Difference between revisions of "Life-world" - New World Encyclopedia

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'''Lifeworld''' is a concept used in [[philosophy]] and other [[social sciences]], meaning the world as it immediately presents itself to us prior to scientific or philosophical analysis.  
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'''Lifeworld''' (German: Lebenswelt) is a concept used in [[philosophy]] and in some [[social sciences]], meaning the world "as lived" prior to reflective re-presentation or analysis.  
  
This concept (''Lebenswelt'') was introduced by [[Edmund Husserl]] and developed by [[Jürgen Habermas]] and others. For Habermas, lifeworld is less a purely cognitive horizon, and more an environment made by practices and attitudes, a realm of informal culturally grounded understandings and mutual acommodations. [[Rationalization]] of the lifeworld - its penetration by [[bureaucracy]] - is what Habermas calls 'colonization of the lifeworld'.
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[[Edmund Husserl]] introduced the concept of the lifeworld in his ''Crisis of European Sciences'' (1936), following [[Martin Heidegger]]'s analysis of Being-in-the-world (In-der-Welt-Sein) in ''Being and Time''. The concept was further developed by his student [[Jan Patočka]], the Husserlian [[Alfred Schütz]], [[Maurice Merleau-Ponty]], [[Jürgen Habermas]], and others.  
  
Social coordination or regulation occurs by means of shared beliefs and values; in the lifeworld, individuals draw from custom and cultural traditions to construct identities, negotiate situational definitions, coordinate action and create social solidarity. (Seidman 1997:197)
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For Habermas, lifeworld is more or less the "background" environment of competences, practices, and attitudes representable in terms of one's cognitive horizon. It's the lived realm of informal, culturally-grounded understandings and mutual accommodations. [[Rationalization]] of the lifeworld is a keynote of Habermas's 2-volume ''[[Theory of Communicative Action]]''. Penetration of lifeworld rationality by [[bureaucracy]] is analyzed by Habermas as 'colonization of the lifeworld'.
  
http://www.ucalgary.ca/~frank/habermas.html
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Social coordination and systemic regulation occur by means of shared practices, beliefs, values, and structures of interaction, which may be institutionally based. We are inevitably lifeworldly, such that individuals and interactions draw from custom and cultural traditions to construct identities, define situations (at best, by coming to understandings, but also by negotiations), to coordinate action, and create social solidarity. (See also: Seidman, 1997:197)
  
[[Category:Phenomenology]]
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==External links==
[[Category:Philosophy and religion]]
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{{wiktionary}}
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*[http://www.ucalgary.ca/~frank/habermas.html Arthur W. Frank]
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*[http://cohering.net/jh/rfd.html lifeworld and Habermas]
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===General Philosophy Sources===
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*[http://plato.stanford.edu/ Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy] Retrieved April 17, 2007.
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*[http://www.iep.utm.edu/ The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy] Retrieved April 17, 2007.
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*[http://www.epistemelinks.com/  Philosophy Sources on Internet EpistemeLinks] Retrieved April 17, 2007.
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*[http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/gpi/index.htm Guide to Philosophy on the Internet] Retrieved April 17, 2007.
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*[http://www.bu.edu/wcp/PaidArch.html Paideia Project Online] Retrieved April 17, 2007.
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*[http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg] Retrieved April 17, 2007.
  
 
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[[category:Philosophy and religion]]
{{socio-stub}}
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[[Category:philosophy]]
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[[Category:Politics and social sciences]]
  
 
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Revision as of 13:57, 19 April 2007

Lifeworld (German: Lebenswelt) is a concept used in philosophy and in some social sciences, meaning the world "as lived" prior to reflective re-presentation or analysis.

Edmund Husserl introduced the concept of the lifeworld in his Crisis of European Sciences (1936), following Martin Heidegger's analysis of Being-in-the-world (In-der-Welt-Sein) in Being and Time. The concept was further developed by his student Jan Patočka, the Husserlian Alfred Schütz, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jürgen Habermas, and others.

For Habermas, lifeworld is more or less the "background" environment of competences, practices, and attitudes representable in terms of one's cognitive horizon. It's the lived realm of informal, culturally-grounded understandings and mutual accommodations. Rationalization of the lifeworld is a keynote of Habermas's 2-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Penetration of lifeworld rationality by bureaucracy is analyzed by Habermas as 'colonization of the lifeworld'.

Social coordination and systemic regulation occur by means of shared practices, beliefs, values, and structures of interaction, which may be institutionally based. We are inevitably lifeworldly, such that individuals and interactions draw from custom and cultural traditions to construct identities, define situations (at best, by coming to understandings, but also by negotiations), to coordinate action, and create social solidarity. (See also: Seidman, 1997:197)

External links

General Philosophy Sources

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