In search of a political sphere in Alfred Schutz

Hongwoo Kim

pp. 203-234

in: George Psathas, Hisashi Nasu (eds), Explorations of the life-world, Berlin, Springer, 2005

Abstract

In my paper, I deal with three points: 1) Schutz's notion of the social world; 2) the differentiation of the public sphere within the social world; 3) a comparison of Arendt's "space of appearance" with Schutz's "musical space." I conclude that they have similarities as well as differences in two respects: first, both indicate a space of common appearances in direct communication within the actual reach, that is, the space being seen and heard simultaneously; second, none of them is meant to be a receptive space, that is, the space of mere passivity. On the other hand, they reveal differences, too: in the first, Schutz is concerned primarily with "making" (poiesis), whereas Arendt is concerned with "doing" (praxis). This difference is due to the fact that the space for Schutz is one of (polythetic) sound, whereas for Arendt, it is that of (monothetic) speech.

Cited authors

Arendt Hannah

Schütz Alfred