Alfred Schütz. It therefore presents itself primarily as sociology of the lifeworld or everyday life, and as sociology of knowledge. In contrast, this article sketches an alternative phenomenological sociology, the philosophical foundation of which is the New Phenomenology of Hermann Schmitz. It is particularly the theory of the felt body (Leib) and the situation theory of Schmitz, which are presented as the basic elements of Neophenomenological Sociology (NPS). The article outlines especially three aspects of the theory and research program of the NPS: (1) The affective involvement as a pre-personal a priori of the social, (2) the felt-bodily (leibliche) communication as the source of "Du-Evidenz" and as smallest analytical unit of the social, as well as (3) the common situation as a social-ontological foundation and empirical manifestation of sociality.